Join Wednesday’s lobby to save NHS, union urges

Health staff and members of the public across the South East are being urged to make their opposition heard to the government’s pro-privatisation health bill on Wednesday.

Unite, the largest union in the country with 100,000 NHS members, is organising a lobby of parliament in London to meet local MPs and tell them why the controversial Health and Social Care Bill should be scrapped.

The lobby is before a TUC rally on the same day against the bill in Methodist Central Hall.

Unite believes that the health service will change beyond recognition within a decade as private healthcare companies become more involved in the NHS, claiming that waiting lists are already on the rise and some warning that 50,000 NHS jobs are at risk.

Unite regional secretary John Rowse said: “The so-called reforms of the NHS are the largest since its foundation in 1948. They strike at the very heart of what we love about the health service and will lead to the profits of the few being put ahead of the needs of the many.

“There is no clamour for these reforms which is why we are urging people to get involved to save our NHS. The bill has uniquely united professional bodies, the public and supporters from all political parties against its proposals.

“The NHS is rightly regarded across the world as a template of how healthcare can be delivered. We cannot stand by and let that 64-year-old achievement be dismantled under the cloak of so-called reform.”

For details on transport arrangements, please go to www.unitetheunion.org/saveournhs

Other ways in which people can get involved:i

Tell your MP to ‘Drop the Bill’. For details, visit (http://www.unitetheunion.org/saveournhs}

Adopt a peer

Text NHS and your message to 86888

Sign the e-petition calling on the government to Drop The Bill