Candle-lit vigil on eve of bill ‘to save the NHS from privatisation’ - Unite press release
Unite Press Release
Immediate release: Tuesday 18 November 2014
Candle-lit vigil on eve of bill ‘to save the NHS from privatisation’
A
symbolic vigil to highlight the plight of the NHS will be held on
Thursday (20 November) on the eve of the second reading of a private
member’s bill that would roll-back the privatisation
of the NHS.
Activists from the health unions, Unite, Unison and the GMB will be staging the candle-lit vigil at
Old Palace Yard SWIP 3JY, opposite the House of Commons, from 19.00 on Thursday until the vote by MPs on the
National Health Services (Amended Duties and Powers) bill due at lunchtime on Friday (21 November).
The bill
is being promoted by Labour MP for Eltham, Clive Efford and is aimed at
ridding the NHS of the worse parts of the government’s pro-privatisation
Health and Social Care
Act 2012, by rewriting the rules that force competitive tendering of
NHS services.
The bill will also restore the responsibility to the secretary of state for health to provide a comprehensive health service, free at the point of delivery and prevents foundation trusts from prioritising private income at the expense of NHS patients.
The bill will also restore the responsibility to the secretary of state for health to provide a comprehensive health service, free at the point of delivery and prevents foundation trusts from prioritising private income at the expense of NHS patients.
Unite head of health Rachael Maskell said:
“This is a symbolic vigil to drive home to MPs the importance of voting
for Clive Efford’s bill as the first step on the journey to next May’s
ballot box to restore the NHS to a service free at the point of
delivery for all those in need.
“It will also
have the effect of banishing the privatisation tentacles that are
currently enveloping the NHS for the benefit of shareholder profits of
the private healthcare companies.”
GMB national officer for the NHS Rehana Azam said:
“Clive Efford’s draft bill is an important moment in the growing
campaign to restore a publicly-run NHS. Backbench Tory and Lib Dem MPs
will have to answer to their constituents if they don’t take this chance
to undo the damage done by the coalition’s
hugely controversial changes.
“We are moving
into a government-induced NHS crisis this winter. Health workers are
taking a second wave of industrial action in the week commencing 24
November in a dispute over pay.
“Since the
coalition pushed through the Health and Social Care Act in 2012, NHS
services have been sold off at an alarming rate. We have seen almost
£12.5 billion worth of NHS services
put out to market and some 70 per cent of contracts handed to the
private sector. GMB campaigned against the Tory-Lib Dem reforms from the
beginning.
“The NHS should
be the provider of health services and alternatives desperately need to
be found to the toxic PFI contracts that NHS trusts simply can't
manage.”
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham is expected to join the vigil at some stage.
ENDS
For
further information please contact Unite senior communications officer
Shaun Noble on 07768 693940 and/or the Unite press office on 020 3371
2065.
Twitter: @unitetheunion Facebook: unitetheunion1 Web: unitetheunion.org
Notes to editors:
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