NHS hospitals and their contents including hundreds of thousands of beds,
scanners, X-ray equipment, incubators, bedpans, syringes, operating theatre
equipment, pacemakers, surgical instruments and stethoscopes are up for
a&e-
bay*,as a result of the Government•À_s Health and Social Care Bill.
The Bill paves the way for the privatisation of the NHS with big multinational
private health companies such as Care UK, Bupa and United Healthcare, first
in line for the bidding. The massive sale is likely to
clear the national debt and enable the Government to re-introduce tax
breaks for the super-rich and to make this year a bumper bonus bonanza for
banking bosses.
When the NHS went up for sale at midnight it sparked a bidding frenzy with
private companies eager to get a piece of the NHS on the cheap.
Doctors, nurses, patients, MPs, health experts and unions, including UNISON
are outraged at the plans. General secretary, Dave Prentis said:
•À_The Health and Social Care Bill was always a recipe for privatisation.
Taking the cap off the number of private patients a hospital can treat,
tipped the balance forever in favour of those people with the money to jump
the queue and pay for treatment. The NHS was once the envy of the world, it
is being treated more like a bargain basement lot.
•À_Handing over •À_80bn of taxpayers•À_ money to GPs was a terrible risk and we
now know that while private companies are picking up bargains, NHS patients
are paying a heavy price.
Some members of the public have also put in bids, one early bidder, Cherry
Picker, said:
•À_I am going to miss the NHS so I though I would try and get some of the best
bits as a memento.
•À_Many of my family, including myself, owe our lives to the NHS. I remember
the care and attention I got when I was in a serious accident, I don•À_t know
what I will do if I get ill again. The premiums for private insurance are
way beyond my reach because of my accident.
•À_I know now I made a serious mistake when I voted for the Lib Dems, but I
thought they would put a stop to the worst of the Tory excesses •À_ how wrong
can you be?•À_
Ends
Also a link to email your MP about the NHS:
http://action.unison.org.uk/savetheNHS