“This bill throws a grenade at the heart of healthcare in our country,” declared UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis at a national rally to save the NHS last night.
He was speaking to a packed hall in central London on the day after the Lords passed amendments on the health and social care bill that means that unless it is withdrawn it will become law.
He condemned Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, “scurrying around Westminster” to make amendments to the bill, saying: “We don’t want changes Nick, we want this bill scrapped, torn up, thrown in the rubbish bin.”
And he challenged Health secretary Andrew Lansley, who talked of “liberating the NHS,” asking: “Liberated to do what? Run up a massive debt?”
He warned of a future where “private patients come first and the rest of us join the back of the queue,” and told the rally: “I want my GP thinking about what’s best for me and my family, not what’s best for his budget.”
The rally was one of many taking place across the country from Manchester to Plymouth.
Speakers from the RCM, BMA, chartered society of physiotherapists, Unite, RCN, British Association of Occupational Therapists, Society of Radiographers, GMB, along with comedian Jo Brand, Dr John Lister, David Owen, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, Dr Kailash Chand, who started the epetition to drop the bill, currently with more 170,000 signatures, anti-bill Lib Dem MP Andrew George, and the president of the democratic nurses association of South Africa, voiced their outrage about the bill.
As Dr Clive Peedell, who had run 160 miles from the Nye Bevan statue in Cardiff to the Department of Health in London because “I’m bloody angry about this bill”, said, the bill will “bring back fear to the poorest and most vulnerable in our society.”
Voice after voice was raised in praise of the NHS, with speaker after speaker quoting NHS founder Nye Bevan who had said “the NHS will last as long as there are folk with the faith to fight for it.”
Vikki Mills, currently pregnant with twins, told the rally that “right now I’ve got a very special interest in the NHS … and I’m fed up of being told I’m against the bill because I don’t understand it. So David Cameron, Andrew Lansley and Nick Clegg: I’m against this bill exactly because I do understand it.”
Mary Locke, a hospital housekeeper and UNISON member from Birmingham, told the rally: “I was shocked and very angry when I heard about the bill.
“The NHS makes no judgements. It simply does what it says on the tin. It cares for those who need it.
“The crown jewel of the welfare state needs us today. We must do all we can to save it.”
You can still:
- Email your MP asking them to vote no to the bill in next Tuesday’s opposition day debate – this will be their last chance to vote no to the bill;
- Take part in our Big NHS Weekend ;
- Sign the petition calling on the government to drop the bill.
