The government forced through its plans to break up the NHS and sell parts of it off to profiteers today – but UNISON has pledged that the fight is far from over.
MPs rejected an emergency motion from Labour’s shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, and voted to ignore patients and staff, backing competition instead of compassion and profits instead of patients.
This came in spite of the near universal opposition of professional organisations, royal colleges and unions to the coalition’s plans – and as the government continued to refuse to publish the risk register, despite having been told to do so more than once.
UNISON has fought a tough campaign against the Bill from the very start and will never stop fighting to defend and improve our NHS.
The challenge now is for those that use the NHS and work in it to resist the implementation of privatisation plans on the ground.
UNISON’s health service group executive will meet on 4 April to discuss how to take the campaign forward.