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Published: 3rd June, 2011
by ANDREW JOHNSON

ACTIVISTS took on the big high street banks on Saturday in protest at the billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money they have received and what campaigners say is the back-door privatisation of the NHS.

They also claim the banks are “profiteering” from the NHS.

In Angel, about 30 protesters dressed as hospital patients, nurses and doctors invaded the branch of RBS bank – 83 per cent owned by the taxpayer – to make their point.

And Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition campaigners from Islington travelled to Haringey to invade the Lloyds TSB bank in Wood Green.

The protesters are angry that the NHS is under threat while the big banks avoid billions of pounds of tax each year.

One of their complaints is that HSBC bank used a tax loophole to divert millions of pounds of NHS money into a Guernsey “tax haven”.

In 2010, a company set up by HSBC made more than £38million from its 33 private finance initiative hospital-building schemes and paid £100,000 in UK tax – less than half of one per cent of the profits. Describing such practices as “scandalous”, former Oxford MP Dr Evan Harris called for new rules to stop NHS money being sent to tax havens.

Saturday’s protests were two of 40 staged throughout the country by UK Uncut, the group drawing attention to tax avoidance by big business while public services are being cut because of the financial crisis.

Critics believe the Health and Social Care Bill going through Parliament will lead to the privatisation of the NHS as it allows GPs to buy services from private companies. 

One of the Angel protesters, Josephine Hogg, who lives in St Mary’s, said many elderly people had donated money to the cause during the course of the demo. 

“I have a daughter who is disabled so I’m very aware of how valuable the NHS is,” she said. “The NHS is a civilising factor in this country. It’s the one thing we can all be really proud of. If we lose it we will never get it back. 

“I’m extremely worried as a carer. The attack on welfare affects me.”

Jem Lindon, of Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition, was at the protest in Haringey. About 20 demonstrators occupied the bank and tried to speak to customers, although staff turned up the music to try to drown them out. 

The protest then moved outside when the bank’s management threatened to close the branch.

“We didn’t want to inconvenience anyone,” Ms Lindon said. “The chief executive of the Whittington has said that people will have to pay for non-essential treatment. The Health and Social Care Bill is going to privatise the NHS. We will not have an NHS that is free at the point of use. Our aim is to kill the bill. It’s not about it being tweaked.”

Doctors are due to take over the commissioning of £60billion worth of services from primary care trusts under the reforms. Earlier this week a report from the influential King’s Fund think-tank said the proposed new GP consortiums had “weak” governance and lacked clarity on how they would be accountable to the public. 

The bill is currently stalled as political wrangling over its details continues.

Anna Dixon, director of policy at the King’s Fund, said: “The pause in the legislative process provides an opportunity to look again at these issues and strengthen accountability in the health system to drive improvements in performance and ensure that public money is well spent.”

Saga, the company which provides services for the over-50s, and Age UK, a charity formed by the merger of Help the Aged and Age Concern, both warned this week that social care for the elderly could collapse unless key parts of the reforms were enacted.

Michelle Mitchell, charity director of Age UK, told the Daily Telegraph: “At the moment health and social needs are not considered as a whole and there is little or no joint planning between the respective services. 

“If the government is concerned about how best to meet the needs of older people with complex needs, joining up services is a must.”