Health workers take to streets to fight changes to the NHS

Published: 19th May, 2011
by TOM FOOT

THOUSANDS of marchers, including many NHS staff, brought central London to a standstill as they defied government proposals to inflict major surgery on the NHS.

Chants of “Kill the Bill – it will make you really ill” filled the air during Tuesday’s protest which was organised and led by the Camden branch of Keep Our NHS Public (KONP).

Hundreds of staff jobs and treatments are already being axed and two mental health hospitals in Hampstead have this week been identified for possible closure.

The demonstration included banners from Defend Whittington Hospital Coalition, University College Hospital Unison, University College London medical students and Camden Unison.

It began with speeches outside UCLH in Euston Road and snaked through the West End, past tourists and applauding shopkeepers, ending outside the office of Health Secretary Andrew Lansley in Whitehall. 

Fake blood was spattered outside the Department of Health and health workers bathed their hands in the red pools.

Speaking through a megaphone from the top of a transit van, Camden KONP chairwoman Candy Udwin said: “This march was organised by a handful of people and look how many have turned out. The govern­ment is on the back foot on this Bill – now we need to kill it off.”

The protest  had spiralled into a nationwide demonstration after the government called a “pause” in driving through its Health and Social Care Bill.

Former health secretary and Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson said: “We’ve got one big thing on our side: the people of this country. The NHS is the most popular institution in the country. People like the idea that it looks after them and their families – but also that it looks after the whole country.”

He added: “When the Tories start attacking everybody, they are in trouble, even when the Lib Dems have provided a sort of human shield.”

Whittington radio­logist Dr Jacky Davis told the crowds: “This is ideology gone mad. The Bill is on its last legs – we’ve got to kill it off.”

Hundreds of staff in Camden hospitals are being axed and many more NHS managers have also lost their jobs in anticipation of changes that would hand control of the NHS to groups of GPs.

Islington Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn said: “GPs are independent contractors to the NHS. I have to ask why should independent contractors decide how 80 per cent of funding is spent?”

Mr Corbyn called for all Private Finance Initiative hospitals such as UCLH to be bailed out and brought back in-house. He described the NHS as the “most civilised thing the country possesses”.

The talk from health workers on the march was about the failure of the union Unison to support the march and form a proper alliance with the Keep Our NHS Public campaign. Unite, the country’s biggest union, supported the march and was represented by assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail. She said: “We don’t want a pause, we want a complete halt.”

Mark Campbell, University College Union at London Metropolitan University, warned against “attacks on our class”, adding: “The debt crisis is a lie.”

A second day of protest is planned for June 30.

Bill – Proposed changes explained

• What is the Bill?
The Health and Social Care Bill is proposed by Conservative Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and is a central plank in government reforms to shake up the National Health Service. The government believes the NHS must be dramatically altered because it is wasting too much money. 

• So why are people marching against it? 
The most contentious issue in the Bill is the proposal to abolish Primary Care Trusts and give GPs the power to decide what gets funded on the NHS. The government has said it wants them to buy services from “any willing provider”. Critics believe this system will lead to a profit bonanza for private companies competing for work, lead to more unaccountable decision-making and eventually break up the NHS for good.

• When will the Bill be heard? 
It was first introduced into Parliament on January 19 and has completed its committee stage. The Bill was passed by 321 MPs against 235 at second reading. But the government decided on a “pause” in the process last month while the Bill was reassessed for amendments following protests. It is expected to return for a “report stage” in the Commons in July.

• Who is in favour of the Bill?
Support for the Bill is hard to find. The Royal College of GPs has criticised the plans, as has the British Medical Association doctors union. The NHS Confederation – representing all NHS providers and commissioners – has also opposed the plans. Lib Dems have called for amendments and sections of the Labour Party have called for a complete halt.