This letter was in the Times today
NHS threatened
Sir, It is time for an honest and open discussion about what
kind of
National Health Service the public wants. Over the past year we
have
seen a dramatic acceleration of reforms to put the NHS on a market
footing. This has been accompanied by actual privatisations in many
areas of the health service. This process is so widespread, and has
happened at such a pace that we can only conclude that there is a
conscious policy to fragment the NHS and favour the private
sector. As
research from the Keep Our NHS Public campaign shows, the NHS is
experiencing “patchwork privatisation” as sections of it are being
handed to private control.
These untested rapid changes — the most extensive since the
service was
founded — threaten the values that bind the NHS together. Yet
they are
being pushed through with a minimum of public and parliamentary
debate.
It is time now to ask the public if a market-based health
service is
what they really want.
EMMA THOMPSON
HELENA KENNEDY, QC
CLAIRE RAYNER
GAIL CARTMAIL
Assistant General Secretary, Amicus
WENDY SAVAGE
Chair, Keep Our NHS Public
PETER FISHER
President, NHS Consultants’ Association
PROFESSOR PETER MILLARD
Emeritus Professor, St George’s University London
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