The End of the NHS

Here's one that is going to affect the lives of everybody in Britain.

A new report by a former Health Minister recommends charging people to see their GP, charging people for overnight stays in hospital, or even charging everyone £10 a month for NHS services. This could be the end of a free NHS as we know it and will hit the poorest hardest but that is hardly any surprise is it?  Since when did Ministers and MP's actually give a fart about the poor.  Considering it has always been the work of charities that just about keeps the poors' heads above the water, I would say not ever.

What's more, Lord Warner wrote the report in conjunction with Reform -- a free market think tank that is funded by private health care companies, which, guess what, are the exact same companies who are set to benefit from this proposal.  Is it me or does this stink of a set up?

The Government has spent billions of pounds on "reorganising" the NHS in the last few years, and now it is looking for more ways to raise cash -- don’t let it use this excuse to further privatise the NHS by the back door.

In the year before the General Election, the Government is paying close attention to public opinion. It’s the ideal time to send a strong message to the Government that we won’t allow it to privatise the NHS.  What is more Doctors and NHS staff are against the idea. Dr Ian Wilson, Chair of the British Medical Association, called it "an NHS tax" which "puts us on the slippery slope towards the end of an NHS that needs to be, and should be, free at the point of use".

The Department of Health says it opposes charging patients, but acknowledges that there is "more pressure on the NHS" due to an ageing population. We need to make sure this policy doesn’t creep in as a cost saving measure, stopping the poorest people in our society getting the health care they need. 

Tell the Government to reject the proposals and keep the NHS free for everyone who needs it!

Together, the SumOfUs community has successfully taken action around the NHS before. We've already won a six month delay in NHS England's plans to sell our private medical data, and we're working to stop the problematic parts of the plan for good. Let's keep fighting for a free and excellent NHS.

Personally, I'd say that since it is a MP that has thought up this idea then MP's should foot the bill for the NHS.  MPs are people who apparently want to run this country, despite the fact that for the greater majority of them, their only experience of society was at exclusive colleges such as Eton, so surely they should have to pay for the privilege of ruling others.  Perhaps it we made being an MP expensive then we'd get MPs who have a true vocation for the job, instead of a money grabbing bunch who seem to think that ruling a country is a get-rich-quick scheme (thinking of our current Prime Minister who's wife bought a £600 pound dress in the middle of a recession).