Cheshire & Merseyside Stop The Whitepaper Campaign has today (6th July) issued a press release, condemning the Government’s new Healthcare Bill which is being given a second reading tomorrow, 7th July.
Issued to major news outlets, including Unionsafety, the campaigners make their opposition to the new Healthcare Bill which gets it's second re3ading in Parliament tomorrow; quite clear.
They see that this new NHS re-organisation follows the fragmentation of the NHS into 42 ICS, previously reported by unionsafety; and will result in the ‘destruction of our NHS’:
As the Government commit themselves to a highly damaging piece of NHS legislation, concocted by the now shamed former Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, we write to explain our vehement and total opposition to its presentation in the House of Commons.
Despite NHS England touting "Integrated Care" as a move designed to help the NHS cope with growing pressure, it is clear to many - and should be clear to all MPs who care about the country's most cherished institution - that this Bill is the last act in the destruction of our NHS.
It is the final step in the dangerous restructuring that has been proceeding since 2015 and is now ready for completion. The NHS Bill is presented as the introduction of Integrated Care Systems, when in fact these have been in the pipeline for years.
They have been designed in collaboration with US insurance companies like United Health through their servant Simon Stevens, the departing CEO of NHS England.
Politicians on both sides of the House have swallowed the falsehood that cuts to services, cuts to bed numbers and hospitals, moving healthcare into charity- or 3rd sector-reliant community care is 'improving' the NHS.
Their failure to research and examine the evidence brings into question the competence of Parliament to vote on any related legislation until MPs have had the opportunity of a full and open debate with the public, not just inside the House. In the middle of a poorly managed pandemic the public deserve to have a say in how the NHS is restructured and made available for their families and future generations.
The Bill is a lie. Created by those whose agenda is the enabling of American accountable care under another apparently friendly name, and which relies on shrinking the menu of NHS services in order to make profits. It creates lucrative opportunities for the private sector to scoop up the patients denied care by NHS.
With no statutory authority the NHS has already been broken up into forty-two local Integrated Care Systems.
Unless stopped the public will experience a true postcode lottery dependent on the corporate business organisations who will be allowed to make decisions about our health - based on finance alone.
From the Cheshire & Merseyside collective campaign group to Stop the NHS Whitepaper
The campaign comprises:
Save Liverpool Women's Hospital,
Keep Our NHS Public Merseyside,
Defend Our NHS Wirral,
Socialist Health Association (Liverpool City Region
Individual signatories:
Felicity Dowling & Lesley Mahmood - Save Liverpool Women's Hospital
Dr Alex Scott Samuel - Public Health Physician
Greg Dropkin - Keep Our NHS Public Merseyside
Mary Whitby and Judith Varley - Socialist Health Association (Liverpool City Region)
Kevin Donovan and Frank McEntaggert - Defend Our NHS