Friday 2 September 2011

NHS Weekend of Action

Plymouth Labour is contributing to the nationwide weekend of action on the NHS with a special street stall in Plymouth City Centre on Saturday. Campaigners across the country will be using this weekend's NHS Action Weekend to highlight Tory plans to privatize NHS services and inject more private healthcare into the NHS.

From 2pm in the city centre volunteers and the city's Labour councillors will be highlighting plans by the Conservative and Liberal Democrats to privatize the NHS putting patient care at risk.

Cllr Tudor Evans, Leader of Plymouth's Labour Group said: "With all that's been happening lately the dismantling of the NHS has dropped off the media radar. This is our chance to move the Tories broken promises on Health to the top of the agenda".

"If MPs vote to allow these reforms to go ahead, privatisation and poor patient care will plague the NHS - and Plymouth families will suffer."

Tory plans in the Health and Social Care Bill due to receive its next reading in Parliament next week would see a radical overhaul of the National Health Services and an increase in the involvement of the private sector and paid-healthcare services. Plans by the Tory-led Government for NHS reforms were rightly put on hold after the public discovered what they contained but Plymouth Labour is warning the public not to be fooled. The plans by Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, for a radical, untested and confusing overhaul of the NHS are still pressing ahead.

Plymouth Labour volunteers will be joined by members of the trade union movement representing health care professionals in Plymouth.

Plymouth Labour's street stall will be by the sundial in Plymouth City Centre from 2pm on Saturday. We will be asking members of the public to get in touch with their MP asking them to vote against the Government's Health and Social Care Bill. Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View Alison Seabeck, has already pledged to vote against plans that would privatize the NHS.