Dear Lord Walton of Detchant,
As you know there is massive opposition to the NHS Bill that you will be examining in detail soon. Opposition from all sections of society including the BMA, the RCN and many MPs in the Commons.
I implore you to throw out this Bill. If you feel you cannot do that then accept the Owen/Hennnesy proposal to send the most alarming clauses of the Bill to a select committee for a review.
The NHS has been supported in principle by all Parties since it came into existence in 1948. That principle is now being fatally eroded by a minority Government that has no mandate to do this. Remember there was nothing in either Parties' manifestos about committing themselves to bring in legislation which is going to fundamentally undermine the nature of the NHS. The NHS like any organisation is not perfect and it faces many challenges and has hard decisions to make. But it is considered to be amongst one of the most cost effective, high quality health services in the world. It is much less expensive, bureaucratic and much fairer then the USA system, which this Bill seems to be pushing towards. This Bill is not about reforming or improving the NHS it is about dismantling it, franchising it in a way similar to the railways. This Bill is about free market ideology. I am not a rabid anti marketeer but a health service is not beholden to shareholders. It is beholden to the patients it serves and the best way to provide this service is through taxation, democratic accountability, and free at the point of need. You may beg to differ but i think the multinational health companies can see a massive potential market, £120 billion a year, and their political allies now want to serve it to them on a plate. This Bill has been in gestation for a long, long time, and under the fog of the financial crisis it is being pushed along with no democratic mandate.
I was born in 1958, so I have lived through decades of political change and considerable turmoil. I am left of centre and a member of the Green Party. I remember well the 1970s and the 1980s but I have never seen anything like this. I am quite shaken by all this.
This Bill though is not a force of nature. Please do the right thing. I hope I will be able to look my children and my grandchildren in the eye and say we saved the NHS.
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