Save Our NHS

North Somerset UNISON members working in the NHS will be out on the High Street in Weston super Mare and at Clevedon Market during the week of 7^th March, talking to members of the public about the Coalition government’s plans to break up and privatise our National Health Service.

The NHS that we know and love is under threat. The government plans to massively shake-up the NHS, which has the potential to cause huge damage to patient care and waste vast sums of public money. The plans will turn the NHS into a business where our taxes will increasingly pay for profit-driven companies to provide our healthcare. UNISON has a number of concerns about the Health and Social Care bill which is being rushed through parliament and if approved will have serious consequences for the future of our National Health Service. In our view the Coalition government’s plans will lead to a Health Service where profit is put before patients, and so-called competition will result in monopolies for massive global health care providers, will lead to a system where successful bidders will be those who cut costs at the expense of quality, and may also lead to hospitals going bankrupt. The NHS planned by the Coalition government might have the NHS logo but the small print will read provided by whatever name Corporation.

The plans will also lead to our National Health Service being broken up, and with no national standards in place a postcode lottery will develop. The private sector providers of Health Care will not be accountable in the same way that local hospitals and GPs currently are, and a broken up National Health Service will not have the same ability to respond to national health care emergencies, such as swine flu. We are asking the people of North Somerset to come and give us their opinion on what the NHS means to them. We also want them to listen to our arguments and join our campaign to Save Our NHS by writing to their GPs, councillors, MPs and the press.

UNISON events in North Somerset will be taking place at the following times and places:

8^th March on Weston High Street from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm

10^th March on Weston High Street from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm

10^th March at Clevedon Market from 10.30 am to 1 pm

Help save our National Health Service