After 75 years since its inception the NHS continues to be sold off piece by piece, generating profit for the greedy few and no longer able to provide even basic care for the many in some parts of the country.
Twelve years ago, it was rated as the best healthcare system in the world. But now, after many years of government cuts, our NHS is in crisis and about to fulfil Thatcher’s ‘dark legacy’. Last year, 120 patients a day died before an ambulance reached them. Millions are waiting over two weeks to see a GP. People are being forced to pay out of their own pocket for operations or suffer while they wait. And it’s getting worse.
NHS staff are now at breaking point with doctors and nurses having to work double shifts to cover the shortfall caused by a major staff shortage (which is caused in turn by thousands leaving the profession before they completely burn out).
And don’t let them try to convince you that private health care is the way forward. Apart from the fact that without the NHS they would have no trained staff, the private sector cherry pick their patients, often turning away those with pre-existing conditions or those of an age or with long term impairments no longer considered viable or should that be ‘profitable’. Also, the private sector in this country does not provide an Accident and Emergency service.
So, what can we do to stop this? Well, there is a major online petition now circulating, which I invite you all to please sign and share with as many people as possible. Created by Dame Emma Thompson, Joe Lycett and Aneira Thomas (the first baby born in the NHS), it will be sent to every party’s parliamentary health spokespeople who will be left in no doubt that this is OUR NHS and that we demand that they work together to stop the rot!
Please sign the petition and share with as many people as possible.
Description of cartoon for those using screen readers
A white male figure wearing blue striped pajamas is laying on a hospital gurney. A large wooden cross is impaled into his chest with ‘RIP’ written upon it. Blood is dripping from him and forming a large puddle beneath the gurney. The letters ‘NHS’ are sitting in the middle of the puddle of blood.
Crippen Cartoons 