No one voted for this. During the election, David Cameron told us the NHS was “safe in his hands”.[2] But now, Cameron thinks he has the momentum to push through an extreme programme with the backing of hardliners and private health companies. Together we can make him think again.

Right now the government is weighing up how much they can get away with.  How deep can they cut? How much privatisation can they force through at the same time?  We can’t leave this debate to politicians. If thousands of us get together now and sign the pledge to stand up for the NHS, they’ll know just how many people don’t want to see our health service torn to pieces.

Sign the pledge to stand up for the NHS by clicking here:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/protect-the-NHS

Money may be tight. But the government is still planning to find billions of pounds to fund new Trident nuclear submarines. [3] These changes to the NHS are about ideology, not saving money. Some Tories have always wanted to trash the NHS. Last year, one MEP described the NHS as a “60-year-old mistake” [4] and another MP said that the NHS “would not be out of place in Stalin’s Russia”. [5]

But these hardliners have never managed to get their way, because the NHS is popular with voters.  People power has stopped them before, and it can stop them again.

We need to show that the NHS has the support of tens of thousands of people. Everyone has been touched in some way by the NHS. It’s there at the start and end of most people’s lives. Everyone who signs the pledge will be added to a map of the UK, so politicians can see for themselves how many thousands of people want to defend the health service from political attacks. Every MP will be able to see people in their own constituency who don’t want the NHS to be destroyed.

Add your name today so politicians know how many of us are standing up for the NHS:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/protect-the-NHS

If we celebrate what’s positive about the NHS, and fight against plans to destroy it, we can make David Cameron back off. If we prove that attacking the NHS will be unpopular across the UK, we’ll strengthen the hand of those in government who want to soften the approach.

We know that people power works. Nearly a year ago, thousands of 38 Degrees members got involved with our “Stand Up for the BBC” campaign. Since then, we’ve fought back against attacks from the BBC’s commercial enemies, seen off plans to “top-slice” the licence fee, saved 6 Music from closure and challenged Rupert Murdoch’s plans for media domination. If thousands of us working together can achieve that much for the BBC, we can do at least as much to protect the NHS.

Click here to promise to stand up for the NHS:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/protect-the-NHS

Thanks for getting involved,

David, Hannah, Johnny and the 38 Degrees Team

PS Changes to the NHS will hit us everywhere. Already in Leicester, a children’s heart centre faces closure; in Oxford, the mental health budget is being slashed and in Berkshire, 600 NHS jobs are being cut. In Wales they’re a massive £1.9 billion of cuts over the next five years. Help prove that people are standing up for the NHS everywhere too – click here to add your name to the thousands already on the pledge: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/protect-the-NHS

Notes:
[1]http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/14/nhs-reforms-conspiracy-privatise
and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7894203/NHS-reforms-will-cost-3bn-and-will-not-work-academic.html
[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5403798.stm
[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/13/liam-fox-trident-budget-row-george-osborne
[4] http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/16/tory-mps-back-nhs-dismantling
[5]http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/cameron-woe-deepens-over-nhs-dissent-1773092.html