JEREMY Corbyn joined 300 demonstrators yesterday, when they formed a human chain around St Thomas’ Hospital to protest against the Government’s healthcare reforms.
The MP for Islington North accompanied Labour leader of Islington council Catherine West in demonstrations against the Health and Social Care Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.
Mr Corbyn described the NHS as “the most civilised thing about Britain” and “one of the greatest social advances ever made in this country”.
The controversial bill, introduced by the health secretary Andrew Lansley last year, is currently being scrutinised in the House of Lords. If passed, it will represent the most extensive change of the NHS to date.
Labour politicians Mr Corbyn, MP for Islington North, Ms West, leader of Islington council, and Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, last week presented the Department of Health with a petition to drop the bill. Cllr West said the petition had attracted “thousands of signatures” from Islington residents.
Mr Corbyn added that his constituents were “very alert to health issues” and referred to successful protests which attracted 5,000 Islington residents two years ago against the closure of the Whittington Hospital’s A&E department.
He stressed the importance of a system which recognises the link between poverty and ill health. He said: “My constituency has amongst the worst levels of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, AIDs and other notifiable conditions and they’re all related to poverty and bad housing.”
Islington has the third-highest diagnosed rate of HIV in London. Life expectancy for both men and women in the borough is below the national average.
Ms West, who heads the Labour run council, said the reforms would make the NHS less accountable.
She said: “The concern is that this will create a two-tier system, and that is something which in an inner-city area like ours we wish to avoid. We want a universal service which provides care to everybody, not a fragmented system which is privatised.
“At least with an accountable system you can vote a party out, but once it’s in the hands of the private sector it’s very difficult to achieve change.”
Accusing the Conservative party of betraying their voters, she said: “The Tory party, when they were campaigning for office, promised no re-organisation of the NHS and in fact that’s what we’re seeing with this bill.”
Mr Corbyn and Ms West were joined by other Islington residents such as Janet Burgess, Islington Council’s executive member for health and adult social care, and Adeline O’Keeffe, who works for the campaigning group Keep Our NHS Public.
Ms Burgess called Lansley’s bill “a complete waste of time and money”.
She said: “It has cost over £2bn already and it’s just causing utter chaos in the health service” and added that wheelchair services in Islington have already been privatised as a result of the bill.
Ms O’Keeffe, who lives in Clerkenwell Green, spoke of her late neighbour, who received “great care” at the Whittington Hospital in the days leading up to his death.
“The compassion with which they dealt with my neighbour who was dying was something I’ll always be very grateful for,” she added.
In a party political broadcast released last night, David Cameron said: “We said we’d increase health spending, and we’re investing more money in the NHS every year, an extra £12.5bn by 2014.”
“People want more than just a list of policies kept or promises delivered. They want to see a change in values, a Government that’s on their side…Protecting our free NHS, but reforming it to make sure it will be there for our children and grandchildren. “
