British gov't faces union bid to derail NHS reforms

The British public has 13 days to stop the pro-privatisation Health and Social Care Bill passing through parliament, the leader of the country's largest union said on Wednesday evening. "We have just 13 days to save the National Health Service (NHS) from falling into the hands of the private healthcare companies that are set to make millions of pounds in profits for their shareholders," Unite union's general secretary, Len McCluskey told a rally in central London McCluskey said that Cameron's coalition government was "steamrollering the Bill through parliament despite united opposition from professionals, patients and the public." One of the flagship policies of the coalition government is to carry out a reform of the NHS, the free-at-point-of-use health care system for everyone, paid for out of taxes. Legislation for the reform would see a restructuring of how the NHS is managed putting immense powers into the hands of groups of doctors who would buy services and treatments for their patients. The Bill would also allow more private provision of NHS services, and further debates in the House of Lords, the legislature's second chamber, are scheduled for Thursday. "The public needs to step up the pressure and urge MPs to vote against this Bill, otherwise the NHS that we have known since its formation in 1948 -- a universal service, free at the point of delivery -- will disappear forever into the hands of profiteers," said McCluskey, whose union is the largest in Britain. McCluskey told a 2,000-strong rally at Methodist Central Hall, opposite the Houses of Parliament, that the Bill will pass into law by March 20, despite almost universal opposition from health professionals, from doctors to paramedics, as well as the public. Earlier in the day several thousand of Unite's 100,000-strong NHS membership joined in a mass lobby of parliament. As hundreds of them sat in Methodist Central Hall writing to legislators and others queued to talk to their MPs, the lobby organizer Rachel Maskell, head of health at the Unite union, explained to Xinhua the aim of the protest. "They are writing to the MPs that represent the areas where they live and work; others are writing emails and tweeting to spread the message as wide as possible to the public," Maskell said. Opposition to the reforms had already had an effect with amendments to the Bill being accepted by the government after voting revolts in the House of Lords, however if it is passed, which is likely as the government has a big majority in the more powerful House of Commons, it could well become law before the end of the month.