More than 100 top doctors last night accused the Tories of
fuelling privatisation of the NHS.
They claimed David Cameron had broken promises over
healthcare and warned the NHS was withering away.
In a joint letter, the experts said: “If things carry on as
they are, then in future people will be denied care they once had under the NHS
and have to pay more for health services
“Privatisation not only threatens coordinated services but
also jeopardises training of our future healthcare providers and medical
research, particularly that of public health.
The doctors, who wrote to the Guardian newspaper, blasted
the Tories’ 2012 Health and Social Care Act for “leading to the rapid and
unwanted expansion of the role of commercial companies in the NHS”.
They added: “As medical and public health professionals our
primary concern is for all patients.
“We invite voters to consider carefully how the NHS has
fared over the last five years, and to use their vote to ensure that the NHS in
England is reinstated.”
Signatories included Dr Clare Gerada, ex-head of the Royal
College of General Practitioners, Professor John Ashton, retired director of
public health, and Trisha Greenhalgh, professor of primary care at Oxford
University.
The Tories claimed the doctors’ letter was organised by
Labour and renewed claims party leader Ed Miliband was “weaponising” the NHS.
But Shadow Health Minister Jamie Reed said: “It says
everything about the Tories that they are complaining about being held to
account by NHS professionals rather than apologising for their failing plan
which is letting down patients.
“The doctors are clearly worried about what five more years
of David Cameron would mean for the NHS.
Yesterday Labour claimed crisis-hit A&E departments have
delivered their worst performance for a decade.
Hospitals should see 95% of patients within four hours, but
that fell to 91.8% from January to March, according to NHS England.
Last week was the 26th in a row the target has been missed.
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