NATIONAL RALLY: Our NHS Deserves Better

Over the first weekend of  July, we are marking the anniversary of the founding of our NHS with a wide variety of events, protests, rallies and meetings around the country. At 3:30pm on Sunday 5th July this will culminate in a huge national online rally organised by Keep Our NHS Public, Health Campaigns Together, The People’s Assembly Against Austerity and We Own It.

This will be too large for Zoom registrations – the rally can be viewed on the Facebook page or the YouTube channel of Keep Our NHS Public or any of the other organisations above.

> FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WEEKEND HERE
> SEE LOCAL EVENTS NEAR YOU

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Dr Sonia Adesara (Keep Our NHS Public), Cat Hobbs (We Own It), Helen O’Conner (GMB), John Lister (Health Campaigns Together), Dr Kambiz Boomla (Doctors in Unite), Kevin Courtney (National Education Union), Laura Ho (Build Back Better), Laura Pidcock (People’s Assembly), Rachel Ambrose (mental health nurse) and Roger McKenzie (Unison); more TBA

OUR DEMANDS:

Covid-19 has exposed what’s wrong with healthcare after decades of cuts, privatisation and fragmentation. In the ‘spirit of 2020’, it’s time to rebuild and go much further. We are demanding:

• Rebuild and properly fund the NHS
• Proper pay and respect for all NHS and care staff
• End racism in the NHS and end all migrant charges
• NHS out of all Trade Deals
• Public Health back in public hands
• Go further: Radical reform of social care

Click here to read our full “2020 Vision” to rebuild our health and social care system.

HOW TO WATCH: the rally can be viewed on the Facebook page or the YouTube channel of Keep Our NHS Public or any of the other co-hosting organisations (Health Campaigns Together, the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, and We Own It.

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Sunday the 5th July is the 72nd anniversary of the NHS. It was created in the aftermath of World War II, (a conflict that saw 67,100 British civilians killed) to create something better for us all.

During the coronavirus crisis in 2020, NHS and Social Care workers have been called upon to work on the frontline to keep us safe. They have often had to work without proper resources and PPE, within an already failing system. Many have been forced to sacrifice their lives. In the UK we have now reached the frightening number of excess deaths linked to coronavirus of 64,000 (up to 28 May 2020), the second-highest death toll in the world. The NHS deserves better, we all deserve better.

This is a damning indictment of recent Government policy and its mishandling of our NHS. When we emerge from this deadly crisis, this can no longer be tolerated. This is also a critical moment when the systemic inequalities in our society are starker than ever. We therefore demand an immediate end to the Hostile Environment, all migrant charging stopped and an urgent investigation into the disproportionate death toll in Britain’s BAME community during this pandemic. Likewise, the many disadvantages placed on disabled people and others with additional needs has never been clearer. We believe this moment gives us a unique opportunity to demand we not only rebuild the NHS but go much further and call for radical reform of social care provision.