Protestors are set to gather in Reading to demand £20 billion in emergency funding for the NHS.
SOS NHS Day of Action will take place in Broad Street at noon on Saturday (February 26) and see demonstrators rallying for fairer NHS pay and a guarantee of free healthcare for future generations.
“We must repair crumbling hospitals; restore NHS beds, recruit, retain, train and properly pay health and care staff; rebuild underfunded public health and GP services struggling to respond effectively to Covid; publicly fund a service for care and independent living support; and much more,” reads a statement on the organizers website.
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“The Health and Care Bill does none of these things. We need new legislation to secure a fully public NHS and end privatisation.”
The Health and Care Bill, first published in July 2021, sets out the Governments legislative proposals for health service reform.
The British Medical Association has previously raised concerns that the bill provides ministers with undue political influence over NHS decision-making and that the bill could make it easier for private companies to win NHS contracts without proper scrutiny.
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