THREE thousand doctors, NHS staff, patients and supporters last Saturday marched from Aldgate to London Fields in east London.
The march was organised to protest against the closures of the GP surgeries in Tower Hamlets.
At the front of the march was the Save Our Surgeries banner with the quote by Nye Bevan: ‘The NHS will last while there are folk left with the faith to fight for it.’
This was followed by SOS NHS Keep Hackney NHS Public, City and Hackney BMA banner, Action East End for Community Solidarity, Tower Hamlets NHS Not for Sale Keep Our NHS Public, Medical Practitioners Union, Keep St Helier’s Open, Save Lewisham Hospital, Tower Hamlets Unison Local Government, Gill Street Health Centre, interspersed with several hundred Save Our Surgeries placards and scores of Unite flags.
Nick Mann from Well Street Surgery, Hackney, told News Line: ‘We are threatened with closure. The withdrawal of MPIG (minimum practice income guarantee) is the latest in a long line of measures which are destabilising the NHS as a whole, targeting GP surgeries in particular.
‘The motive is to privatise the NHS. The direction we are heading in is towards a costlier service with poorer services for the sick.’
Russell Sax, a patient from east London, Gill Street Practice, E14, said: ‘I have had lots of support from the GP at my surgery for mental health issues.
‘Last year I got an appointment very quickly from my doctor and was referred immediately to the hospital. In a few weeks I had a malignant melanoma removed which has saved my life.
‘This year, appointments are weeks and weeks away because the surgeries are overloaded.
‘We have to stop the surgeries closing and improve them because people are and will die.’
Joyce Bassett (pictured with her four grandchildren and her daughter), said: ‘None of my four grandchildren who are on the march with me today would be here if it wasn’t for the NHS and their special care units, because they were all born prematurely.’
Joyce’s daughter, Rachel Lane, a Health Care Assistant, said: ‘I work at Stroudley Walk Health Centre GP surgery. If it wasn’t for the NHS I wouldn’t be able to control my diabetes, I wouldn’t have my children and I wouldn’t have a job. The only way to save the NHS is through a general strike.’
Gabriella Maceiras, psychiatric nurse from south London, said: ‘The NHS is the envy of the world and being Italian we look to England as having something really special – the NHS.
‘They are gradually eroding it because of mistakes made by the bankers. Unless something is done to get rid of the ruling class, like an uprising, we will lose our precious NHS. I support the Young Socialists march to the TUC to demand a general strike.’
At the rally, the mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, said: ‘The founding fathers of the NHS will be turning in their graves to see the attacks this government is making on the NHS. I thank all the people who organised the 15,000 petitions saying “do not touch our surgeries”.
‘We already have overcrowding in our GP surgeries in Tower Hamlets. If they close three surgeries it will be devastating for our community.’
Sheila McGregor, NUT President of East London, said: ‘They are privatising education as well as health services. We must march now and strike together. We can defeat the government if we all strike together.’
A PCS spokesman said: ‘We will strike on July 10th. Many practices are being bankrupted by the government. We have to defend our surgeries. We have a large community in Stepney Green and everywhere that need the surgeries. And now the Tories want to charge you to see the GPs.’
Naomi, a GP from Jubilee Street Practice, said: ‘I have been a doctor for 25 years in east London. I say happy 66th birthday to the NHS.
‘The GPs are the bedrock of the NHS. We see 90% of all NHS contact. Without GPs the NHS would collapse. GPs are worn out by increased demand, without backup and proper resources.
‘The GPs and patients are ready to fight because they know how good GPs can be. The GPs are committed to better health through collaboration, not the false competition that the government is trying to impose on us.’
