URGENT

Rally against the Health and Care Bill. Outside Parliament, Wednesday 14th July, 12.30-2.30pm. The bill is expected to have its second reading on that day.

Urgent action is needed to stop government plans that will fundamentally change the NHS and allow private companies an even bigger role.

While the public has been kept in the dark, the NHS in England has been fragmented into 42 areas that are now being turned into semi-independent “Integrated Care Systems” (ICSs).

ICSs integrate organisations: each ICS brings together NHS bodies (such as hospital trusts), local councils and others (potentially private companies) to take joint responsibility for delivering services within a fixed budget.

Keep Our NHS Public strongly supports the integration of services where this improves patient care: many NHS staff work hard to achieve this. But ICSs are first and foremost about making the organisations within an ICS work together in order to reduce patients’ use of NHS services and save money.