Robert Pass outside the Samuel Johnson Community Hospital

Lichfield and Burntwood’s Green Party candidate has expressed his anger at the “creeping privatisation” of the NHS.

Robert Pass outside the Samuel Johnson Community Hospital
Robert Pass outside the Samuel Johnson Community Hospital

Robert Pass, who will stand in the May general election, warned voters that the future of the the NHS should be high on their agenda when they make their decision at the ballot box.

He said: “The Green Party and the vast majority of the British people are committed to a publicly funded and publicly operated NHS.

“The government keeps denying that it is privatising the NHS, but the fact is that The Health and Social Care Act 2012 opened up the large chunks of the NHS to privatisation. A third of NHS contracts in England have been awarded to private sector providers since the changes came into effect.”

Mr Pass said that politicians should not allow profit to be a factor in healthcare.

“The biggest-ever sell-off of our NHS has just been announced – and it’s happening here in Staffordshire. Cancer treatment and end-of-life care is being privatised to the tune of £1.2 billion.

“The winning provider will be expecting profit margins of 8 per cent. That’s £100 million of taxpayer money diverted directly from frontline and community care for the people of this constituency.

“There is no place for profit-seeking in healthcare.

“Breaking up the NHS is making our healthcare system more inefficient, it reduces transparency and companies looking to maximise profits inevitably slash resources to save money.

“The US private healthcare model, where millions of Americans cannot afford treatment, actually costs twice as much as the NHS as a proportion of GDP.

“Our politicians have no democratic mandate to privatise our healthcare system. If we are not careful our cherished NHS will end up being nothing more than a logo.”

The candidates standing in the Lichfield constituency in May are:

  • Andy Bennetts – Class War
  • Michael Fabricant – Conservatives
  • Robert Pass – Green Party
  • John Rackham – UKIP
  • Paul Ray – Lib Dem
  • Chris Worsey – Labour

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

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JohnJohn
8 years ago

Hear, Hear! What is happening to the NHS is a national disgrace. Privatisation is killing the NHS. The new head of the NHS, Simon Stevens used to be the Chief Executive of United Heath, a massive US private healthcare company.

The Con-Dem government has appointed him to push through the ‘marketisation’ of the NHS.

Private companies are making millions in profits from taxpayer money, money that should be going to helping sick people of this country.

Privatisation is a stich-up, we must all wake up and say NO!!!