Greens support the "Keep our NHS public" campaign

25th February 2008

The Greens have come out in support of a campaign to stop the NHS replacing traditional GP surgeries with huge "polyclinics". They will be joining protestors from Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) at a Virgin Healthcare roadshow on Thursday 28th Feb at Cutlers Hall. Richard Branson is organizing similar roadshows in around 26 areas of the country with the aim of setting up 8 polyclinics in 2008 that will run with GPs and other health services, Tesco and Asda are also competing nationally.

Cllr Jillian Creasy, whose day job is as a General Practitioner said, “It’s sickening that a Labour government is threatening the NHS in this way. It is quite clear that private providers will run these polyclinics for profit and undercut existing GP practices by creaming off the lucrative work and paying staff less. What about patients with complicated long term conditions who want to be seen by a small team of doctors, nurses and receptionists in a very local health centre? A huge polyclinic won’t meet their needs.”

ENDS

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