Thank you so much for signing the petition Protect the NHS: Scrap the Health and Care Bill.
Over 50K of you have signed in 4 days! What an amazing response! That shows how much people care about our NHS and want to stop this damaging health bill. Please continue to share and spread the message amongst friends and colleagues – it would be fantastic if we could reach 100,000.
I was delighted on Wednesday that the doctors’ union the British Medical Associated came out in opposition to the bill. Here is the BMA statement – Wrong Bill at Wrong Time.
https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/wrong-bill-at-the-wrong-time-bma-council-calls-on-mps-to-reject-health-and-care-bill
The Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons on 14 July. But that was expected so don’t be despondent. The battle against the Bill has only just begun. The important phase starts now and goes into the autumn as the Bill moves through various committees and amendments are proposed.
Here’s a link to a very informative blog about what will happen next to the Bill.
https://calderdaleandkirklees999callforthenhs.wordpress.com/2021/07/14/218-mps-vote-to-scrapnhsbill-356-vote-to-approve-second-reading/
The third reading is at the end of the year. So there is still plenty of time to campaign against the Bill, help raise awareness amongst all those who care about the NHS (the vast majority of the population), and lobby your MP to oppose the Bill.
I’ll keep you informed about what is happening and what more you can do. But for now, thank you once again for signing and please help spread the petition by sharing with friends, family and colleagues. We have every chance of defeating this Bill if we can galvanise enough opposition.
Here are some links to more information about the Bill
https://www.healthcampaignstogether.com/flip/NB10/NewsBulletin-10.html
https://lowdownnhs.info/news/new-health-care-bill-will-gag-local-voices/
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/forget-the-spin-new-english-nhs-bill-is-all-about-cutting-our-right-to-healthcare/