People across the UK are declaring their local NHS hospital a trade deal free zone

In July, Conservatives in the House of Commons voted against an amendment to the Trade Bill that would protect our NHS from trade deals, despite their manifesto promise to keep our NHS "off the table" in trade deals.

The Bill is now in the House of Lords and over 300,000 people have signed our petition calling on peers to pass an amendment to exclude our NHS from trade deals. Over 21,000 have signed our letter to the leaders of the main parties in the Lords asking them to whip their members to back an NHS amendment. 

As we showed in a blog in October, the NHS protection amendment would protect our NHS by (i) preventing hikes to drug prices, (ii) protecting the employment rights of NHS workers, (iii) prohibiting the sale of our patient data to private companies and (iv) excluding our NHS from the purview of any investor-state dispute settlement clause in the trade deal. Without an amendment that protects our NHS, we run the risk of exposing our NHS to pillaging by huge multinational private companies. 

On Wednesday, 11th November, hundreds of people across the country took action to declare their local NHS hospital a trade deal free zone and called on their MPs to VOTE to protect our NHS when the Trade Bill returns to the House of Commons. Here's a cross-section of them:   

Abbeymead Surgery - Romsey

Bristol Children's Hospital - Bristol

Bristol Royal Infirmary - Bristol

Buttercross Health Centre - Somerton

Dewsbury and District Hospital - Dewsbury

Macclesfield District General Hospital - Macclesfield

Ormskirk and District General Hospital - Ormskirk

St Helier Hospital - Carshalton

Stepping Hill Hospital - Stockport

Swindon NHS Health Centre - Swindon

University Hospital Lewisham - Lewisham

Hereford County Hospital - Hereford

Lewes Victoria Hospital - Lewes

Royal Hallamshire Hospital - Sheffield

St George Hospital - Tooting

Station Drive Surgery - Ludlow

Southbourne Surgery - Chichester

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Royal Victoria Hospital - Folkestone

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St James's Hospital - Leeds

Sunderland Royal Hospital - Sunderland