Amelia Schofield reports on plans for the march to defend our NHS and why we need your help.

Growing up in England, I viewed the NHS as a constant: a universal, free-at-the-point-of-use, public healthcare system to be proud of. Whether it was after spraining my ankle on a trampoline aged eight, or having a firework singe my eye aged 19, the NHS has been there for me when I needed it most. I am so thankful for the NHS - and I don't want it to be privatised. Turns out most people would agree with this. In fact, 84% of the public believes the NHS should remain in public ownership.

So why are we wasting £4.5 billion a year on running a market in our NHS? Why were 200 NHS contracts recently sold off to Richard Branson? Why is Theresa May offering our NHS for sale to US firms as she cosies up to Donald Trump?

The answer: this government is deliberately and strategically undermining our NHS. Underfunding, cuts, and privatisation are putting our public healthcare system under threat. Dr Aislin Macklin-Doherty, a junior doctor who has helped to organise the march, said, ‘The NHS has been brought to its knees by a series of poor political decisions introducing competition and waste into healthcare.'

However, we will not let our NHS be sold off without a fight. The NHS belongs to all of us and it is our responsibility to make sure it remains in public hands. On Saturday 4^th March, there will be a protest march held in London to say ‘No to cuts, closures and privatisation’.

Health Campaigns Together and the People’s Assembly are organising the march, which begins at midday on Tavistock Square before marching to Parliament Square.

Why is now the time to act? Following ‘the most austere funding settlement in its history’, the NHS has been brought to the brink of collapse. Lives have been put at risk as intensive care units across the country have been running at 100% capacity due to staff shortages and more than 20 hospitals recently declared ‘black alert’. The Red Cross described this as a ‘humanitarian crisis’. Doctors have already suggested charges may need to be introduced for certain services. Meanwhile, Theresa May gets ever closer to triggering Article 50 and the possibility that the sell off of our NHS could be used in trade deal negotiations with Trump.

As the founder of our NHS, Anuerin Bevan, famously stated, ‘The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with faith to fight for it’. So let’s fight for it. Come and join us on Saturday 4^th March and demand our NHS remain in public ownership.

Join the Facebook event to show your support and keep up to date.

For more information see the Our NHS march or Health Campaigns Together websites.