Dear [Name of MP],
As your constituent, I am extremely worried by the Health and Care Bill and I urge you to vote against it. Research over decades shows that privatised healthcare is a lot more expensive than public healthcare, while producing far worse outcomes for patients. Yet academics, doctors and campaigners are warning that the Health and Care Bill:
- Breaks England into 42 Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), effectively denationalising the English NHS.
- Introduces a postcode lottery of healthcare as each ICS will be run independently of the others.
- Reduces access to medical services and emergency services.
- Allows vulnerable patients to be discharged from hospital before their care needs are assessed.
- Means ICS boards will operate like commercial entities which will likely serve the interests of US corporations who will maximise profits through the denial of care, along the lines of the Kaiser Permanente ‘managed care’ model on which they are based.
- Enables the NHS to be turned into a funding stream that can then be managed by private health insurers, so that the English NHS ceases to be a provider of services.
- Allows private sector participation in Integrated Care Partnerships, which have no public oversight.
- Deregulates clinical professions, making it harder to see a fully trained GP.
- Continues the psychological injury to NHS staff caused by reducing the number of doctors, nurses, beds, hospitals, A&Es and GP surgeries.
And these are only some of the problems experts are warning about.
This issue transcends party politics. It is about defending one of the greatest institutions this country has ever produced — a system that has long been a world leader in healthcare.
As my MP, I urge you not only to argue against and vote down this privatisation Bill, but to campaign for a fully renationalised NHS offering publicly provided, world-class healthcare to all. It’s the only thing that will restore this national treasure to its former glory.
If you support the Bill, you and your party will not receive my vote at the next election.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]