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March celebrates NHS core values NHS staff protest against reforms
(about 6 hours later)
Up to 4,000 members of the union Unison are to march through London as part of a campaign to keep competition out of the National Health Service. Thousands of health workers have marched through central London as part of a campaign against NHS reforms.
The event, entitled "We Love The NHS", is to celebrate and protect the health service's core values, said Unison's head of health, Karen Jennings. Organisers said about 7,000 staff took part in the "I Love The NHS" event which finished in Trafalgar Square.
Mrs Jennings said a health service that is free at the point of need and paid for by taxation should be cherished. TUC president David Prentice told the rally that the service must not be "sold off to private companies".
She said bringing the private sector into the NHS threatened these values. Health Minister Ann Keen commented that staff had had a "tough" year, but added that the NHS had to keep pace with rising expectations.
'Precious resource''Precious resource'
Karen Jennings of the Unison union said a health service that is free at the point of need and paid for by taxation should be cherished.
Mrs Jennings told BBC News: "We're coming up to its 60th anniversary, and we're very keen to get the message across that we've got quite an extraordinary health service in this country.Mrs Jennings told BBC News: "We're coming up to its 60th anniversary, and we're very keen to get the message across that we've got quite an extraordinary health service in this country.
"One that is free at the point of use, one that is equal to all that need to use it, is paid for by direct taxation, and is probably one of the most efficient health services in the world. "One that is free at the point of use, one that is equal to all that need to use it, is paid for by direct taxation, and is probably one of the most efficient health services in the world."
She said despite criticisms by politicians and the press, surveys have shown that the vast majority of people who use the NHS are very satisfied with it.She said despite criticisms by politicians and the press, surveys have shown that the vast majority of people who use the NHS are very satisfied with it.
She said: "Many, many comparable countries, their citizens really fear having to pay for their healthcare and whether they can afford it and we don't have these worries here.
You fragment the NHS if you make it too competitive Karen Jennings, Unison's head of healthYou fragment the NHS if you make it too competitive Karen Jennings, Unison's head of health
She said: "Many, many comparable countries, their citizens really fear having to pay for their healthcare and whether they can afford it and we don't have these worries here.
"We've got something that is a very precious resource here and we shouldn't undermine the ethos that exists, and the founding principles on which the NHS is based.""We've got something that is a very precious resource here and we shouldn't undermine the ethos that exists, and the founding principles on which the NHS is based."
Mrs Jennings said she was "very worried" about plans by the Conservatives to introduce more competition into the health service.Mrs Jennings said she was "very worried" about plans by the Conservatives to introduce more competition into the health service.
She said: "The big fear that staff working on the NHS have, and many, many local communities, is that you fragment the NHS if you make it too competitive."She said: "The big fear that staff working on the NHS have, and many, many local communities, is that you fragment the NHS if you make it too competitive."
'Altar of profit'
Bridlington GP Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA's council, said: "As GPs, we're saying stop blaming us for the NHS's problems.
"Stop going on about us as overpaid and not working hard enough. It's actually the GPs who have the potential to help save the NHS."
London mayor Ken Livingstone sent a message to the demonstrators by video.
He said the NHS was the "single most important social advance of my lifetime".
TUC president David Prentis told the rally: "We are here today to tell the world that we will not allow our health service to be sold off to private companies on the altar of profit."
Health Minister Ann Keen said staff had endured a "tough" year but that the NHS had to keep pace with rising public expectations.
"The NHS budget will increase to £110bn in 2010-11, more than triple the 1997 total," she said.
"This extra investment, combined with increased efficiency, means we can focus unremittingly on improving quality, safety and access for all within a locally accountable and clinically led NHS."