Long-serving Labour MP and former Secretary of Health, Frank Dobson MP will speak at a ‘Save Our NHS’ meeting organised by the Labour Party in Hassocks, mid-Sussex on Wednesday, October 29, starting at 7.30pm.
THE THEME of the meeting is “Defend Our NHS! Stop Privatising Services!” and it will bring together Labour supporters from the South Downs area, Brighton, Crawley and across Sussex.
Keynote speaker Frank Dobson MP, has a long history of defending the NHS throughout his career. When he was Minister of Health he persuaded Prime Minister, Tony Blair MP to invest more in the NHS.
At the time he said: “If you want a first-class service, you have to pay a first-class fare“.
As a result the NHS got 40,000 extra doctors, 90,000 extra nurses, a record number of new hospitals, and massive improvements in care.
Mr Dobson, said: “The Tories and Lib Dems promised no top down re-organisation of the NHS and then did just that – at an immediate cost of at least £3 billion. But it’s worse than that. Running the new commercial system is estimated to cost at least £10 billion a year on bureaucracy, lawyers and accountants that used to be spent on patients.”
“The Tories, Lib Dems and UKIP all want to privatise the NHS – on the American model – which costs twice as much per person as our very cost effective NHS.”
“Only a Labour Government can turn back the commercial, money grabbing tide.”
The meeting will be chaired by Purna Sen, the Labour parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion. Purna, a former head of the Human Rights unit at the Commonweath Secretariat has a background in policy, advocacy, campaigning, diplomatic and academic work and is currently Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Affairs at the London School of Economics. Her over-riding concern is that those who are “politically or economically marginalised find a respected place in society and can enjoy lives of dignity”.
Other candidates for Brighton and Mid-Sussex constituencies will also be in attendance including Laura Moffatt, who was MP in Crawley for 12 years. Laura trained as a registered nurse in the 1970s’s, and worked for many years in the NHS. She was a Labour MP in Crawley for three terms (12 years). Most unusually for an ex-MP she returned to her original career after parliament – she did a ‘return to nursing’ course and is now working again for the NHS in Mid Sussex.
The meeting has been arranged in Hassocks as a central location for the South Downs constituency and neighbouring constituencies and is hosted by the Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint Labour Party Branch.
Local organiser Steve Lewis, said: “We are thrilled to have such high-quality speakers coming to Hassocks. The NHS was created by Labour, and labour supporters need to defend it, because the current government is intent on privatising the NHS until little remains.”
There will be a raffle and refreshments. Arrive early to ensure getting seat. Everyone is welcome.
Event: Public meeting ‘Save Our NHS’
Where: Adastra Hall, Hassocks, BN6 8QH
When: Wednesday, October 29
Time: 7.30pm
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