Leeds march to save the NHS 1 April photo Leeds Socialist Party

Leeds march to save the NHS 1 April photo Leeds Socialist Party   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Tanis Belsham-Wray, Leeds Socialist Party

Placards from Huddersfield and Lincolnshire joined students, doctors and nurses in filling up Leeds on 1 April. Around 3,000 gathered in defence of the NHS as a follow on from the successful national demonstration on 4 March. But the most noticeable factor was how far spread and devastating the attacks on the NHS are.

Staff are forced to work longer hours for less pay and with less resources, they are already stretched past breaking point. And the whole point of this is to run them down and sell it off on the cheap to private providers. The most noticeable were from Huddersfield and Grantham who are both fighting to save their A&Es from closure. The Socialist Party held a meeting on the following Monday to discuss how socialists can fight back and defend the NHS but also the possibilities of removing these private companies and having a democratically run NHS by the staff, patients and public.