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§ Mrs. Alice Mahon (Halifax)I beg to ask leave to present a petition containing 5,500 signatures. It represents the voice of the people of Yorkshire and Humberside telling the Government of their fears for the future of the National Health Service. They have reached the clear and logical conclusion that, if their NHS hospitals are set up as hospital trusts and become businesses with information systems, giving the costs of every treatment in detail, and can borrow money in the City, set their own wage rates and hire and fire staff at will, they are set for total privatisation, and the people want none of it. The Government should listen to their voice.
The petition states:
To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The humble petition of the people of Yorkshire and Humberside showeth that they are opposed to the Government NHS White Paper proposals, particularly on the opting out of local hospitals.Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your honourable house does not approve these proposals and maintains the NHS as a truly national service. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.
§ To lie upon the Table.
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§ Mr. David Hinchliffe (Wakefield)The petition which I wish to present to the House has been organised by members of the National Union of Public Employees and signed by about 5,500 people from various parts of Yorkshire and Humberside who oppose the proposals that are contained in the White Paper on the National Health Service. The petitioners believe that the Government are effectively breaking up the NHS by proposing to allow the formation of independent hospital trusts whereby individual hospitals, or health units, opt out of local health authority control. They are concerned that the setting up of a series of separate, individual competing units will result in the ending of the comprehensive nature of Britain's health care and believe that it is nonsense to introduce a system whereby the health provision and treatment available in any locality will be dependent upon the business acumen of individual health managers.
995 The petitioners are worried that the proposals in the White Paper are part of a longer-term plan to pave the way for health care provision that is based entirely on market forces. They stand by the original principles of an NHS based on need and not ability to pay. Accordingly, they urge the House to reject the White Paper in its entirety. I am happy entirely to endorse their wishes and concerns.
The petition states:
To the honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The humble Petition of the People of Yorkshire and Humberside showeth that they are opposed to the Government NHS White Paper proposals, particularly on the opting out of local hospitals.Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your honourable House does not approve these proposals and maintains the NHS as a truly national service.And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
§ To lie upon the Table.