Please sign and share with your friends and family.
As early as next week, health secretary Jeremy Hunt will try to force plans through parliament which will give him a new power to close any hospital in England - even if local patients and doctors are totally against it. [1] If the law passes, no hospital is safe.
So far, David Cameron and Nick Clegg have kept their distance from the proposals, even though ultimately the buck stops with them. Why? Because elections are won and lost on the NHS. The last thing they want is to be personally associated with local hospitals closing.
So let’s associate this plan with them. If hundreds of thousands of people sign a petition asking them to scrap it, they could decide that the political pain of pushing this through isn’t worth it. Please add your name to the petition now:
Dear David Cameron and Nick Clegg,
Our NHS is precious - please drop the Hospital Closure Clause from the Care Bill.
No government should have the power to close any hospital without listening to local people. It’s important that these decisions aren’t made against the wishes of the local community, patients, and experts like doctors and nurses.
Hospitals are there for us when we most need them. Please don’t be the government that takes them away.
This wouldn’t be the first time Jeremy Hunt’s plans are stopped through people power. Twice last year local people and 38 Degrees members successfully defeated him in the courts over his plans to close services at Lewisham Hospital. [2] And today it’s still open for business, saving lives and delivering babies.
When governments lose court cases, they shouldn’t just change the law. And after losing twice, that’s exactly what Hunt’s trying to do.
Over the weekend, over 150,000 members of 38 Degrees voted to throw the kitchen sink at stopping this law. [3] Together, we can convince David Cameron and Nick Clegg to step in and stop the law that could close hospitals everywhere against the wishes of doctors, patients and the public.
Here is the link to the petition:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/cameron-and-clegg-hands-off-our-hospitals#petition
