BEFORE the last General Election, David Cameron promised that under a Tory Government there would be 'No more top-down re-organisation of the NHS' and this was restated in the Coalition Government agreement.  

However, within two months of that agreement being signed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg, the Government introduced a white paper which the Daily Telegraph described as proposing the 'biggest revolution in the NHS since its foundation'.  Six months later the Government introduced the Health and Social Care Bill with plans for a top-down re-organisation of the NHS.  

As the legislation was being forced through parliament, despite overwhelming opposition from clinicians and the public, the Government gave assurances that the opponents of the Bill who claimed the changes were designed to bring about the privatisation of the NHS were entirely misguided.  

Last week around the country, 400 NHS privatisation contracts were signed worth a quarter of a billion pounds. It is estimated that next year the Government plans to force another £750-million of NHS services to be opened to competition from private companies. It is clear the Government's pledges on the NHS are worth about as much as Nick Clegg's university tuition fee pledge.

To find out what this privatisation will mean to patients we need look no further than over the border into Cornwall. Since Serco was given the contract for Cornwall's out-of-hours doctors service there have been frequent reports of understaffing and the use of under-qualified staff.  

In the last month, the BBC has reported that Serco's computer records on call-outs were falsified to make the service appear faster than it is.  

Is this the future we want for our NHS?  Responsibility for commissioning out health services is shortly to become the responsibility of the North, East and West Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).  The NHS is one of the best and most cost-effective health services in the world.  I would urge anyone who wishes to tell the CCG that they want the NHS to continue as a publicly run service to add their name to the petition at: http://www.38degrees.org.uk">www.38degrees.org.uk

Martin Quinn

Tavistock and District Keep Our NHS Public group