Thousands of health workers converged on parliament yesterday to warn that the NHS is being dismantled. The biggest lobby against health cuts since Labour came to power united surgeons and laboratory workers, health visitors and care assistants, senior midwives and young nurses not yet out of training. In many of their hospitals, clinics and surgeries colleagues worked overtime to let them deliver the urgent message: the NHS is now not safe in anyone's hands.
The ragged chants of "NHS SOS", the fumbled banners and embarrassment as they lined up for photocalls with "Working for a better NHS" football scarves, demonstrated that for many this was a new and uncomfortable experience. John Wood, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, who left his clinics in Lewisham, south-east London, to protest, said: "This Labour government is tearing it [the NHS] down."
A small delegation went into parliament, where the demonstration provoked bitter exchanges between David Cameron and Tony Blair. The deputy prime minister, John Prescott, earlier weighed in, denying union claims that 20,000 jobs had been lost, and insisting the figure was 900. Meanwhile, MPs from all parties made their way to the Methodist Central Hall to meet groups from their constituencies.
A mental health worker from Bath, a Wigan nurse with 45 years of experience, an ambulance driver from Camden, north London, all repeated the same message: people were so anxious it was affecting their their work. Mary Ezekiel will not qualify as a nurse until next year, but is not sure there will be a job for her. Her placard read "13 jobs in London", said to be the number of places in the capital for new nurses. " What will be left for me?"
Riki Allen, a 31-year-old phlebotomist at Kingston hospital, earns £17,500, and was recently told he did not qualify as a key worker for special housing. His hospital trust has a predicted a £7.5m deficit, and staff expect cuts announcements in December. "Happy Christmas, your job's gone," he said bitterly.
"We're for change," Jean Hayes from Wigan said. "But stop and think about it, talk to us. I keep hearing from younger nurses that they don't feel they're nursing any more, they're just working for the system. I'm considering not voting for Labour again, and I never thought I'd say that."
John Wood has been promised beautiful wards and operating theatres in a new, PFI-built Lewisham hospital next year. But even before it opens, cuts of £7m are predicted. "It's one big jigsaw puzzle," he said, "and all the bits are falling apart."
He added: "I have three sons and I have two nightmare scenarios. One, as an orthopaedic surgeon, is that they come to me and say, 'Daddy, I want a motorbike'. The other is that they come to me and say, 'Daddy, I want to be a doctor'."
