Fight to keep vital health service from privatisation

• JIM Curran is right to be disappointed that the new chair of NHS England, Richard Meddings, is not opposed to American ownership of our GP surgeries, (Do they think the future of the NHS is privatisation?).

This is not, however, the only element of Americanisation and privatisation haunting the National Health Service.

The latest reorganisation replaces clinical commissioning groups with so-called ICS, integrated care systems, the boards of which can include private health care providers, a clear conflict of interest.

A number of ICS boards have undertaken to exclude private health care providers from their boards, but our own North London body has made no such commitment.

Please join concerned citizens to demand that they immediately commit to keeping private providers off the board. We must keep as much of our NHS out of private hands as possible.

“We Own It” has compiled an excellent pro forma letter on the matter to send to Mike Cooke, the local ICS chair. It can be downloaded at https://weownit.org.uk/findmynhs

It’s the least we can do to protect this vital institution.

DAVID BREWERTON
Islington Green Party