Protesters including Janet Shapiro, Jan Pollack, Frances Bailey and Ruth Cohen outside the Whittington on Friday

GOVERNMENT promises for extra NHS funding are “not enough” say campaigners from the group Keep Our NHS Public, a non-party political organisation that campaigns against privatisation and underfunding.

Members of the group were outside Whittington Hospital on Friday speaking to staff and patients about the threat of privatisation and warning of a winter crisis.

“A&E is under terrible pressure,” said Jan Pollack, who has suffered from Type 1 diabetes for many years. “When I go in I always give them a box of choccy biccies because they’re not paid enough and they’re treated like garbage.”

Ms Pollack is concerned that patients like her will be ignored under a privatised system because their cases are “messy” to treat. According to the group, 5,449 deaths have been linked to patients waiting for hospital beds, which they say is a result of chronic underfunding.

“Privatisation is not the way to solve the problem,” said campaigner Frances Bradley. “There’s an assumption that the private sector is more efficient. It’s disinvestment that’s the problem.”