T housands of demonstrators have descended on central London for a march marking the 70th anniversary of the NHS. The huge rally is taking place to call for more money for the health service and demand an end to cuts and privatisation of services. Doctors, nurses, health campaigners, union members and other supporters of the NHS marched on Whitehall just after 2pm on Saturday. Protesters carrying placards and banners reading "Standing together for the NHS" and "NHS SOS" streamed down towards Parliament. People march in central London to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS / PA Chants including "Shame on you Tories" and "Hey, ho, Jeremy Hunt has got to go" rang out as the march paused outside Downing Street in the afternoon sunshine. Marchers then proceeded to a stage at the bottom of Whitehall by Parliament Square, where Jeremy Corbyn addressed crowds. Taking to the stage, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called on attendees to have the "absolute determination that we will go to the end of the earth and beyond to defend our National Health Service". He appealed to the Government, saying: "In the name of equality, in the name of justice, pay the social care needs that are necessary so people can live with dignity." He added he felt very strongly about the provision of mental health care in Britain. Jeremy Corbyn addresses demonstrators at the rally / REUTERS He said: "It is a symbol of an uncaring and cruel and divided society that so many go through mental health stress, so many go through it alone, and so many, sadly, take their own lives. "I want to live in a society where we have a health service worthy of the name 'paid for by all of us, for all of us'. It's called socialism. "I want to see the same principles applied in education and in housing," he said, forced to pause as cheers erupted. The now-familiar "Oh Jeremy Corbyn" chant was sung as he finished his speech to thunderous applause. People brandish placards at the demonstration on a sunny Saturday / AFP/Getty Images As he stepped backstage, dozens of supporters crowded around, shaking hands and snapping selfies with the Labour leader. Other politicians, as well as actors, musicians and union leaders also spoke at the event over the course of the day. A man with a birthday placard was one of thousands taking part in the march / EPA TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said she was proud to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS, which she dubbed "Britain's best ever socialist achievement". She told crowds: "The only reason the NHS has kept going is because of our wonderful staff. "Not just the doctors and the nurses, but the porters, the cleaners, the caterers." She added: "Don't let any of those poisonous politicians who want to scapegoat migrant workers divide us. We are united." Demonstrators stand in Whitehall during a march in support of the NHS / REUTERS Valerie Bossman-Quarshie, a Labour activist and volunteer, said she wanted to give the NHS a "really good cheer" as she held a birthday card aloft to be signed by passing demonstrators. One of her babies was delivered at St Thomas' Hospital when her waters broke on the bus, and she has also received counselling after losing twins at nine weeks. The Londoner said: "It's been really amazing - I almost ran out of pens. Thousands of people marched to mark 70 years of the NHS / EPA "Everyone has come up to me saying 'that's a nice poster, is it a card?, and taking pictures and saying 'Oh I didn't know it was their birthday', because everyone thinks it's just a march, but it's actually a celebration so we need to get behind it and really trumpet big." "They've been there for me when I was sick and I just want to be there for them," she added.<doc-sep>Tens of thousands of people have marched through London to mark the NHS’s 70th anniversary and demand an end to government cuts and further privatisation of the health service. Bearing placards reading “Cuts leave scars”, “For people not profit” and “Democracy or corporate power” demonstrators moved down Whitehall on Saturday afternoon to the chant of “Whose NHS? Our NHS”. They stopped outside Downing Street to demand Theresa May’s resignation en route to the stage where they were greeted by the National Health Singers choir singing “the NHS needs saving, don’t let them break it”. Shortly after, Jeremy Corbyn addressed the crowd – organisers said there were about 40,000 people present – demanding an end to privatisation, the closure of the internal market, for staff to no longer be subcontracted to private companies and for social care to be properly funded. “There have been huge attacks on our NHS over many years,” he said. “The Tories voted against the original legislation and have always sought to privatise it and continue an internal market. “Paying money out to private health contractors, the profits of which could and sometimes do, end up in tax havens around the world. “Think it through, you and I pay our taxes because we want a health service for everybody, I don’t pay my taxes for someone to rip off the public and squirrel the profits away.” Jeremy Corbyn addresses demonstrators after the march. Photograph: Simon Dawson/Reuters A festival atmosphere permeated the diverse crowd throughout the day, although the anger towards the government’s NHS policy was palpable as protestors proceeded down Regent Street to the thump of a marching band. Some spoke of how the NHS had saved their lives and those of their relatives, while others feared that a comprehensive health service might not exist for future generations unless there is radical change. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the NHS, they saved my life at 15,” said Polly Ridgewell-Cook, from Essex, who added that the unit she was treated in has now been closed because of cuts. “I’ve worked for the NHS as an analyst for 10 years, I’ve seen the frontline cuts, staff leaving because they’re not supported enough – they’re in tears in A&E. People march through London to mark 70 years of the NHS. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA “We outsource things because we have to do so to meet targets because we don’t have the capacity. I think that’s a design. It’s just terrible, we can do better than this, we did do better than this.” Others paid tribute to the dedication of NHS staff who saved their loved ones from the brink of death. “NHS staff saved my mother’s life when she stopped breathing,” said Dan Harper, a protester from Camden. “The ambulance drivers resuscitated her and then went above and beyond to get her to hospital. “Nurses from many different countries then treated her and gave me the opportunity to spend more time with her.” A giant birthday cake for the NHS with a candle with a “For sale” sign sticking out of it was held aloft, while copies of This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor were handed out for free as “No ifs, no buts, no NHS cuts” rang out. At midday, campaigners and politicians took to the stage outside All Souls church in Marylebone to give speeches before the march. “I come from a generation that had to pay for their healthcare and in a climate like that it was only the rich who could afford to be healthy,” said Jan Shortt, the general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention. A man with a birthday placard as thousands of people march to mark 70 years of the NHS. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA “On the street in Luton, Bedfordshire, where I lived there were various families who lost their children to whooping cough. My grandad told me he used to pay one and six every time the doctor came to visit and medication was extra. “Since the budget cuts my chronically asthmatic son has been forced to change his inhaler and the new one isn’t as effective.” NHS estate and facilities workers from Wigan, who have been on strike over privatisation at their hospital, spoke about how there are plans to transfer hundreds of staff from the NHS to a private sector company called WWL Solutions on 1 August. “The NHS isn’t just a logo, it means everything to us,” said Joanna McClure, a striking domestic. “We’ve done two two-day strikes, we’re currently on a five-day strike and we’ll carry on striking again until we get where we need to be. Q&A What are the financial pressures on the NHS that have built up over the last decade? Show Between 2010-11 and 2016-17, health spending increased by an average of 1.2% above inflation and increases are due to continue in real terms at a similar rate until the end of this parliament. This is far below the annual inflation-proof growth rate that the NHS enjoyed before 2010 of almost 4% stretching back to the 1950s. As budgets tighten, NHS organisations have been struggling to live within their means. In the financial year 2015-16, acute trusts recorded a deficit of £2.6bn. This was reduced to £800m last year, though only after a £1.8bn bung from the Department of Health, which shows the deficit remained the same year on year. Read a full Q&A on the NHS winter crisis Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback. “We’re passionate about working for the NHS but a lot of things have changed: there are longer waiting times and people can’t get appointments for months. It’s getting so much more difficult.” The government has faced enduring criticism that it has failed to adequately fund the NHS since 2010, and that it has overseen a decline in the once widely admired public health service as a way to privatise it by stealth. Earlier this month, Theresa May promised an extra £20bn of funding as part of a “Brexit dividend”, although a government spending watchdog challenged the basis of the pledge, which it suggested was ambiguous.<doc-sep>Tens of thousands of people are travelling to London on Saturday to take part in mass demonstrations against the “deliberate” underfunding of the NHS, Nurses, doctors, actors and musicians will be among the masses marching on Whitehall on the week the health service turns 70. NHS staff have travelled from as far afield as Lancaster to take part in the demand to end the cuts and the “ruinous” privatisation of NHS services. They hope to ensure that the founding principles of the NHS, that it is free at the point of use and available to all, are not undermined by budget pressures which have meant long waits for treatment and rationing of services in parts of the country. NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Show all 18 1 /18 NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, addresses demonstrators following the march AFP/Getty NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary EPA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Reuters NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary EPA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary PA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary PA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images The march falls on the same morning that NHS officials said they were considering axing 17 routine but unnecessary procedures, such as back pain injections and varicose vein treatment in a bid to save £200m. Others who couldn’t attend the event in person have taken to social media to show their support. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who will address the demonstration, said: “It is almost 70 years since the NHS was founded by a Labour government and it’s still our proudest achievement. “What the Conservatives have done to our NHS, first under David Cameron, and then Theresa May, is appalling. “Deliberate underfunding of services, and squeezing the pay of our brilliant doctors, nurses and health staff, has pushed our NHS to the brink. “Every day there are shocking stories of unacceptable waiting times, ambulance delays and patients left on trolleys in corridors, and they’ve spent years selling off and contracting out our NHS bit by bit, leaving the NHS to be sued by private companies, like Virgin. “Labour will end privatisation because our NHS should be about healthcare for all, not profits for a few. “Last week, the government finally announced some more money for our health service, but it’s simply not enough to make up for the last eight years of slashed budgets and worsening standards, falling morale and loss of staff. “In fact, it would barely keep the NHS at a standstill.” Research by the TUC showed “widespread” shortages of GPs in England, with 43 per cent fewer doctors than needed in Milton Keynes and Luton. No area of the country has enough GPs to meet demand, with even the best-provided area of Dorset having a 4 per cent shortfall, said the TUC. NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday Show all 18 1 /18 NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday Nurses test the hearing of a newborn child Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday The waiting room is busy in Milton Keynes University Hospital Reuters NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 24, two nurses work at the nurses station Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday In A&E, a porter rushes a patient through the corridor Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday A surgical team prepares a patient for their operation Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday In the physiotherapy department, patients are treated in the hydrotherapy pool Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 8, an inpatient awaits visitors Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday In the physiotherapy department, amputees take a class Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday A junior doctor is at work in the staff room Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday A surgical team prepares a patient for their operation Reuters NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday An inpatient has her hair washed by the staff hairdressers Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday In the audiology department, a mother watches on as her son is given a hearing test Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 8, staff serve lunch to the patients Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 24, a patient waits on their bed Reuters NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 8, a cleaner is at work Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday A nurse takes blood from a patient Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 8, an inpatient receives a visitor Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday Inpatient Donald Ritson lies in bed in Ward 24 in Milton Keynes University Hospital Reuters General secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Underfunding has left the NHS on the critical list. There are too few doctors, too few beds and too few healthcare staff. “The best medicine for the NHS is the extra funding it needs, but the government is giving it too small a dose to bring it up to full health. “We’re sending a message to the government today that our NHS needs a better deal and it must be publicly owned and provided so that every penny goes to patient care and not to private profits.” The GMB union said the three year pay deal for NHS workers would lead to a real terms pay cut of up to £2,500 for some staff. The GMB is the only health union to have rejected the deal. National officer Rachel Harrison said: “Jeremy Hunt has some cheek imposing a real terms pay cut of thousands of pounds on hard-working NHS staff. “On the NHS’s 70th birthday, the Health Secretary has soured the mood with his party pooper of a pay offer.” Saturday’s protest is being organised by groups including the People’s Assembly and unions. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “As part of our long-term plan for the NHS we will increase funding by an average 3.4 per cent per year – meaning that by 2023/24 it will receive £20.5 billion a year more than it currently does.”<doc-sep>
Tens of thousands of people are to rally on the streets of London to demand greater funding for the NHS ahead of its 70th birthday. Nurses, doctors and other health workers will all take part in the protest on Saturday, which has been timed to mark the impending milestone coming up next Thursday, 5 July. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will be among those to address the crowds, alongside other politicians, actors, musicians and union leaders, to call for an end to the "ruinous" privatisation of health services up and down the country. Mr Corbyn will slam the approach taken by the Conservatives as "appalling", and dismiss a boost to the NHS budget recently announced by the prime minister as hardly enough to keep it running at its current level. Image: Jeremy Corbyn will be one of the famous faces to address the rally "Deliberate under-funding of services, and squeezing the pay of our brilliant doctors, nurses and health staff, has pushed our NHS to the brink," he will say. "Every day there are shocking stories of unacceptable waiting times, ambulance delays and patients left on trolleys in corridors, and they've spent years selling off and contracting out our NHS bit by bit, leaving the NHS to be sued by private companies, like Virgin. "Labour will end privatisation because our NHS should be about healthcare for all, not profits for a few." The rally will take place in the wake of damning new research by the TUC into the availability of GPs in England, with widespread shortages reported. Even the best-provided area - Dorset - has a shortfall of 4%, and there are a whopping 43% fewer doctors than needed in Luton and Milton Keynes. General secretary Frances O'Grady said a lack of funding had "left the NHS on the critical list", with not enough beds, doctors and other healthcare staff. Image: Hospital staff took part in another demonstration in the capital last week "The best medicine for the NHS is the extra funding it needs, but the government is giving it too small a dose to bring it up to full health," she said. "We're sending a message to the government today that our NHS needs a better deal and it must be publicly owned and provided so that every penny goes to patient care and not to private profits." Trade union GMB has also laid into the government over its NHS policy ahead of the rally, notably a new pay deal on offer for health workers. It claims the proposed contracts would lead to a real terms pay cut of £2,500 for some staff. National officer Rachel Harrison said: "Jeremy Hunt has some cheek imposing a real terms pay cut of thousands of pounds on hard-working NHS staff. "On the NHS's 70th birthday, the health secretary has soured the mood with his party pooper of a pay offer." The Department of Health and Social Care has played down the concerns, insisting that Theresa May's recent spending commitment would benefit the NHS hugely. A spokesman said an average annual funding increase of 3.4% was part of a "long-term plan for the NHS", which would see it receive an extra £20.5bn per year by 2023/24.