Save 6,000 Nurses By Abandoning Health Bill

Ed Miliband has accused the Government of directly damaging frontline patient care with its controversial health care bill.

Talking about frontline pressure right across the NHS, Mr Miliband pointed to new figures released by Labour that show the number of NHS nurses has fallen by 3,500 since the general election, which could be 6,000 by the end of this parliament.

The Labour leader, along with Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham, will be visiting staff and patients at the Princess Royal University Hospital in Kent.

It comes as Labour launches the next stage of its campaign against the Government’s Health Bill which is returning to Parliament this week.

Sepaking at the launch. Ed Miliband said: "In tough times and with little money around the very first priority should be to protect the frontline NHS. Instead we have a government blowing a vast amount of money on a damaging top-down reorganisation at the same time as it is cutting thousands of nurses, with more than 3,000 already gone.

"Labour’s priority is protecting the frontline, not a pointless and damaging reorganisation of the NHS. So we are calling for the Bill to be scrapped, and for some of the money set aside to fund this reorganisation to instead be made available to the NHS to protect the thousands of nursing posts either already cut or set to be cut in the coming years.

"It is a clear and simpl e choice for the Government: by stopping this damaging reorganisation we can fund 6,000 nurses.

"In opposition David Cameron told people he could be trusted to protect the NHS. In government he has put Tory free-market ideology ahead of basic patient care."

(DW)