Final Days

The Health Bill is in its final days in Parliament.

We have seen the Liberal Democrat Conference vote in a significant way against the Health Bill - presenting a problem for Mr Clegg and his Parliamentary colleagues. Grassroot LibDems have spoken out and said they do not like the Health Bill that Nick Clegg, their leader, and Mr Cameron are completely wedded to. Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron seem to want to ignore the hundreds of thousands of voters and healthcare professionals who have spoken out against the Bill.

We are now asking you to Lobby Your College again - for you to call on your own Royal College to send this letter to MPs as a strong message from the medical profession prior to the final vote in Parliament which is coming very soon.

Please could you copy and paste the text of the letter below into an email after having clicked on the link for your own College - and ask your own College to send it as an open letter to Parliament. You could also click the link for the Academy of Medical Colleges which is an umbrella body for all Colleges and ask them to lobby MPs.

Thanks you for you help once more in this most important matter.

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TEXT OF LETTER WE ARE ASKING ROYAL COLLEGES TO SEND TO PARLIAMENT

"We call upon you parliamentarians to think again about the concerns raised by many 100,000's health and social care professionals and 170,000 members of the public about the bill being debated today. We urge you to put the interest of patients and the future of our health service ahead of party politics and halt this bill now. It is not too late. Once halted we can work with you and others to stabilise the NHS and to then create a health service fit for the 21st Century, based on co-operation and collaboration.

We consider that the Health and Social Care Bill, if passed, will damage the NHS and widen healthcare inequalities, with detrimental effects on patient care in England."

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Academy of Medical Colleges      neil.douglas@aomrc.org.uk    Chair - Professor Sir Neil Douglas


Royal College of Physicians         Richard.Thompson@rcplondon.ac.uk  - President 
Royal College of Surgeons           abennett@rcseng.ac.uk  - chief executive Mr A Bennett
                                                                   n.s.williams@qmul.ac.uk - President Prof Norman Williams
Royal College of GPs                  president@rcgp.org.uk
Royal College of Radiologists       president@rcr.ac.uk
Royal College of O&G                 president@rcog.org.uk
Royal College of Psychiatrists     reception@rcpsych.ac.uk
Royal College of Paediatrics        t.stephenson@ucl.ac.uk - President Prof Stephenson
Royal College of Pathologists      president@rcpath.org
Royal College of Anaesthetists    president@rcoa.ac.uk 
Faculty of Public Health              president@fph.org.uk
College of Emergency Medicine  mc.prescem@gmail.com  President - Mr Mike Clancy
Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Health President -   dhalfnight@fsrh.org