As the crisis in the NHS continues, doctors and nurses took to the streets of London on March 11 in protest of their continuing struggle.
Organised by NHS SOS, a coalition of campaign groups and trade unions. The protest’s demands were simple: emergency funding for the struggling NHS, investment into a fully publicly owned NHS with a guarantee of free healthcare and to pay staff properly.
NHS SOS representative and front-line protester Andrew Meyerson said: “We see every single winter; it gets worse and worse. [The government] have pulled £400bn from our NHS in the last decade, they have no plans for NHS staff, no plans for NHS beds or social care.
“It’s just horrific and this government just does not care about the health of its people.”
Waiting lists have hit an all-time high of 7.2m patients anticipating surgeries, while over 42,000 NHS workers voluntarily left the service in the second quarter of 2022.
Beginning at Warren Street, the march started with an array of guest speakers, including Labour Party MP John McDonnell and activist and midwife Laura Godfrey-Isaacs .
The protest marched through the heart of central London before ending outside Downing Street, where further speeches were given by the likes of former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
This protest came before healthcare strikes across the country by the British Medical Association which saw junior doctors commit to 72-hours walk-out from work.
