{"id":1106,"date":"2014-09-06T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-09-06T07:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=1106"},"modified":"2014-09-07T19:04:38","modified_gmt":"2014-09-07T18:04:38","slug":"300-miles-crusade-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=1106","title":{"rendered":"300 miles \u00e2\u20ac\u0098crusade\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Today (Saturday September 6) London welcomes the valiant NHS marchers who have walked three-hundred miles to campaign against the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s NHS sell-off that is endangering the future of our health service.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fifteen original marchers, dubbed \u00e2\u20ac\u0098the 300-milers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 committed three weeks to walk the long journey from Jarrow though many more people were inspired to join in along the way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some walked with them through to the next town while others put their lives on hold to make it down to London.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

UNITElive caught up with the marches at their pit-stop in Luton on Thursday September 4, where NHS nurse Barbara Campbell said the walk so far had been a \u00e2\u20ac\u015beuphoric experience.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt has been absolutely amazing,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve met such a lot of lovely people along the way and I hope that it sends a message to government to leave our NHS alone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy mum and dad didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any money or any properties to leave me, but they left me the NHS. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to leave my children a world where they have to worry about how they are going to pay their bills or healthcare.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The campaign was kick-started by the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Darlo mums\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 who wanted to take action against the top down reorganisation that is dismantling and gradually privatising the NHS.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite head of health, Rachael Maskell spoke at a rally earlier this week.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s our NHS. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one our grandparents built. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one we work in, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one we use, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one we own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUp and down the country we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen hundreds of contracts go out to the private sector. No one has the right to sell off our NHS, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to take it back.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The marchers began their journey on August 16 and, following the same route as the 1936 Jarrow Crusade, have stomped through twenty-two towns and cities on their way to Westminster.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The reception from the public has been immensely positive, raising awareness and often inspiring people to join in the march.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite member Dr Patrick French is an NHS consultant physician and decided to join the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098300-milers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in Luton.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI became a doctor to work in an NHS that values looking after people according to their need, not ability to pay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have to fight now, or it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all over. If we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, the NHS will cease to exist in any recognisable form.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rally in Trafalgar Square will bring the campaign\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message to people in the capital and, of course, to parliament.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It will also mean a well-deserved rest for the tired feet of the marchers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fiona Dent is one of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098300 milers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 who left Jarrow three weeks ago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very, very hard [being away from home]. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been sleeping on floors in community centres a lot of the time. There isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always somewhere where you can get a good wash \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there certainly aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t any showers in most of these places.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But has it been worth it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAbsolutely,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s our right to have an NHS and if we want it, we can keep it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but only if we really make the government understand that we want to keep it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today (Saturday September 6) London welcomes the valiant NHS marchers who have walked three-hundred miles to campaign against the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s NHS sell-off that is endangering the future of our health service.   Fifteen original marchers, dubbed \u00e2\u20ac\u0098the 300-milers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 committed three weeks to walk the long journey from Jarrow though many more people were inspired to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[75,72],"wps_subtitle":"New \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Jarrow marchers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 walk 300 miles to save NHS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1106"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1110,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106\/revisions\/1110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}