SOS for our NHS! Lib Dems launch health service campaign

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 10th Oct 2008

The Lib Dems want to see local people and patients, not Government ministers, being given more of a say in how the NHS is run.

The Liberal Democrats have launched a major national campaign to save the NHS from Labour's cuts and incompetence.

The campaign calls for an end to NHS cuts and for the Government to stop wasting billions of pounds of health spending. It also calls for for local people to have more say over local health services.

John Dixon, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary spokesman for Cardiff North said: "I know from my own experience just how important the NHS is, and how hard nurses, doctors and other staff work. By trying to control every detail of what goes on in the NHS, the Labour Government has wasted money."

Ed Bridges, Welsh Assembly spokesman for Cardiff North Lib Dems, added: "In Wales, we are faced with the staggering position where health professionals and patients have lost confidence in the Government's handling of the NHS despite record investment. Only five years after setting up Local Health Boards, the Labour/Plaid Government is proposing to reorganise the NHS in Wales again, and the plans will lead to yet more political involvement in health service. The Welsh Liberal Democrats accept that LHBs have failed to provide efficient and effective management of the NHS, but these reforms do little to encourage stability or boost staff morale in the health service."

The Liberal Democrats have a three-point plan to save our NHS:

Lib Dems like Ed Bridges (left) and John Dixon (right) want to see an end to Labour's cuts and waste in the NHS.

1. STOP THE CUTS

Local hospitals are under threat, staff are made redundant and services are being slashed. It's no way to run the NHS, and the cuts should be halted.

2. CUT THE WASTE

While services are being cut, the Government is spending millions on computer systems that have yet to deliver, and botched reforms which don't help patients.

3. GIVE US BACK OUR NHS

Under Labour, it is Government Ministers that have ALL the say while local people have NO say. The Lib Dems want to see more control of the NHS in the hands of local people.

For more details, and to add your voice to the campaign, visit: http://www.nhssos.com/