Dr Philippa Whitford, one of Scotland most respected surgeons, delivered an insightful and hard hitting guest speech at the 2014 Vision for Scotland conference.
Her key messages are:
- That Scotland’s NHS needs independence to protect it from Westminster cuts and privatisation.
- The end destination of England’s privatisation journey is an American style private insurance funded health sector.
- The Scottish NHS has been saved by devolution but our budget is set by Westminster, and as they cut spending in England, Scotland gets less money to maintain the standards we in Scotland vote for.
- Ill health follows deprivation and we are living with the food bank generation. We need to forge our own path and live with our own values.
This is a must watch for anyone who cares about Scotland’s NHS and wants to know how independence will impact positively on our health care and well-being as a nation.
If you are watching via an iPhone or iPad then you can click this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJfYq-5gaw0
Join Business for Scotland – Sign the business declaration
Visit our Resource Section for more information.
Whatever you vote for, I hope it’s the right thing to do.
philippa should be televised on the main debate with darling. the vote for yes would go viral.well done,stirring stuff..k hamilton
Great speaker great surgeon talking from her heart
Dr. Whitford is the most inspirational speaker in the whole YES campaign. Absolute pleasure to listen to her straight talking, no nonsense, factual speech. I defy anyone who has listened to this to even think about voting no.
Brilliant stuff, thanks to BfS for bringing this and the whole Vision conference to us.
Privatisation of the NHS: Allyson Pollock at TEDxExeter
I also heard on a clip from Jackie Bird on reporting Scotland denying that the NHS in England was being privatised, mind boggling.
It is interesting to hear the argument for the NHS in Scotland come from a surgeon working in the NHS in Scotland and not the politicians. It makes me angry to hear the likes of Danny Alexander and Alistair Darling and cohorts ( all Scots ) deny that the NHS in England is moving more and more towards privatisation. This to bolster their arguments that Scotland remain in the union. They should be ashamed of themselves.
I personally want a much fairer country to live in and to keep our NHS free to the people that need it most. I hope that many others will hear and read this speech just to know the history of what has been happening in the NHS and what is happening currently, particularly in England. Thank you so much for highlighting the facts.
Well said Helen. It also astonishes me when reading the article on page 21 in the Herald on Sunday (24/08/14). There’s an interview with Prof Malcolm MacLeod where his use of some rather pejorative words about the Yes campaign and in particular about the warnings on the future of the NHS were tho vote to go with a no. His accusations essentially say that what Philippa (and others) are saying are an “astonishing fib”, “have very little to justify it”, “are a mistruth”, and are also “merely delusional and immature”! Perhaps he might be accused of precisely the same things by denying that there is some considerable truth in Philippa’s warning, not sure he’s thought of that, despite his professionand qualifications. He provides no supporting facts for his assertions – how typical!
The best speech of the day! Truly inspiring.
In a word – brilliant!