PROOF that NHS cuts and privatisation cost lives.

Two articles in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine state that "2015 saw the greatest rise in mortality for almost 50 years in England and Wales." 

The authors also accused Government policy and its "relentless cuts" of being the cause of 30,000 excess deaths in 2015.

They concluded: "The evidence points to a major failure of the health care system, possibly exacerbated by failings in social care." 

They also warned that without "urgent intervention" by Government, mortality rates would continue to rise.

The 2012 Health and Social Care Act is a blueprint for the complete privatisation of the NHS, and its sell-off to big business corporations, like Branson's Virgin.

Since this Act became law: 66 A & E departments and Maternity Wards have closed; 19 Hospitals are targeted for closure; 14,966 NHS beds have been lost; and 51 more NHS Walk-in Centres are earmarked for closure.

The TUC should also get off their backsides and link up with NHS Unions to mount a high-profile campaign to expose the capitalist vultures circulating around the NHS, and to coordinate industrial action to stop this carve-up of publicly owned and financed NHS facilities.

James Roberts, Wallasey