Help save the NHS

Dear Friend

It’s a moment to seize. This Thursday at 2pm, 38 Degrees will meet with key Lib Dem members of the House of Lords. [1] They’ve asked us to bring along our independent legal experts to discuss the alarming impact the government's plans could have on the NHS.
But that’s not all we will bring to the meeting. We will hand in a copy of the Save our NHS petition to make them realise how many of us expect them to act to protect our health service. It’s the numbers of us involved with the campaign that forces politicians to listen.
Can you help grow this petition right now, by forwarding this email to friends and family? Ask them to click below to add their signature by 2pm Thursday:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/Save-our-NHS
Thursday's meeting could be crucial. If we can persuade senior Lib Dems to demand big changes to Andrew Lansley's plans, we could stop some of the worst damage to our health service. [2] The legal experts we paid for together will set out the legal details. But what will really convince the politicians on Thursday is the huge tidal wave of public support.
Our job is to let the senior Lib Dems know this isn’t a technical issue to be left to lawyers alone. There are hundreds of thousands of us determined to protect the future of our NHS. We all rely on the NHS. We can show the Lib Dem Lords we will work together to defend it as long as it is under threat.
It’s the numbers in this campaign that compel them to sit up and listen. So let's present them with a petition bigger than they’ve ever seen. We’ve already got 443,251 signatures. Will your friends and family join in and help take it over half a million?
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/Save-our-NHS
We had a disappointing result in the first round of voting in the House of Lords last week, when the government's plans scraped through to the next stage. [3] But a 38 Degrees member named Richard summed it up when he said, “It is not yet over and any opportunity that presents itself must be used to pressure and attack Lansley’s plan for the NHS.”
Suzie, another 38 Degrees member, added, “This is just another skirmish. We may have lost this one but now we need to re-group and go forward again!”
So many of us have already signed this petition, because we know the NHS is worth defending. Together generations of British people have built and maintained a health service that looks after all of us - rich or poor, whenever we need it. The NHS isn’t perfect, but it does an incredible job. We can't afford to let it be damaged or destroyed.
Please forward this message to family and friends and ask them to sign the petition right now, before 2pm Thursday:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/Save-our-NHS
If you use Facebook you could also share the petition on your profile:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/NHS-facebook-share
If you are on Twitter you could also send a tweet:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/NHS-twitter-share
Thanks for being involved,
Johnny, Hannah, David, Becky, Marie, Cian and the 38 Degrees team
P.S. Let's show the senior Lib Dem Lords that there isn't just independent legal evidence behind our worries. Nearly half a million petition signers have put their name to concerns such as increasing competition from private health companies and scrapping the Secretary of State's "duty to provide" health services too. Please press forward on this email and ask your friends and family to add their voice:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/Save-our-NHS
NOTES
[1] The meeting will be with Baroness Jolly (the Lib Dem health spokesperson in the Lords), Lord Marks QC (a leading Lib Dem legal expert) and their political adviser.
[2] The plans go into committee stage in the House of Lords, a chance for 'line by line examination' and detailed changes, next week: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/healthandsocialcare.html
[3] You can read more about what happened last week, and 38 Degrees members' reactions to it, here: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-lords-vote-result