Say no to the market

Editor—It has been an enduring puzzle to me that the medical profession can be in large measures of agreement over the folly of successive governments' policies but the option of direct political action is almost never discussed.¹

Much of that which is happening to the NHS is almost wholly condemned by those who work in it, but the BMA response is routinely nicely measured, delivered with restrained eloquence, and characterised by a remorseless reasonableness.

I believe that the next election will be the last at which any substantial impact can be made and that we as doctors should mobilise now, with other concerned groups such as the Royal College of Nursing, and have pro-NHS candidates in every constituency. Dr Richard Taylor MP, for example, has been elected twice on a health ticket.

A colleague recently remarked: “The world is run by those who turn up.” We are all concerned, we command the confidence of a far larger section of the electorate than many, we can be articulate, we could be a very effective parliamentary influence, and we might even win. Why don't we mobilise politically? I'm game. Anyone else?