A GROUP of Forest residents took to the streets of Monmouth last month to ask for the public’s help in encouraging peers to vote against the Government’s controversial Health and Care Bill, which they say would be "detrimental" to the NHS.

Campaigners Victoria Blair, Judy Craven and Louise Cockburn, all from St Briavels, braved the cold in the town centre to inform the passers-by about the bill - which they say "would further rapidly propel the NHS towards full privatisation".

The volunteers represent national campaign JustTreatment, which wants to stop what they’re calling the "NHS Corporate Takeover Bill" by encouraging politicians to vote against it.

The campaigners say the bill would deliver an "American-style" health system in the UK by giving profit making healthcare companies power over NHS decision making.

They say the bill would put more power in the hands of central government which could lead to a lack of scrutiny, risks to NHS staff pay and - "most terrifyingly of all" - threats to patient care.

The bill is currently at the Committee Stage in the House of Lords.

The local group set up a stall on Monmouth High Street with the aim of encouraging members of the public to write to crossbench lords to convince them to vote against the bill, and together with the public, they managed to send around 90 letters.

They are now calling on local people to help them send even more.

Victoria Blair, who is the mother of twins that suffer from Cystic Fibrosis, says this could be "our last chance to save the NHS now that this bill is being debated for the final time by the House of Lords."

"Cystic fibrosis is just one of many complex chronic diseases, the costs of which would see many suffering to obtain the medication and care they need privately", Victoria continued. 

"The thought of losing our beloved health service with two children suffering from an expensive genetic disease is truly terrifying."