PEOPLE from Ludlow and south Shropshire were among an estimated 250,000 protesters from all over the country at a rally in support of the NHS in London.

Gill George, who lives in Ludlow and chairs the Shropshire Defend our NHS Group, spoke at the rally in Westminster Square.

This national demonstration, called by Health Campaigns Together and the People’s Assembly, called for a U-turn to the government policies that are causing an escalating crisis in our NHS.

Gill George hit out at what she describes as gobbledegook in an NHS Sustainability and Transformation plan for Shropshire.

“We are going to have in Shropshire ‘the healthiest population on the planet',” she said.

“That’s what they say, and that’s impressive. Get this, we’re going to replace the sickness paradigm with wellness. Well hurrah for that. And in a particularly magnificent bit of meaningless claptrap, we are going to develop a single shared view of the place-based needs of the population using advanced business intelligence capabilities. That’s all right then.”

Gill George said that professional care that people depend upon is being lost.

“The disgraceful pretence that you can drive through the destruction of the NHS and social care – but it’s OK, because we’ve got community resilience, and friends and family and neighbours can just step in and fill all the gaps… What nonsense,” she added.

Bishop’s Castle mum Tess Finch-Lees travelled to London for the protest, accompanied by her nine-year-old son Archie.

“I came today because our NHS is on the brink of destruction. If we don’t fight against savage cuts and privatisation now, there’ll be nothing left,” she said.

“My son’s generation will never forgive us.”