MORE than 1,000 people have signed petitions urging candidates standing for MP in Thornbury and Yate and Filton and Bradley Stoke to protect the NHS from privatisation.

Campaigners took to the streets in Thornbury and Yate on Saturday, February 28 to urge people to make their views known.

The day of action was organised by campaign group 38 Degrees. Across two separate petitions for each constituency, more than 1,100 people have signed the group’s petition.

The petition asks each candidate to commit to protect the NHS from privatisation, make sure it has the funding it needs, and to keep the NHS out of the TTIP trade deal with the US.

Alex Akerman, a 38 Degrees member from Almondsbury, said: “The Save our NHS action day was a great success. 38 Degrees members in South Gloucestershire held separate events in Yate, and Thornbury and were overwhelmed by the level of support for the campaign.

“Many signatures were collected and a great job was done in terms of raising awareness of the threat posed to the NHS by privatisation and under-funding. But the fight isn't over yet.

“The campaign to save our NHS continues. With an election just around the corner, 38 Degrees will keep campaigning to ensure that all political parties and parliamentary candidates commit to an NHS that provides quality healthcare, free at the point of use, for generations to come. Politicians need to know we are watching them and will hold them to account if they fail to save our NHS."

David Babbs, executive director of 38 Degrees said: “This day of action should send a clear message to politicians: you’re being watched by millions of us fighting to protect our NHS.

“The NHS is the best healthcare system in the world, and it belongs to all of us. But too many politicians have ignored the doctors and nurses on the frontline. They've turned their back on the principle of an NHS owned by all of us and working to save lives, rather than to make money.

“People in South Gloucestershire stood with thousands of people across the country to say that we love our NHS too much to let it be sold off to the highest bidder.”

To view the petition visit: www.38degrees.org.uk/nhs