The Coalition Government is currently pushing through legislation that will force a root and branch reorganisation to the NHS just as it has been ranked as one of the most efficient and effective health systems in the in the world.

The main plank of the reform is to put control of funding for most health-care directly in the hands of GPs thereby reducing the size of an NHS management which is already lean by international standards. Our doctors will have the responsibility not only for deciding what care, drugs and treatments we need but also for who provides that care, for negotiating the costs of that care and for making sure they don't overspend.

In the future health care services will be opened, according to the Government plans, to "any willing provider", meaning that the NHS will have to compete against private health care companies for work. Some of these companies are enormous corporations, particularly the American ones who have decades of experience of commercial competition. And don't be surprised if a few years down the line you'll be popping along to the supermarket for your day-treatment!

You can expect that after a short period of loss leaders and cherry-picking from the more profitable parts of health services the remnants of the NHS will be unable to compete any more. Charges from these companies will then go up, and the profits will be siphoned away into the pockets of shareholders instead of being re-invested in our care.

Of course you'd expect the health unions to be against these changes; after all they are directly affected. At best they'll see salaries and benefits reduced, but many are likely to lose their jobs. You might be more surprised to know that at a recent special meeting the doctor's association (the BMA) confirmed it has major concerns about the changes and has called on the Government to withdraw the proposed legislation.

So even the doctors who the Government want to take a major role in the changes are saying it must not happen!

I don't think for a moment that the Government will listen to any opposition views (unless of course Mr Harper has a word with them in private!). But please, protest anyway. Write to your MP, sign the petition on 38 degrees, do whatever you can before the NHS is no more.

– Roger Thorne, St White's Road, Cinderford.