May 25th, 2011

NHS Ads: Lansley has his fingers in his ears

By Cian O'Donovan

Photograph by 38 Degrees

“When we tell him his plans aren’t working, he doesn’t seem to want to hear what we’re saying.”
– Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chair of the British Medical Association, May 2011

It’s hard to listen with two fingers stuck in your ears. That’s the message 38 Degrees members have sent Health Minister Andrew Lansley this morning.

Newspaper ads funded entirely by thousands of donations from 38 Degrees members have been published in five daily papers, the Guardian, Mirror, Mail, Express and Metro. The combined circulation is a whopping six million people. These ads were driven by people power with thousands of contributors raising over £90,000 in just a few days. And not only did 38 Degrees members fully fund the ads, they also contributed important feedback during the design process.

Lansley still isn’t listening. His sham “listening exercise” draws to a close at the end of the month and today 38 Degrees members have sent a message he can’t possibly ignore. The future of the NHS is too important for us to let it be decided behind closed doors.

The campaign to Save the NHS continues to gain momentum. Nearly 400,000 people have signed our petition. Can you help spread the word?

If you use Facebook you can post the advert to your Facebook profile.
If you use Twitter you can tweet about them.
A PDF version can be downloaded here so send it to your friends or stick it in your window to show you want Lansley to start listening.

You can find the ads in the following papers, Wednesday 25 May editions.