GP tries for MP on health ticket
Jan 14 2008 by Paul James, The Journal
A FAMILY doctor from Northumberland is planning to become an MP in a bid to “save” the National Health Service in the area.
Haydon Bridge GP Steven Ford yesterday revealed he will be standing as an independent against long-time Tory MP Peter Atkinson when the next election is called.
And Dr Ford – who claims the NHS is being privatised by stealth – is encouraging health professionals to stand as independents across the country and put health at the top of the political agenda.
He is drawing inspiration from the first consultant under whom he worked, Richard Taylor, who was elected in 2001 an MP for Wyre Forest, in Worcestershire, on a health ticket, and re-elected in 2005.
Dr Ford, a married father of two, has written an article for the British Medical Journal entitled How to Become an MP.
But warning his colleagues of potential vulnerability, he believes it is important to have more than one string to his political bow and will also campaign on green issues.
He said: “I’m proposing to stand at the next general election on an environment and health ticket.
“I’ve been to see Richard Taylor at Westminster and he managed to overturn a Labour majority of 26,000. Peter Atkinson has a majority of 5,000. If you don’t try you never find out.”
He added: “The privatisation agenda is a big worry. I don’t think people would like it but it is up to the electorate to choose.
“A privatisation of health services is what you’re getting under Conservative or Labour. You will lose the personal contact with your doctor and you will become a number in a machine, even more than you are already.
“The private operators are lining up to take over and going to see your doctor will be like going to the supermarket.
“You might get the goods you want, but not the personal contact.”
Dr Ford believes the village and small-town GP and surgery will disappear within a generation.
Mr Atkinson, an MP for 25 years, was not available for comment last night.
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Let’s test our approval ratings, colleagues told
WRITING in the British Medical Journal, Dr Ford challenges his fellow health professionals to make a stand.
Noting that doctors and other healthcare workers are more trusted by the public than politicians, he said it was time to test their approval ratings.
The article also give colleagues instructions on how to become a candidate at a general election.
In the piece, Dr Ford writes: "Could we make a change? It is often noted that doctors and other healthcare workers are more trusted by the public than politicians – this is the right time, a last chance perhaps, to take our approval ratings out for a psephological test drive.
"The electorate is ready for a wider choice of serious candidates. The proposition that 60 million people can have their views adequately represented by two and a half parties is too silly for words.
"Healthcare workers have something important to contribute."
