THE boots are sturdy, but probably not as sturdy as the spirit and determination of 50 people who left Jarrow on foot on Saturday to walk 300 miles to London to confront Parliament over the destruction of and privatisation of the National Health Service.

And make no mistake, that is what is happening. The NHS is being abolished. Huge sections are being handed to private healthcare firms — along with billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money — driven only by the profit motive.

The people who turned up to join the march in Jarrow, near Newcastle, on Saturday came from all over the country. 

Some will march a single section of the trek. But the 50 will complete the full 300 miles.

Among the latter is Margaret Ridley, a retired doctor from Ely in Cambridgeshire.

“We are horrified at the privatisation of the NHS, which is why I initially planned to come,” she says. 

“I’m now more concerned about the total destruction of the NHS. GPs are closing their surgeries because there is no money to fund them.

“Imagine the effect that has on a community. They cannot go to their local surgery so they go to an adjacent GP surgery which is already struggling.

“If the GPs’ surgeries collapse people will go straight to accident and emergency and they will collapse.”

Rajhan Madhok from Manchester is another marcher committed to the full 300 miles.

Now retired, he used to be director of public health in South Tyneside.

“I’m going to do a daily blog about the march,” he says. 

“I came to Britain from abroad and saw the National Health Service. Now I see it being destroyed. It is not acceptable.”

More than 3,000 people have signed up to join the march for one or more of its sections as it passes through 23 towns and cities along the route. 

Some went to Jarrow to march the first section to Chester-le-Street and will then join it again later, particularly for the final section into London.

Dr Aysha Raza travelled from London for the Jarrow to Chester-le-Street first section.

She is a neurological scientist at University College in London and is also a councillor in Ealing, west London.

“Round our way they are closing the accident and emergency departments,” she says. 

“They are closing Ealing Hospital and they are closing Charing Cross Hospital. It is going to have a massive impact on our communities. The Secretary of State himself has said he wants these accident and emergency departments to close. We are fighting it all the way. We took it to a judicial review. That is why I am here. I want my NHS to stay put, the way it is.”

Chris and Mike Campbell travelled to Jarrow from Bristol where they are involved in their local Protect Our NHS campaign.

“What is happening to our NHS is that it is being sold off basically,” Chris says. 

“They are moving toward the American system which will be no good for any of us.”

Health workers at Care UK in Doncaster are striking after their NHS jobs were privatised, their wages slashed and conditions worsened in the name of private profit. Mike says that one of the strikers had visited Bristol.

“We have a treatment centre run by Care UK in Bristol,” he says. 

“They have pocketed £6 million in taxpayers’ money for doing bugger-all. They are tax-avoiders and we are all totally campaigning against the sell-off of the NHS to private firms and Tory cronies.

“They are making money out of it. George Bernard Shaw said that of all the vested interests the worst vested interest was making money out of ill health.”

Barbara Smith, also from Bristol, says she worked for the NHS as a nurse, midwife and health visitor from 1959 to retirement and felt “passionate” about the service.

“The government has no mandate to sell off the NHS,” she says. “Our motto in Bristol is ‘for people not profit.’

“We do stalls in the community in Bristol to inform people about what is going on. We did a ‘flash choir’ to say thank you to the NHS staff based on the Kinks song Thank You for the Days, but singing: ‘Thank You for the Care.’

Caroline Walsh travelled to Jarrow from London.

“I think this is really important and I wanted to make a stand and show solidarity,” she says.

Doug Wright from Doncaster was also there. He penned a song which has been recorded by Care UK strikers in his home town and which is coming out on CD to raise funds for the strike, as reported in the Morning Star last week.

Michael Holt from Hartlepool in north-east England was doing the first leg of the march dressed as a soldier, complete with the traditional Tommy’s metal helmet.

He says he donned the uniform because he believes the foundation of the NHS was made possible because of sacrifices made by others.

“I am dressed as a soldier because the reason we got the NHS in the first place was the sacrifices of other people. The way to commemorate the soldiers who died is to fight for the NHS — the best way to keep their memory alive.

“People do not realise what is happening to the NHS,” he says. “Anything I can do to draw attention to it is a good thing to be involved in.”

As the march passes through community after community, city after city and town after town, campaigners and trade unionists will be there to greet them, show hospitality and stage rallies.

Thousands will be joining sections of the march. Members of Parliament who have supported the legislation which is destroying the NHS will find themselves targeted en route. 

Labour MPs will be asked to commit themselves to taking privatised services back into the NHS.

Regional offices of the Trades Union Congress are organising rallies for the marchers as they pass through their regions.

An appeal has gone out from the courageous marchers: “Join us!”