PRO-NHS activists mounted a day of action across England at the weekend to highlight the rogues and profiteers who are lining up to grab chunks of the health service.

In Leeds, Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) members rallied outside a Virgin media store to highlight the 100 services already being run by mogul Richard Branson’s empire.

And in Islington, north London, KONP co-chair Professor Sue Richards joined other campaigners to highlight the threat.

“Today is about making a statement to the government that their privatisation agenda must cease and the public have a right to know that their NHS is being dismantled,” she said.

“I was out campaigning in Islington against both the national policy of forcing local commissioners to contract out services, and plans by Islington clinical commissioning group (CCG) and four neighbouring CCGs to put the GP out-of-hours service out to tender, with the likelihood that such a big contract will go to a big company rather than local GPs.”