A NATIONAL Health Service pressure group has called on the Government to stop privatising parts of the healthcare system.

Keep our NHS Public (KONP) and Oxford and District Trade Union Council held a public meeting at Oxford Town Hall on Tuesday.

It was addressed by trade union stewards from Oxford and Swindon as well as Dr John Lister, author of NHS For Sale: Myths, Lies and Deception.

Speakers said quality health care was being undermined by companies who wanted to make a profit and criticised the wage freeze for NHS workers.

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It was claimed the drive for profits had also led to a rise in infections such as MRSA.

Oxfordshire KONP chairman Ken Williamson said: “The public needs to know what is happening on the frontline in our NHS. It took decades to make our health service the best in the world. Getting private firms to take over key functions, like cleanliness, has undone all this hard work; men and women are given rock bottom wages and difficult conditions for doing this essential work with inevitable results.”