Bulwell protest against US heath giant taking place this week

KNOP will be protesting against what it sees as the ‘creeping selloff’ of NHS surgeries to US healthcare giant Centene.

The socially-distanced demonstration will take place outside St Albans Surgery on Hucknall Road in Bulwell betwen 3pm nd 4pm.

It will be part of a national protest against the Centene and its various subsidiaries which KNOP says is taking over surgeries across the country for profit.

Mike Scott, KONP spokesperson, said: “The Government is deliberately using the pandemic to extend privatisation in the NHS.

"The CEO of this company has recently been appointed as health advisor to Boris Johnson and that’s not a coincidence.

"This is becoming an increasingly big issue in Nottinghamshire, as not only are three surgeries in the county already being run by Centene subsidiary Operose, it is likely they will be taking over three more in June when current contracts are up.

"This is a company that has been prosecuted in the US for underpaying doctors and not employing enough doctors for the number of patients they were responsible for.

"Nobody except the Government wants these people in our NHS.

"We’ve discussed our concerns with Alex Norris MP (Bulwell MP) and call on the Clinical Commissioning Group to ensure surgeries are run for the benefit of local people, not healthcare multinationals.”