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Joe Vesey-Byrne
Jun 08, 2017

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CARL COURT/GETTY IMAGES
In a campaign by NHS workers against the Conservative government's reforms to health care, the hashtag #publicduty has started trending again.
During the election campaign, the Labour party pledged to remove the cap on salaries and recruitment to the National Health Service.
Responding to the announcement at the time, current Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was quoted by the BBC as saying:
As a result of that policy change we will be able to train record numbers of nurses in the next few years, thousands more nurses to go on to those wards and relieve the pressure in those hospitals.
He also said the future of the NHS depended on a good outcome from Brexit negotiations, describing them as 'absolutely critical'.
The implication being that only Theresa May could deliver that.
#publicduty
The premise of the hashtag is that NHS workers say "As an [X], it's my #publicduty to tell you" and then share their view of the state of the NHS after seven years of Conservative rule.
Some of the top tweets include:
As a Heart Failure Specialist I have a #publicduty to tell you that Tory cuts are harming NHS patient care#votenhs— louise sears (@louise sears) 1493146732
As a GP it is my #publicduty to inform you that the NHS will be a threadbare safety net by 2020 if Tory cuts are not reversed. #VoteNHS— Dr Helen Salisbury (@Dr Helen Salisbury) 1493132050
As an anaesthetic registrar it is my #publicduty to tell you this govt have deliberately created the largest fundin… https://t.co/E7WTdqjOBF— Henry Jefferson (@Henry Jefferson) 1493219999
As an emergency medicine doctor I have a #publicduty to tell you that Tories are closing departments & underfunding… https://t.co/xhiRrDVN1g— Mark McInerney (@Mark McInerney) 1493164046
Hundreds of more tweets using the hashtag have been posted during the election period, gathering momentum and public attention.
The campaign was also promoted on the left wing blog Sqawkbox.
One tweet from 18 April, before they'd hit on the idea of a hashtag to solve a funding crisis, came from co-founder of National Health Action Party, Clive Peedell.
As a cancer specialist with 20yrs NHS experience, it's my public duty to inform the public that Tories are dismantling & privatising the NHS— Clive Peedell (@Clive Peedell) 1421585758
Peedell stood in the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney, against David Cameron in the 2015 general election, securing sixth place.
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