END ALL PRIVATE PRACTICE

Uncorrected machine reading. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from a scan of a newspaper page, and the page was cut into articles by machine, at the headlines found by their type size. Nothing has been corrected: expect misread words, text from a neighbouring article, and titles that are the machine reading of the headline, some of them only fragments. Quote from the scan, not from this page.
How this article was cut and titled: headline found by type size in the OCR geometry (split_tabloid.py); 1-2 of 6; machine-segmented newspaper page; uncorrected Vision OCR.

page 2 of the scan

The British Medical Association are meeting on 12 February to discuss the result of the ballot now taking place amongst the consultants. The ballot will decide whether or not consultants will resign en musse from the NHS. a decision which would take effect in three months time.

If the consultants decide not to resign, it will be on the basis that legislation will be put to Parliament phasing out private beds only where equivalent facilities in private hospitals already exist in the same area. This means that for the indefinite future pay beds will continue to exist as part of the NHS in those areas where private hospitals are not tinancialv viable Picket This policy put forward by Barbara Castle clearly goes against the resolution passed at last year's Labour Party conference, and the policies of unions like the National Union of Public Employees and the National and Local Government Officers Association. These call for the immediate closure of all pay beds in the NHS.