The BMA has launched a campaign against the continuing commercialisation of the NHS, which it says risks destabilising health services, increases costs, and results in less investment in training.

The BMA is calling for the NHS to be restored as a public service that works cooperatively for patients, not a market of commercial businesses that compete with each other. It has drawn up eight key principles for the NHS and is urging doctors to sign up to the campaign on its website www.lookafterournhs.org.uk. It also wants doctors to send in examples of how market reforms are affecting them.

The BMA’s chairman, …