Today I want to start a discussion about the future of health care in Britain.

Over the last two and a half years we’ve fought for our NHS and exposed David Cameron’s broken promises. We’ve opposed the Tories’ unnecessary and damaging top-down NHS reorganisation, with nearly 5,000 nurses cut and more patients waiting longer in A&E. And we’ve spoken out against the Tories’ marketisation and fragmentation of healthcare.

Labour always has been and always will be the party of the NHS.  But in 2015 we’ll inherit a damaged NHS, fragmented by Tory privatisation and cuts – so we need to talk about how we’re going to deliver One Nation Labour health and care in this environment.

Our vision is an NHS committed to ‘whole-person care’ –  physical health, mental health and social care brought together into a single service to meet our care needs.

I’ve started a discussion today about what that means and how we can build it at yourbritain.org.uk – and I want you to join in.

This is a true One Nation vision ? a health and care system shaped around people, not around the bureaucratic structures and market dogma the Tories have introduced, putting at risk one of our most beloved institutions which binds us together as a society.

The Tory way is leading to fragmentation ? making it even harder to tackle these problems.  Labour will build a single service, improve patient rights and protect the NHS for future generations.

And when money is tight, a single service is cheaper. Untreated mental illness costs the NHS £10 billion each year, and hospital care for people who cannot be discharged because there?s no help at home costs the NHS £4 million a week.

We can do this ? but we need your engagement and support.  So please go to yourbritain.org.uk, read my plans in detail, tell your friends about it, and join the fight for the future of our health services in Britain.

Thank you.

Andy Burnham