Today's Observer has a story about the much loved anthem of NHS nurses, medics and staff, who are sick of the ill conceived NHS privatisation agenda of the Tory led Coalition.
The campaign against the dismantling of the NHS has got Tories and LibDems running scared and so they should. Focus groups used by the Governmnet show overwhelming opposition to the plans and NHS privatisation is now becoming a major issue in the run up to the May 5th local elections.UNISON members will be proud to see NxtGen was helped by UNISON to get his much loved NHS rap out.
Nora Pearce UNISON Nursing convenor at Kingston hospital stated "The popularity of the song amongst NHS staff was a credit to NxtGen and UNISON alike - Its just what we needed"
The Andrew Lansley rap has been viewed by over 200,000 people on You Tube, while a copy by medical out side the Department of Health during the 26th March demonstration has another 4,000
Andrew Lansley NHS rap becomes a viral hit
Recording of YouTube sensation by singing binman and doctors' cult hero MC NxtGen was funded by Unison
Donnelly" width="460" height="276"> His musical attack on Andrew Lansley's plans for the NHS has become a viral sensation on the web. But the story behind the rise of Sean Donnelly, aka MC NxtGen, to the status of cult hero among the nation's surgeons, doctors and nurses has remained something of a mystery.
Now the Observer can reveal that the 22-year-old singer was given his helping hand by the health workers' union, Unison. Donnelly and his girlfriend, an occupational therapist and member of the union, contacted officials with the idea three weeks ago.
The union insists that the words to the track are those of Donnelly, who is a binman by day, but admit that they were so impressed by his lyrics that they funded the recording and a film clip.
The result has capitalised on strong opposition to the government's proposed reforms, with David Cameron expected to announce a delay this week in the publication of the health and social care bill until after local elections on 5 May. The prime minister is said to be increasingly worried about public opinion against change, demonstrated by the popularity of Donnelly's rap.
By yesterday, a week since his clip was posted on YouTube, it had received 200,000 hits. Donnelly, from Loughborough, has now been contacted by BBC3 to feature on a forthcoming programme, and Channel 4 has asked him to write a rap on the subject of the royal wedding. "It has been a hectic week," said Donnelly. "I have got a few TV meetings lined up for next week – it's good, really good. I did the rap first and then thought Unison might be able to back me up so I got my girlfriend to put it through to them and they really liked it and got me the place to film it. It took about a day and a half. I don't think it cost much because Tom the video guy doesn't charge much.
"I did the lyrics myself, went on the internet, did some research and put it together like a jigsaw and made it funny. And it has just spread."
Filmed in Ash Field school, a special school for the physically disabled in Leicester, and eschewing the traditional hiphop themes of bling, booty and babes, Donnelly's three-minute rap about the Department of Health's white paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, is personally dedicated to the secretary of state for health.
"Andrew Lansley, greedy, Andrew Lansley, tosser," runs the rap, over a sample taken from the Animals' House of the Rising Sun. "The NHS is not for sale, you grey-haired manky codger!"
But if Donnelly is far from polite, he has certainly done his research. "So the budget of the PCTs, he wants to hand to the GPs/ Oh please. Dumb geeks are gonna buy from any willing provider,/ Get care from private companies."
Later, he adds: "We'll become more like the US/ and care will be farmed out to private companies,/ who will sell their service to the NHS via the GPs/ who will have more to do with service purchase arrangements than anything to do with seeing their patients." He is now trying to release the track on iTunes.
Lansley was moved to comment. "We will never privatise the National Health Service," he said. "But I'm impressed that he's managed to get lyrics about GP commissioning into a rap ."
Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said: "We want to use every means to let people know about the damage it will cause to the NHS.
