Thread by @DrDomPimenta

I am a doctor in the #NHS.
Every scrap of evidence I’ve seen points to total disaster if #NoDealBrexit comes to pass. We must #StopBrexit - here is why. /thread

Thus far I’ve tried to focus solely on the facts, and the facts alone. Informed consent is the bedrock of medicine- I don’t believe anyone knew the consequences of leaving EURATOM or the EMA for example when they voted. Feel free to prove otherwise. /1

https://mobile.twitter.com/juniordrblog/status/1038320744256733184

It’s not my job to tell people what to do. And I am not. If you still think Leaving with No Deal will be good for the NHS after absorbing all of the above, then that is your decision. You are wrong, but it’s your right to be wrong. /2

In a democracy we all have a right to decide for ourselves what we think is best, and vote accordingly. We also have a duty to exercise that privilege with care. /3

In May 2016, I planned to vote Leave. Like many others, I was very nervous of the Transatlantic Trade & Inevestment Partnership between the EU/USA, that would’ve seen private US health companies suing the govt over NHS contracts. /4

I voted Remain - after first realising Cameron was a major proponent of TTIP regardless, and in the event of Leave this would happen anyway. Which is exactly what is happening right now, with May refusing to rule the NHS out of trade deals with Trump. /5 google.com/amp/s/amp.theg…

I also read this summary by an LSE economics prof. We have 10x more UK bureaucrats than the the EU, we voted with EU 98% of the time and we had a whole raft of unique benefits with the same access: £billion rebate, outside Schengen, outside the EURO. /6 blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2016/05…

We have now spent two years talking of nothing but Brexit. Meanwhile the NHS went through two further “worst winters ever”, is now 42,000 nurses short and 11,000 Doctors short, and has become “a national emergency”. /7

We have also had two years of nothing... no plan, no concrete deal and no attempt to reconcile a nation that voted almost right down the middle, in completely opposite directions. /8

Brexit was supposed to be a springboard for anti-immigrant politicians who saw an opportunity: Johnson and co expected to lose, but in their loss they’d gain leadership visibility and they would say “it was close, we should respect that, and adjust our position further right”. /9

Look at the day Leave won, every proponent looked bewildered. And since then... nothing. Boris ducked the PM job, Farage quit his party, and Boris and Davis then quit again, despite offering nothing. Nothing. /10

Brexit was supposed to be an internal Tory exercise to consolidate Cameron’s leadership. And when he lost, he quit as well. After six years of austerity that had already stripped the NHS and social care to the bone by the way. /11

I have worked in the NHS since 2012- I’ve seen firsthand the crunch as hospital A&Es have closed and resources were cut. I’ve had to look those families in the eye, and apologise for their wait, for their suffering, for their loved ones. /12

I’ve had to palliate a patient in an A&E side-room, had to tell a family their mum is dying in an A&E closet. Tried to split myself and all my colleagues a hundred ways just to keep everyone alive by handover time. /13

This wasn’t a natural disaster- it was a conscious decision. A political one, and it’s a political decision now. I won’t do this again. I won’t stand by and watch this happen a second time. /14

I am an NHS doctor and I am telling you a #NoDealBrexit will devastate the NHS. People will die. That’s why we do everything we can to stop this. We must #StopBrexit. I’ve volunteered with @NHSvBrexit I’d urge you all to do the same. /15

Juniordoctorblog.com endorses a #PeoplesVote. This isn’t “scaremongering”, although I am terrified of all the too-real consequences we are walking blindly into. This isn’t “undemocratic”, it’s the total opposite. /16

This isn’t “unpatriotic”, I am a patriot: I care deeply about this country and its most vulnerable people. I won’t stand by while a bunch of politicking, bickering, power-hungry charlatans mislead a nation into self harm. I’m going to try to #StopBrexit. And so should you./end