DOZENS of protesters are expected to gather outside Southend Hospital to demonstrate against changes to the NHS.

Members of campaign group Southend Against the Cuts and national organisation Keep Our NHS Public have planned to stage their “vigil” in Prittlewell Chase from 6pm on Monday.

They claim the Government’s Health and Social Care Bill, which is due to be debated in Parliament next week, will lead to the break-up and privatisation of the NHS.

Tim Sneller, chairman of Southend Against the Cuts, said: “We are talking about the dissolution of a state-run service. There are real fears that a lot of the new system will be taken over by private companies simply looking to make a profit, which is not what the NHS is about.”

The Government wants to shake-up the health service system by abolishing primary care trusts and placing power in the hands of GPs.

Instead of doctors referring patients to a rigid set of services offered by hospitals, under the new system GPs would be able to choose between NHS facilities and private clinics.

The coalition was forced into a partial climbdown over its plan earlier this summer following opposition from Labour and campaigners, but will bring back a new version of the Bill next week. The Southend demonstration is one of several around the country which has been planned by Keep Our NHS Public to try to persuade MPs to torpedo the changes.

A spokesman for the Southend Labour group said: “The bill, as it stands, remains a huge attack on the founding principles of the NHS. It will be voted on in Parliament next week and we want to show our opposition here in Southend.”

A spokeswoman for Southend Hospital said demonstrators would be free to carry out their protest unless they encroached on hospital grounds.