Trade union Unite plans to parade outside parliament this afternoon with a coffin to symbolise the 'death of the NHS' due to what it says is a 'surfeit of privatisation', as well as campaigning for protection for NHS staff and their terms and conditions.

Unite has collected 13,000 signatures to a letter to the committee of MPs scrutinising the impact of the Health and Social Care bill, currently going through parliament.

The coffin marked with NHS in white letters will be held by health campaigners and Unite will present a letter to Labour MP, Grahame Morris, a member of the Commons health select committee, which is currently scrutinising the Health and Social Care bill.

Unite national officer for health, Rachael Maskell said: "We are writing to urge you to protect the NHS from the savage and unnecessary reforms put forward in the bill.

"The reforms contained within this bill will reduce the quality of health services available to people in the UK, increase healthcare costs, and ultimately widen health inequality."