UNISON, the UK's largest health union, hit back at ex New York Mayor Giuliani's comments about the NHS saying he was talking trash.

Karen Jennings, UNISON Head of Health, said:

"Rudy Giuliani should get his facts straight - he is talking trash. Our NHS is one of the best healthcare systems in the world

"In May this year a leading US-based health foundation gave top marks to the UK health system in comparison to other large English-speaking countries. The Commonwealth Fund, based in ex-mayor Giuliani's patch, New York, put the UK at the top of the league because nobody is barred from treatment by inability to pay. It also praised the NHS for delivering the correct and safest form of treatment more often than others and because of the high levels of internal efficiency that have driven down treatment costs.

"It is great that Rudy Giuliani survived prostate cancer but look at the 50 million people, including 10 million children in America, who have no medical insurance and can't get treatment. Look at the people excluded from getting insurance because they have serious health problems, or those who go bankrupt because of top-up treatment fees not covered by their insurance policy."

"Rudy Giuliani should come to Trafalgar Square on November 3 and see for himself the thousands of people who are expected to turn-out to support the 'NHS Together' rally to celebrate our NHS."

Michael Moore's new film Sicko points out that : "America spends more than twice as much per capita on health care as France, and almost two and a half times as much as Britain. And yet it falls down in almost every key indicator of public health, starting, perhaps, most shockingly, with infant mortality, which is 36 per cent higher than in Britain. "

unison