Campaigners fighting the government’s cuts to the NHS turned out in their hundreds of thousands at a national rally.

Waltham Forest Save Our NHS joined 250,000 protesters on Saturday, March 4, at a march from Tavistock Square to Parliament Square.

The rally was organised by Our NHS to highlight the risks of the £20billion worth of cuts scheduled by 2020.

Members of Waltham Forest Save Our NHS protested the Health Secretary’s plans to charge foreign patients for non-urgent medical treatment from April.

Jeremy Hunt said the plans to tackle “health tourism” will ensure overseas patients “make a fair contribution just as the British taxpayer does”.

But organiser for Waltham Forest Save Our NHS, Jim Fagan, said the plans are the government’s way of distracting the public from cuts.

Mr Fagan said: “A clear message coming out of the demonstration was that underfunding and privatisation were the cause of the crisis in the NHS, not migrants.

“Also we all know from our personal experience that the NHS would not survive without dedicated staff from around the world.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was among those who attended the event.

Addressing the crowds Mr Corbyn said: “If you’re a doctor, a nurse, a porter, a technician, a cleaner - whatever you do in the health service – thank you because every day you contribute to what is the most civilized institution in this country.”