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Stephen Hawking is taking legal action against Jeremy Hunt in a bid to prevent the privatisation of the NHS.

Prof Hawking announced his decision to join the fight against the Health Secretary on Facebook on December 8.

He said: "I have decided to join Dr. Colin Hutchinson, Professor Allyson Pollock, Professor Sue Richards and Dr. Graham Winyard in bringing a legal action against the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, and NHS England, to stop the introduction of accountable care organisations (ACOs) without full public consultation and parliamentary approval.

"I am concerned that ACOs attack the fundamental principles of the NHS.

"The NHS must be protected from those who want to privatize it."

He also posted a link to a video published on the Royal Society of Medicine website, in which he declared his unwavering support for the NHS.

The five claimants are seeking a judicial review to stop Jeremy Hunt and NHS England from introducing commercial, non-NHS bodies to run health and social services.

These non-NHS bodies would be called 'Accountable Care Organisations' (ACOs), a concept conceived in the US about twelve years ago.

They would be governed by company and contract law and could take 'full responsibility' for NHS and adult social services.

ACOs are being imported into England although they are not recognised in any Act of Parliament.

In a second statement on the campaign website, Hawking said: "I have been lucky to receive first-rate care from the NHS.

"It is a national institution, cherished by me and millions of others, and which belongs to all of us.

"I am joining this legal action because the NHS is being taken in a direction which I oppose, as I stated in August, without proper public and parliamentary scrutiny, consultation and debate.

"I am concerned that accountable care organisations are an attack on the fundamental principles of the NHS.

"They have not been established by statute, and they appear to be being used for reducing public expenditure, for cutting services and for allowing private companies to receive and benefit from significant sums of public money for organising and providing services.

"I want the attention of the people of England to be drawn to what is happening and for those who are entrusted with responsibility for the NHS to account openly for themselves in public, and to be judged accordingly."

The campaigners are crowdfunding to pay for the legal action against Jeremy Hunt. So far over £30,000 has been donated.

You can donate to help them reach their £144,000 target here.