NHS

Just Stop Oil doctor’s fitness to practise ‘impaired’

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1vw4k9qn29o

Dr Sarah Benn said she did not take the protests and disruptions she had participated in lightly

A tribunal has found a doctor’s fitness to practise to be impaired due to misconduct after she was involved in a number of Just Stop Oil protests.

Dr Sarah Benn, a GP in Birmingham until 2022, was arrested after taking part in demonstrations at the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire.

The General Medical Council (GMC) said the proceedings were not brought as a reaction to her participation in protests, but the fact that her actions broke the law and resulted in her imprisonment.

The tribunal said it must now consider what sanction, if any, to impose on the doctor’s registration.

Dr Benn said as a doctor, she had a moral duty to take action to protect life and health and that the climate emergency was a health emergency which was “happening now”.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1vw4k9qn29o

Continue ReadingJust Stop Oil doctor’s fitness to practise ‘impaired’

Greens respond to Sunak plans to end ‘sick-note culture’

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Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

Responding to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plans to stop GPs issuing sick notes to people too ill to work, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: 

“How cold hearted do you have to be, and how lacking in empathy, to see this crisis of ill health as anything other than caused by decades of austerity and lack of investment in the NHS?

“The PM should be fixing the NHS so that people can get well, not blaming people who are ill.

“We would invest in mending the health and social care system, not denying people the right to see a GP when they need it.”

Continue ReadingGreens respond to Sunak plans to end ‘sick-note culture’

Reaction to Wes Streeting comments on NHS reform and private sector involvement

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Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

Responding to comments by the Shadow Heath Secretary saying that under a Labour government investment in the NHS would be dependent on reform and that there would be an increased role for the private sector, co-leader of the Green Party, Carla Denyer, said: 

“Wes Streeting says that if the NHS doesn’t change, it will die. But it is inadequate funding that has left our NHS in a poor state of health, not lack of reform.  

“Between 2010 and 2019 the UK had a lower level of capital investment in health care and 18% lower average health spending than 14 EU countries. 

“So to say that the public is paying a heavy price for failure is an insult to hard-working NHS staff, who are doing their level best despite being overworked and underpaid. It is the failure to invest adequately and pay staff properly that is at the root of dissatisfaction with the NHS. 

“The public agrees. They don’t want endless reforms; neither do they share the Conservative or Labour appetite for creeping privatisation. They want the current model to work and to see the NHS available to everyone free of charge and primarily funded through taxes. A tax on the super-rich billionaires and multi-millionaires can provide the funds needed to fix our cherished NHS.    

“The Green Party has never had any truck with the profit motive in health care and will continue to push for a fully publicly funded NHS.” 

Continue ReadingReaction to Wes Streeting comments on NHS reform and private sector involvement

Government can no longer ‘bury its head in the sand on mental health’, charity warns

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/government-can-no-longer-bury-its-head-in-the-sand-on-mental-health-charity-warns/

‘With a General Election on the horizon, there is an opportunity for all parties to set out how they plan to tackle the scale of need.’

The economic and social costs of mental health in England soared to £300 billion in 2022, up from £119 billion in 2020, and £77 billion in 2003. This was the finding of new research from the Centre for Mental Health and commissioned by the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network.

The overall costs of mental ill health equate to double the NHS’s entire budget of £153bn in England in 2022. Shockingly, the costs are also similar to the estimated impact of Covid-19 on the UK economy in 2020 (£260bn in 2020 prices).

The economic costs, including unemployment, staff turnover, sickness days and presenteeism, equated to £110bn. The human costs in terms of wellbeing and reduced quality of life, were found to be £130bn, and the health and care costs £60bn.

The authors of The Economic and Social Costs of Mental Ill Health say that the new figures demonstrate the urgent need for action to turn the tide on rising poor mental health. They warn that failing to act could lead to even higher costs that no government can afford to ignore.

Following the publishing of the report, Dr Sarah Hughes, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said that the research adds to the “growing list of evidence showing this crisis is too big to ignore.”

“The government can no longer bury its head in the sand about the need for action.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/government-can-no-longer-bury-its-head-in-the-sand-on-mental-health-charity-warns/

Continue ReadingGovernment can no longer ‘bury its head in the sand on mental health’, charity warns
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Green Party responds to Attitude survey on the NHS

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Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.
Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.

Responding to a British Social Attitudes survey which finds public satisfaction with the NHS is at its lowest ever level, co-leader of the Green Party, Adrian Ramsay, said: 

The high levels of dissatisfaction with the NHS are a direct result of the Conservatives deliberately running down health services and using this as grounds for privatisation. I hear all the time from people struggling to get an appointment with their GP; unable to see an NHS dentist, while overstretched wards mean people are left in corridors and staff are overwhelmed.  

“Yet it is very clear that people overwhelmingly want the NHS to remain free at the point of use and available to all. They don’t share the Conservative or Labour appetite for creeping privatisation. 

“The public also unequivocally backs the NHS being funded by tax, with almost half believing taxes should rise so more can be spent on health services.  

“The Green Party has never had any truck with the profit motive in health care and believes in a fully publicly funded NHS. We can find the billions the NHS desperately needs to improve its services and to pay health workers properly. A tax on the super-rich billionaires and multi-millionaires can provide the funds needed to fix the NHS and so rekindle our love affair with our most cherished public service.”  

Continue ReadingGreen Party responds to Attitude survey on the NHS