Nick Clegg is demanding the following changes to the Destroy the NHS Bill: These are are from a paper from Clegg to Prime Minister Cameron. It’s immediately noticable that there is not a demand that the Health Secretary continues to be responsible for providing a comprehensive health service – the Bill relieves the Health Secretary of that responsibility.

Clegg demands health reform changes as price of Lib Dem support – UK Politics, UK – The Independent

• * “We must ensure that GPs only get involved in commissioning decisions once they are ready and willing”
• * “The removal of any suggestion that we are pursuing a dogmatic obsession with competition [rather than] the best healthcare system in the world”
• * “Preventing the cherry-picking of services by private providers to make sure NHS providers are not needlessly pushed into financial trouble and NHS research and training can thrive”
• * “Enhancing governance and local accountability so decisions are transparent to all”

Clegg’s paper also reads “It is clear that the NHS does need to be updated if it is to meet patients’ needs and provide world class health care in the future. But the reforms as originally set out would not achieve that goal, would not protect and sustain our NHS and have clearly very little support among NHS staff or the wider public. I will not ask my parliamentary colleagues to support legislation on the NHS until I am personally satisfied that the reforms have been substantially changed to ensure our NHS is secure for the future.”

Without the Health Secretary continuing to be reponsible for providing a comprehensive health service, the NHS is not “… secure for the future” and is to be abolished.

This article is a very good summary should you need to get up to date on the proposed changes.The NHS Bill: take action on an unprecedented pause | openDemocracy

Increases in waiting times are blamed on cuts

A few recent news articles concerning the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.Health Service.

Clegg demands health reform changes as price of Lib Dem support – UK Politics, UK – The Independent

Nick Clegg has warned David Cameron he will not ask Liberal Democrat MPs and peers to support the Government’s health reforms unless they are “substantially changed”.

In a paper sent to the Prime Minister and seen by The Independent, Mr Clegg demanded four radical changes to the NHS and Social Care Bill during the “pause” the Government has called as it tries to allay fears about the reforms.

He warned that ministers must kill the impression that they have a “dogmatic obsession with competition” inside the NHS. And he said GPs should not be forced to commission services until they are ready – which would mean abandoning the Government’s April 2013 deadline for this to happen.

Mr Clegg’s strongly worded demands reflect his determination to claim credit for the changes expected to be announced next month as he seeks to convince his party and the public that the Liberal Democrats enjoy real influence on a key policy area.

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The NHS Bill: take action on an unprecedented pause | openDemocracy

Professor Wendy Savage argues that the pause in the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill, which claims to reform the NHS, is just a cynical PR exercise — but citizens should exploit it and act now to save the NHS.

The white paper ‘Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS’ was published in July 2010. The 6000 responses to the flawed consultation have not been published but many, if not most, of the responses were critical of the Bill. The Bill had it first reading on 10th January. Its second reading on 31st January was passed by a majority of 86. Voting was strictly on party lines with Labour voting against the Bill and coalition MPs voting for it — apart from one Lib Dem, Andrew George, who abstained.

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NHS budget squeeze to blame for longer waiting times, say doctors | Society | The Guardian

Doctors are blaming financial pressures on the NHS for an increase in the number of patients who are not being treated within the 18 weeks that the government recommends.

New NHS performance data reveal that the number of people in England who are being forced to wait more than 18 weeks has risen by 26% in the last year, while the number who had to wait longer than six months has shot up by 43%.

In March this year, 34,639 people, or 11% of the total, waited more than that time to receive inpatient treatment, compared with 27,534, or 8.3%, in March 2010 – an increase of 26% – Department of Health statistics show.

Similarly, in March this year some 11,243 patients who underwent treatment had waited for more than six months, compared with 7,841 in the same month in 2010 – a 43% rise.

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NHS chiefs ‘care more about costs than lives’ – Health News, Health & Families – The Independent

Health service chief executives care more about managing their budgets than saving the lives of their patients, the head of the country’s medicines watchdog said yesterday.

Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, chairman of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice), said NHS managers would prefer that some new drugs were not invented at all so they wouldn’t have to pay for them.

He was backed by Sir John Bell, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, who described the NHS as a “repulsive force to innovation”.

Speaking in his capacity as head of the Academy’s working party on health research, Sir Michael said: “The traditional attitude of an NHS chief executive when he hears there is a new drug [which] may save lives but is going to cost him money is: ‘Oh my God another new drug, another hit on my budget and I really wish that the company who manufactured it had never done so.'”

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Lansley guarantees cancer networks (From Your Local Guardian)

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has guaranteed the future of key teams of cancer experts after heavy criticism that his NHS reforms would put them at risk.

In a U-turn arising from the Government’s “pause” on the widely criticised Health and Social Care Bill, he announced England’s 28 NHS cancer networks would be funded beyond 2012.

Previously he has refused to guarantee their future, despite criticism from cancer campaigners and doctors, saying it would be up to the proposed new GP consortia to decide whether to commission the networks’ expertise.

The networks, consisting of up to 15 cancer specialists, provide GPs and hospitals with targeted advice and support on improving care.

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27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

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