Waiting times for diagnostic tests are hugely increased under the ConDem government despite Cameron’s pledges yesterday, British Mediacal Association’s GPs conference object to the Con-Dem’s plans to destroy the NHS and many GPs are driven to early retirement by theCon-Dems.
- Conservative election poster 2010
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.
NHS waiting times for diagnostic tests increase despite Cameron’s pledge | Society | The Guardian
The number of patients waiting more than six weeks for diagnostic tests on the NHS has tripled within 12 months, according to figures released a day after David Cameron pledged not to lose control of NHS waiting times.
More than 14,000 patients who had diagnostic procedures including MRI scans and cardiac tests in April 2011 had waited more than six weeks, up from 4,129 in the same month a year ago – an increase of 240% in a year.
The number of patients with waits of more than three months also rocketed, with 1,409 people in this category against just 193 the previous April.
On Tuesday Cameron stressed that the abolition of central monitoring of NHS treatment and A&E waiting times would not lead to a loss of focus in these areas.
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GPs have voted overwhelmingly to continue to oppose the Health and Social Care bill.
The GPs, including members of the Medical Practitioners Union (part of Unite) were among 250 GPs present at the British Medical Association’s annual GP conference in London today (Thursday).
The vote reflects that doctors are also not convinced that the prime minister’s pledges will safeguard the service.
Ron Singer of the Medical Practitioners Union said: “GPs were not fooled by the warm words of the prime minister. Today GPs have signalled to the government that their health bill is not acceptable in any aspect. The general consensus is that this bill must go.
“It poses the greatest threat to the NHS since its inception. Far from improving the nation’s health, such is the scale of the change the government is seeking to impose, they will compromise the health of the nation and endanger patients.
“Whatever the prime minister may promise, the medical experts are telling him this bill will fragment the NHS. Our parliamentarians must now listen.”
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Reforms ‘cutting legs off NHS’, says Laurence Buckman | Healthcare Network | Guardian Professional
The health and social care bill is not even law yet and the current structures of the NHS are “already collapsing all over the place”, Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) GPs committee, has said.
In a speech to the annual GPs’ conference of local medical committees on 9 June, he told delegates that the NHS “isn’t just being cut to the bone, the whole limbs are being amputated” as a result of health secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans to reorganise the health service.
“If you cut the legs off the NHS, what happens? It falls over,” he said. He went on to state that the BMA “does not support the unfettered extension of private involvement in the NHS”.
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Health News – NHS reforms ‘a major factor in GP retirement’
The majority of GPs who plan to retire in the next two years say the NHS reforms have played a major role in their decision to leave.
That is the preliminary finding of a major new survey by the British Medical Association (BMA), which has analysed the first 10,000 responses to its poll ahead of an annual GP conference.
Age was the most common reason given for imminent retirement, with 71 per cent of GPs citing this.
However, NHS reform came a close second, with 56 per cent of respondents claiming that this had played a significant part in their decision-making.
The findings suggest that as many as 3,700 GPs across the UK could soon retire as a result of NHS reforms.
Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GPs committee, said: ‘These results show that GPs have significant concerns about the government’s NHS reform plans as they stand.
‘From talking to GPs we know that they see potential in the principle of clinically-led commissioning, but there need to be major changes made to the bill if the government is to reassure GPs.’
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