Monthly Archives: September 2011

NHS news review

There are two main news stories concerning the NHS in the past few days: Opposition to privatisation of the NHS at the Labour Party Conference and campaigners succeeding in – at least temporarily – preventing NHS Gloucestershire from transferring NHS staff and facilities to a private ‘Community Interest Company’.

A report by the Royal College of Surgeons identifies poor and inconsistent levels of critical care contributing to deaths.

NHS Direct to close three call centres.

Cherry Blair intends to profit from NHS privatisation.

Conservative election poster 2010

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

Tories not to be trusted with the NHS, Miliband warns | GPonline.com

Labour leader Ed Miliband has hit out at the government’s plans for NHS reform, warning that the changes will ‘betray the values of the NHS’.

Speaking at the Labour party annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, Mr Miliband received a standing ovation and the largest applause during his speech when he warned ‘you can’t trust the Tories with the NHS’.

He said the government’s reform plans will undermine the values of the NHS as the reorganisation will create a ‘free-market healthcare system’.

The Labour leader also criticised prime minister David Cameron, outlining that he ‘betrayed voters’ trust’ by U-turning on his election promise to end top-down reorganisations in the NHS.

Mr Miliband said: ‘When I look at everything this Tory government is doing, frankly it is the NHS that shocks me most. Why? Because David Cameron told us he was different. You remember. The posters. The soundbites.

‘David Cameron knew the British people did not trust the Tories with the NHS. So he told us he wasn’t the usual type of Tory. And he asked for your trust. And then he got into Downing Street. And within a year he’d gone back on every word he said.’

NHS hospitals will not be privatised under Labour, Healey says | Society | The Guardian

John Healey, the shadow health secretary, has pledged that a Labour government would ensure NHS hospitals remain in public sector hands as he rounded on government plans to open up all parts of the NHS to private companies.

Healey also seized on the crisis witnessed at Southern Cross care homes earlier this year to admit that Labour “did not act before” against predatory fund managers who saw “elderly people as commodities”.

But he promised that a future Labour government would do so by regulating the care home sector not just on the basis of best care standards but also on “best business practices”.

Healey delivered a combative speech to the Labour party conference in Liverpool after delegates debated a motion condemning the government’s controversial health and social care bill as unnecessary and representing “the biggest top-down reorganisation in the history of the NHS at a time when finances are squeezed”.

Despite changes to the bill, the motion stated that health professionals are still opposed to it “because the essential elements … remain in place, which will fragment the NHS through exposing the NHS to the full force of EU and UK competition law with a commercial regulated market designed to give the impression of patent choice”. The new NHS commissioning board will be “the largest quango the world has ever seen”, it said.

Healey warned that the battle was “not over” against the legislative plans in the health and social care bill, which would break up the national service and set it up as a “full scale market, ruled for the first time by the full of competition law”.

Accusing David Cameron of betrayal, he said. “No one wants this. No one voted for this.”

He said the proposals threatened to destroy Labour’s “golden legacy” to NHS patients, as he hailed the founding of the NHS under a post-war Labour government, and the great improvements he said patients saw under the party’s 13 years in power through investment and reform.

Referring to reports that ministers were privately eyeing up the “huge opportunities for the private sector”, Healey said any move to privatise NHS hospitals would drive a wedge between hospitals and the wider health service as private companies driven by the bottom line to make profits would refuse to collaborate with others. But he ruled out barring private sector involvement in any shape in the NHS.

Healey, whose predecessors introduced independent treatment centres, said Labour believed there would always be an important contribution for non-NHS providers, “including private providers” in the NHS, but as supplements to, not substitutes for, the NHS.

But loud applause followed when he drew a line on private companies moving in to run NHS hospitals.

“Hospitals are at the heart of our NHS. They should be in public not private hands, dedicated totally to patients, not profits. So we will oppose any move to privatise NHS hospitals. We will guarantee under Labour that the NHS hospitals remain in the NHS.”
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Campaigners halt NHS service transfer to social enterprise – Civil Society – Finance – News – providing news and in-depth coverage of charities, voluntary organisations and not-for-profits

Gloucestershire NHS has reportedly agreed to delay the proposed transfer of primary health services and 3,000 staff to a community interest company after local campaigners threatened legal action.

In an eleventh-hour legal challenge, the campaign group Stroud Against Cuts has issued a ‘letter before claim’ to the NHS management warning that it plans to seek a judicial review of the decision to farm out local Primary Care Trust services.

NHS Gloucestershire had awarded a contract to deliver primary and community care services, including nine hospitals, to Gloucestershire Care Services, creating the largest Community Interest Company in the UK. No competitive tendering process took place.

The contract, reportedly worth around £100m a year for three years, was due to start on 1 October but according to the campaigners, the NHS has now agreed to delay it while it takes legal advice on its position.
First example

Campaign co-ordinator James Beecham told civilsociety.co.uk: “We believe this is the first example where a social enterprise has got this far and been halted by a legal challenge.

“The current state of play is that the transfer is off while NHS Gloucestershire management assess their legal position.

“In the meantime they have given us an absolute guarantee that they won’t transfer anyone or anything out of the NHS without giving us three days clear notice.”
NHS would not confirm delay

However, NHS Gloucestershire refused to confirm or deny this was true, only saying that it was still assessing the legal situation. In a statement, its chief executive Jan Stubbings said: “We are responding to the correspondence received.

“In deciding on the future management of our community services to meet local needs and circumstances, we have followed all applicable policy and guidance.

“Through this process, we believe we have identified the most appropriate solution for the future. We now have a clear direction with the majority of our community health services becoming part of a social enterprise – working in the community interest and for the social good.

“With a membership model, the new organisation will give staff and service users a stronger voice on how services are run for the benefit of local communities.”
Lawsuit on behalf of service-user

The action is being brought by local resident Michael Lloyd, a user of the PCT’s services, with backing from Stroud Against Cuts. Lloyd’s costs are covered by legal aid but the campaign group is fundraising to cover the community element of the lawsuit.

The campaigners want the services to remain in public hands, fearing that contracting them out is the first step to NHS privatisation.
Contract ‘unlawful’

Caroline Molloy of Stroud Against Cuts said: “We have been advised that NHS Gloucestershire is acting unlawfully. It cannot just hand over all its NHS Primary Care Trust services to an unaccountable social enterprise or community interest company.

“It must either keep the NHS services itself, or have a proper process that would allow services to be provided by another NHS body. Both these options would keep our health services in the NHS, and accountable to the public.”

Lloyd’s solicitor, Rosa Curling of Leigh Day & Co, added: “If the PCT intends to enter into arrangements with a community interest company, it is first required in law to go through a process which allows other economic operators the opportunity of being awarded those contracts.

“No such opportunity has been given and the attempt by the PCT to enter into a contract with a company outside the NHS, in such circumstances, constitutes an unlawful procurement process.”

The campaign brought hundreds of people out onto the streets of Stroud last weekend in protest at the plans (pictured).

Yesterday Stroud District Council hosted a heated ‘extraordinary meeting’ on the issue and passed a motion calling on the local Health Community and Care Scrutiny Committee to examine the proposed move.
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Poor critical care ‘risking lives’ – Health News, Health & Families – The Independent

Thousands of patients needing emergency surgery are having their lives put at risk by poor NHS care and delays in accessing treatment, according to a damning report.

The Royal College of Surgeons study found that only a minority of patients who need critical care following surgery receive it, while some die or suffer major complications because of delays in finding space in operating theatres.

Junior staff are often left in charge of dealing with post-surgical complications, which can rapidly lead to death if not treated promptly, the report went on.

A patient’s chance of survival also varies widely between NHS hospitals, and even within the same hospital depending on the day of the week.
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NHS Direct to close three call centres | Healthcare Network | Guardian Professional

NHS Direct is to close three of its call centres next year, following landlord East of England ambulance service trust, giving it notice to quit two of the sites in Chelmsford and Norwich. A third site in Ipswich will close because it is supported by the other two.

A spokeswoman for the digital and telephone advice service said the closures were regrettable, but NHS Direct had no choice. A total of 120 staff will be affected, the majority of whom are nurses, although the organisation is hoping to redeploy where possible.

Nick Chapman, the chief executive of NHS Direct trust, said: “There is much work we need to do to understand the full implications of these closures, before a final plan can be agreed by the trust board.”

“Every option will be explored to redeploy those staff affected. We already have over 100 members of our nursing staff currently working from home permanently and there are sites in surrounding areas. No decision has been made to make staff redundant at this time.”
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Related: UNISON Press | Press Releases Front Page

Cherie Blair “stands to gain from NHS privatisation” – Telegraph

Cherie Blair is a director of a company which is preparing to profit from the growing privatisation of the health service, it can be disclosed.

The wife of the former Labour prime minister is one of the founders of a business planning to open private clinics in supermarkets.

Her choice of venture is likely to prove controversial among Labour supporters, who will today set out their opposition to greater private involvement in the health system.

Party members jeered at a mention of Tony Blair’s name earlier this week during Ed Miliband’s conference speech.

The company is thought to represent Mrs Blair’s first foray into commerce. It is approaching City financiers just as her husband’s business interests have come under renewed scrutiny.

Mrs Blair was thought to have concentrated on her legal career since he stood down as prime minister in 2007 but she now appears to be seeking to capitalise on Coalition plans to open parts of the NHS to more private sector involvement.

Mee, the company she is involved in, claims that it will provide a “revolutionary new way of delivering health care”.

A prospectus adds that there is “potential to grow into other primary health areas in line with the new proposals for the health services”.
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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.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

Continue ReadingNHS news review

NHS news review

Conservative election poster 2010

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

Tories not to be trusted with the NHS, Miliband warns | GPonline.com

Labour leader Ed Miliband has hit out at the government’s plans for NHS reform, warning that the changes will ‘betray the values of the NHS’.

Speaking at the Labour party annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, Mr Miliband received a standing ovation and the largest applause during his speech when he warned ‘you can’t trust the Tories with the NHS’.

He said the government’s reform plans will undermine the values of the NHS as the reorganisation will create a ‘free-market healthcare system’.

The Labour leader also criticised prime minister David Cameron, outlining that he ‘betrayed voters’ trust’ by U-turning on his election promise to end top-down reorganisations in the NHS.

Mr Miliband said: ‘When I look at everything this Tory government is doing, frankly it is the NHS that shocks me most. Why? Because David Cameron told us he was different. You remember. The posters. The soundbites.

‘David Cameron knew the British people did not trust the Tories with the NHS. So he told us he wasn’t the usual type of Tory. And he asked for your trust. And then he got into Downing Street. And within a year he’d gone back on every word he said.’

Unions call for civil disobedience – Channel 4 News

Channel 4 News learns union bosses are calling for a campaign of civil disobedience and sit-ins as well as strikes over the spending cuts, with one leader saying he is “prepared to go to jail”.

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, said activists should “rule nothing out” as they prepare to fight the coalition’s austerity measures with increasing militancy.

He blamed this summer’s riots on the cuts and predicted worse violence next year as the effects of spending cuts take effect. Addressing a fringe event at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis called the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats “b******ds“ and ended his speech to union members by declaring that a revolution “starts here”.

GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny said he was prepared to go to jail as part of a wave of non-violent protests and occupations.

Mr Kenny said: “I want direct action – I’m not talking about violent direct action. If that means I go to jail then I’m prepared to go to jail. I’m not prepared to be a martyr. But when I look at my kids and grandchildren I want to be able to say I did everything I did to protect them and their inheritance.”

Mr McCluskey accused the coalition of “peddling fear” before predicting that government measures would lead to a repeat of the riots seen across England earlier this year.

He said: “You’ve only got to look around as these attacks start to take place and social cohesion breaks down. We have one million young people out of a job and without hope, and people wonder why in our inner cities they get drawn into gang culture. There’s nowhere else to go. There’s nowhere else to belong.”

He went on: “I don’t take any pleasure in what we’ve seen in our inner cities”, but added that as the cuts continue to bite, “next summer we could find ourselves with even worse riots on our streets”.

The Unite boss urged the coalition to consider alternatives to cutting public services, saying: “Find the money. We’ve found the money for illegal wars. We found the money to bail out the banks. By the billion, we’ve found the money when it suits them.”
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NHS chief challenges Andrew Lansley’s foundation hospitals plan | Politics | The Guardian

Sir David Nicholson says health minister is wrong to block failing foundation hospitals from returning to direct NHS control

The government’s health reforms ran into further trouble on Tuesday when the chief executive of the NHS publicly challenged a key proposal.

As peers prepare to table a series of amendments to the health and social care bill, Sir David Nicholson said the government was wrong to block failing foundation hospitals from returning to direct NHS control.

Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, wants to repeal a provision in the 2006 National Health Service Act which allows for the “de-authorisation” of failing foundation trusts, triggering their return to NHS control. The change is designed to strengthen foundation trusts – a central element of the government’s plans to decentralise power in the NHS – which will eventually take over the running of all hospitals in England.

In evidence to the public inquiry into failings at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust, Nicholson called on the government to retain the renationalisation of a failing trust in its “armoury”. Nicholson is understood to have voiced, in private, reservations about the Lansley plan, which was introduced as an amendments to the bill after the government’s “listening exercise” on the NHS reforms.

Nicholson told the inquiry: “I do think that the opportunity in a sense to renationalise a foundation trust should be part of the armoury of any government in these circumstances. It’s not one shared, I have to say, by the government. But it’s something that I believe to be the case.”

Asked by Tom Kark QC, counsel to the inquiry, whether his proposal went against the government’s central policy, Nicholson hesitated, then said: “They want all organisations to be foundation trusts, but I believe that from time to time it may be necessary for the state to take the direct management of an organisation.” Labour will lambast the health reforms at the party’s conference in Liverpool on Wednesday.
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Continue ReadingNHS news review

NHS news review

Conservative election poster 2010

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

The Press Association: ‘Unprecedented’ cuts threat to NHS

The NHS is facing an “unprecedented financial challenge” that may force cuts to services and numbers of hospital beds, the head of an organisation representing health service organisations has said.

Mike Farrar, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation said the need to make £20 billion of financial savings by 2015 “means our finances are under more strain than ever”.

And he warned that few users of the NHS were prepared for the scale of the changes likely to be forced upon the service by financial pressures.

Mr Farrar told The Guardian: “I am deeply concerned that the gravity of this problem for the NHS is not widely understood by patients and the public.

“There is a real risk we will sleepwalk into a financial crisis that patients will feel the full force of.

“This could see the NHS forced to salami-slice its way out of financial trouble, cutting services and use of less effective treatments.”

Mr Farrar, whose organisation represents most NHS hospitals, primary care trusts, ambulance services and mental health trusts in England, said the health service faced an uncertain future.

“There are three scenarios,” he said. “The NHS maintains service standards but goes bust while doing so; it sees standards slip but maintains financial balance; or it keeps improving and stays in the black. Clearly, we all want the third option.”

NHS reforms pose ‘lethal’ threat to David Cameron, Labour claims | Politics | The Guardian

Shadow health secretary John Healey warns of voter backlash against ‘broken promises’ on protecting health service

David Cameron faces a “lethal” threat as a growing number of voters decide that the government’s health reforms have raised serious questions about the future of the NHS, Labour will claim this week.

As peers prepare to table amendments to the health and social care bill, the shadow health secretary, John Healey, will tell the Labour conference that the first signs of danger for the prime minister could come as early as this winter.

In an interview with the Guardian, before his speech to the Labour conference on Wednesday, Healey said: “Cameron made promises on the NHS he is now breaking. The NHS is being cut, services are being cut … When you combine that with how important the NHS is as a security for us and our families, if people start to feel there are question marks over that – in the long run that is likely to be lethal for Cameron and the Tories. We have been preparing the ground on the NHS for next year, the year after, [and] for a winter of possible pressure on hospitals and a winter where it may be the service pressures and the financial pressures which really start to tell.”

Healey, who is joining forces with Liberal Democrat, Tory and crossbench peers to try to amend the health and social care bill in the Lords next month, will identify a series of problems with the NHS:

• More than 400,000 people have suffered longer waits for diagnosis and treatment since Cameron became prime minister compared with the same period under Labour. This represents a 50% leap in the number of patients who have waited longer than the target times.

• A looming financial crisis in the NHS is a “consequence of the legislation and the requirement by the [new economic regulator] Monitor for efficiency cuts.Not just 4% but 6% or 7% savings every year. Now, they may be able to cover this year but not the year after or the year after that.”.

• Hospitals would not be able to protect frontline services – a government pledge backed by keeping budgets stable. “You cannot make these level of cuts by salami slicing. You do that by fundamentally changing the way you provide services.”

Leader of Green Party speaks out about planned changes to NHS in Gloucestershire | This is Gloucestershire

The Leader of the Green Party has spoken out in support of people campaigning about plans to transfer the running of community health services in Gloucestershire to a social enterprise.

Campaigners argue the move to transfer county hospitals and various health services to a social enterprise company, as early as October 1, is a step towards privatisation. It comes as legal action is expected to be taken against NHS Gloucestershire over its decision.

A legal case has been launched by Stroud resident Michael Lloyd, to stop the transfer of more than 3,000 NHS health staff out of the NHS to the social enterprise company.

An interim injunction will also be sought to stop the proposed transfer of services taking place on October 1.

Leader of the Green Party Caroline Lucas has offered her support to those opposing the plans.

She said: “The attempts by health commissioners in Gloucestershire to transfer staff and health services out of the NHS and into the hands of a ‘social enterprise’ company are causing real anxiety for local people, who do not feel that they have been properly consulted – and are concerned about the impact on the quality and availability of key services.

“By drafting in private companies to deliver essential healthcare, the county risks dangerously undermining the very principles on which the NHS is built.”
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Continue ReadingNHS news review

NHS news review

Conservative election poster 2010

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

BBC News – Judicial review threat to NHS Gloucestershire

Legal action is to be taken against NHS Gloucestershire over its decision to change the way health services are run.

Michael Lloyd, from Stroud, wrote to NHS bosses threatening a judicial review if the decision was not withdrawn before 22 September.

From October a new social enterprise is due to take over management of county hospitals and various health services.

Hundreds of campaigners gathered in Stroud on Saturday to march in protest at the changes.

Caroline Molloy, of Stroud Against Cuts, said the group wanted t[o] give staff and service users some hope that the decision could be stopped.

“We have been advised that NHS Gloucestershire is acting unlawfully. It cannot just hand over all its NHS Primary Care Trust services to an unaccountable ‘Social Enterprise’ or ‘Community Interest Company’,” she said.

An interim injunction will also be sought to stop the proposed transfer of services taking place on 1 October as planned.

But Jan Stubbings, chief executive of NHS Gloucestershire, said all applicable policy and guidance had been followed in making this decision.

“We now have a clear direction with the majority of our community health services becoming part of a social enterprise – working in the community interest and for the social good,” she said.

“It is important to stress that NHS patients will continue to access NHS-funded community services, close to home, run by an organisation responsible for delivering the NHS values.”

Related: Hundreds march to protect NHS in Gloucestershire | This is Gloucestershire

Care warning as nursing staff hit ‘breaking point’ – Herald Scotland | News | Health

SCOTLAND’S nurses are at breaking point because of unmanageable workloads, fears over job security and concerns about falling standards, the NHS has been warned.

A new study reveals morale among the country’s NHS nurses has plummeted against a backdrop of continuing job cuts and a prolonged pay freeze.

The stark figures collated by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) show fewer than one-third of NHS nurses in Scotland (30%) now feel secure in their jobs. Only two years ago, 82% felt they had a long-term future in their posts.

Patient had to wait 2 years for hernia op – mirror.co.uk

A PATIENT had to wait ­nearly two years for a hernia ­operation because of a lack of beds at a hospital.

The unnamed patient’s 95-week wait for the op at East Surrey Hospital in ­Redhill was more than five times NHS ­guidelines for non-­emergency surgery.

A Freedom of Information request also revealed waiting times of 65 weeks for knee-joint ­replacements, 61 weeks for a spine op and 59 weeks for a haemorrhoids op.

Surrey and Sussex NHS Trust chief Paul Simpson said: “We are doing all we can.”

Continue ReadingNHS news review

NHS news review

‘Health Secretary’ Andrew Lansley’s claims yesterday that 22 NHS trusts had contacted him saying that they had difficulties meeting PFI payments backfired. Lansley’s claims were exposed as misleading and factually incorrect. That Lansley makes misleading and factually incorrect statements is no surprise to those of us that have been watching progress of the Destroy the NHS Bill.

Campaign group UK Uncut intend to occupy Westminster bridge.

Conservative election poster 2010

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

Hospitals furious at Lansley’s debt claim – Health News, Health & Families – The Independent

Health Secretary ‘undermining stability’ for political ends

Hospitals across the country turned on the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley last night, accusing him of making misleading claims that parts of the NHS were “on the brink of financial collapse” for party political gain.

Senior NHS managers expressed anger that Mr Lansley had singled out 22 trusts, whose “clinical and financial stability” was being undermined by having to pay for prohibitively expensive private finance contracts – used to build their new hospitals.

Mr Lansley claimed the trusts had contacted him saying that they “cannot afford” to pay for their schemes which were agreed by the previous Labour government.

But when contacted by The Independent a number of NHS trusts on the list expressed bemusement and anger that they had been included, and said the first they knew of the supposed financial difficulties over PFI (private finance initiatives) was when they read about Mr Lansley’s comments.

Privately some accused the Health Secretary of attempting to blame PFI for the wider problem of cuts to hospital budgets, which will require the NHS to save £20bn over the next four years. They also expressed concern that Mr Lansley was unnecessarily worrying patients that their local hospital was in danger of going bankrupt. “To suggest that our financial problems are about PFI is nonsense,” said one trust executive. “And we certainly never contacted the Department to say that. The problems that we face are about having to cut our budgets by 4 per cent every year for the next four years.”
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UK Uncut plan to block Westminster Bridge in protest against NHS reforms | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Thousands expected to join direct action on 9 October and block bridge leading to parliament

Anti-cuts campaigners are planning to close one of the busiest bridges in central London in protest against the government’s planned shake up of the NHS.

UK Uncut has announced an “act of mass civil disobedience” at Westminster Bridge in protest against the health and social care bill which is due before parliament next month.

Organisers say they are expecting thousands of people to block the bridge that links St Thomas’s hospital in the south to parliament to the north on 9 October.

“Yes, it will be disruptive. Yes, it will stop the traffic. But this is an emergency and if we want to save our NHS we need to shout as loud as we can,” the group said in a statement.

Activists say they have been talking to unions, NGOs and other direct action groups who all support the action.

UK Uncut supporter Samina Khan said: “A leading doctor has said that this bill will ‘produce an underclass of patients with chronic, debilitating illness’, which isn’t surprising when you invite private companies to exploit people’s sickness for profit. I’ll be on the bridge so that when my kids ask me what happened to the NHS, I can at least say ‘I tried’.”
…

 

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.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

Continue ReadingNHS news review

The sorry of Cligg and Surf

Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901. It is four, five or six generations ago ~ according to how young your family went about it. This is relatively recent in our history and it is worth asking grandparents and great-grandparents about their recollections. Many of them may have worked “in service” – in service to the rich who had it much easier.

The Victorian era saw chiden as young as five engaged in industry. This is when children were sent up chimneys to clean them and actally far more dangerous jobs. The concept of childhood ~ individuals excused from working was a later concept.

Then – as now – you were born rich or poor. Then – as now – you were born very rich or very poor. This has largely continued into the current era except that the industrial revolution has had an effect. There continue to be those born into riduculously rich families and then there are the rest of us.

In the Victorian era – that many of the rich shits want to recreate (and actually in many way persists) – there was service. Poor people would be “in service”. They would be the servants in a rich household. There were benefits to being “in service” – you would get fed and have shelter. There were also disadvantages since you were ‘servicing’ the rich on demand.

It is in this historical context – the Upstairs-Downstairs society – that I bring you my short story.

Squire Cligg’s butler Surf suddenly became ill. Surf was only in his twenties and surely had another twenty year’s service to bestow on his master Cligg. Surf was so ill that he couldn’t perform his duties. Surf had a fever, lethargy and didn’t have any energy to organise the household staff.

Cligg, summoned a temporary, contract butler while Surf recuperated. It was very lucky for Cligg that his household cook Scullion – as well as being an excellent cook was also wise in the arts of nursing. She cared for Surf and nursed him back to health. She wasn’t so skilled to determine actaully what was wrong with Surf but knew how to look after sick people and get them well.

Surf recovered after a few weeks and returned to duty and the household returned to normal. That is it returned to normal except that Squire Lonsley had heard about the household cook Scullion’s nursing qualities and had acquired her according to the rules of the market. Cligg instructed Surf to get another cook. “The market will provide”, he said.

Surf went to the market and managed to find a cook. The new cook Marcuse was a pretty good cook, although a bit continental, but didn’t have any nursing or curing abilities. Surf suggested to his master Cligg “Should we get a nurse too?”. “No bollocks, the market will provide” was his answer.

The following week Cligg got Surf’s illness and died.

Continue ReadingThe sorry of Cligg and Surf

Equinox

According to Wikipedia Equinox is 9.04 a.m. I’m not sure what that means – surely it’s a day that has equal light and dark.

The bees have started settling down – didn’t I mention that I am a  beekeeper? They’ve reduced their numbers and retiring much earlier. I’m sure they’ll be OK over the winter.

Hope to bring you a Poem(sic) or a short story.

 

Continue ReadingEquinox

NHS news review

Cathy Warwick, General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) suggests abandoning the controversial Destroy the NHS / Health and Social Care Bill.

Falling ill at the weekend could literally cost you your life, according to a report on London hospitals.

The NHS and the Liberal Democrats may be heading for a “catastrophic train crash” by pressing ahead with the coalition Government’s controversial health reforms, an MP has warned.

£12.7bn computer scheme to create patient record system is to be scrapped after years of delays

22 trusts struggling to cope with growing burden of PFI contracts.

dizzy: The spin is turning towards the Labour Party causing the collapse of the NHS by bankrupting it through PFI ( & the IT initiative).

Conservative election poster 2010

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

Is the only future for NHS reforms to scrap the bill? – Royal College of Midwives

The general secretary of the RCM has questioned whether the only way forward for NHS reforms is to pull the controversial health bill.

Cathy Warwick told Midwives that all changes which the government wants could be achieved without the bill.

She added that it is hard to believe the bill isn’t just a move towards privatisation.

‘We are close to feeling that the only way forward for the bill is for it to be withdrawn,’ she said.

‘My feeling is quite strong that everything we are being told the government wants to achieve would be possible without this bill.

‘So it is hard to believe that the bill is about anything other than ideology and privatisation.’
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NHS London report says being ill at weekend could kill you – Health – London 24

Falling ill at the weekend could literally cost you your life, according to a report on London hospitals.

More than 500 people needlessly die every year in hospital because of too few doctors.

Patients are not seen promptly enough by a consultant on Saturdays and Sundays in accident and emergency, found NHS London.

“Reduced service provision at weekends is associated with this higher mortality rate,” it stated.

That lack of availability puts patients at risk of death.

“Stark” differences exist in the number of hours worked by consultants during weekends at hospitals in London, it found in Acute medicine and emergency general surgery – case for change.
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Lib Dem warns of NHS ‘train crash’ – UK Politics, UK – The Independent

The NHS and the Liberal Democrats may be heading for a “catastrophic train crash” by pressing ahead with the coalition Government’s controversial health reforms, an MP has warned.

Lib Dem MP Andrew George, a vocal opponent of the Health and Social Care Bill, told members at the party’s autumn conference in Birmingham that the plans represented the “biggest upheaval” in the NHS’s history at precisely the time when it needed stability and certainty.

The St Ives MP said: “I want to do my best to save the NHS from what I believe may be a catastrophic train crash, which I fear may take the party with it.”

Mr George, who is a member of the Commons Health Select Committee, said the proposals raised the “very real risk” of producing an NHS driven more by private profit than concern with patient care.

He claimed the reforms represented “a major missed opportunity” to produce a service which was more accountable to communities and patients.
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He said: “I think the future fate of both this party and this coalition Government needs to take heed of the concept that, actually,’it’s the NHS, stupid’.”
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Charles West, from Shrewsbury and Atcham, who has been a prominent figure in the Lib Dem grassroots opposition to the reforms, compared the Bill to a “leaky ship”.

“If it sails at all it will go in the wrong direction,” he said. “I’m more worried that the ship will sink and that the NHS will sink with it, and if our name is on that ship we will go down as well.

“And, friends, we deserve to.”
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NHS told to abandon delayed IT project | Society | The Guardian

£12.7bn computer scheme to create patient record system is to be scrapped after years of delays

An ambitious multibillion pound programme to create a computerised patient record system across the entire NHS is being scrapped, ministers have decided.

The £12.7bn National Programme for IT is being ended after years of delays, technical difficulties, contractual disputes and rising costs.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude and NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson have decided it is better to discontinue the programme rather than put even more money into it. The axe may be wielded , with ministers likely to criticise the last Labour government for initiating the project but doing too little to ensure it delivered its objectives.
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PFI schemes ‘taking NHS trusts to brink of financial collapse’ | Politics | guardian.co.uk

Health secretary says he has been contacted by 22 trusts struggling to cope with growing burden of private finance contracts

The rising costs of paying for hospitals under private finance initiative schemes is bringing NHS trusts to the “brink of financial collapse” and putting patient care at risk, the health secretary has warned.

Andrew Lansley said he had been contacted by 22 trusts that are struggling to cope with the growing burden of the PFI contracts, a policy of the former Labour government under which private capital is used to build hospitals and the NHS is left with an annual fee or “mortgage”. Between them, the trusts run more than 60 hospitals.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lansley said: “We’re not going to let hospitals collapse financially.

“But if we were simply to carry on as the Labour party did in government, we would be seeing hundreds of millions of pounds every year being taken from what could provide improving services for patients in order to pay for PFI projects that roll forward for decades.”

He added that patient care could be jeopardised in the areas covered by the 22 trusts, saying: “We’re looking at a risk to services in their areas.”

Buckinghamshire, Oxford Radcliffe, North Bristol and Portsmouth are understood to be among the trusts in difficulty.

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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.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

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Continue ReadingNHS news review

NHS news review

Claims that NHS pay is too expensive. There is already anger amoung NHS staff and unions about changes to public sector pensions needing higher contributions for lower pensions.

Groups of commissioning GPs are concerned that they are required to be large groups and that they may inherit legacy debt.

Lib Dem health minister confirmed amendments to the Destroy the NHS / Health and Social Care Bill will be taken in the Lords.

Private firms offer GPs poor contracts.

Patients waiting weeks for GP appointments.

Private medical companies are trying to profit from the ConDem’s attack on the NHS.

There are also a few articles on Lib-Dem peer Baroness Williams demanding further changes. I find it rather hypocritical that Baroness Williams is demanding changes to a bill that was produced and supported by her own Tory party.

Conservative election poster 2010

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

NHS leaders say salary bill is unsustainable | Society | The Guardian

Leaders of 1.5 million NHS staff are poised for confrontation with health service employers and ministers over proposed pay and pensions changes that unions claim would seriously damage their incomes.

The NHS already faces the prospect of more than 500,000 staff taking industrial action on 30 November as part of the national day of action against government plans to overhaul public sector pensions. A series of ballots in coming weeks is expected to see paramedics, radiographers, physiotherapists, chiropodists and a host of non-clinical staff such as cooks and cleaners participating in as yet unspecified action.

NHS staff, most of whom are experiencing a two-year freeze on their pay, are furious that ministers are seeking to compel them to work longer and contribute more for ultimately smaller pensions. Unions such as Unison, Unite and the GMB have pledged to ballot their members, although the British Medical Association, Royal College of Nursing and Royal College of Midwives are reluctant to do so.

But the organisation NHS Employers has increased the prospect of another money wrangle by declaring that the NHS salary bill is unsustainable and that local pay deals are needed to bring down costs. It claims that, despite the pay freeze for all NHS staff earning over £21,000, the cost to its members “ such as hospital and mental health trusts “ of employing staff is rising by 2.4% a year.
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BBC News – Commissioning groups ‘concerned’ about size and budgets

A survey of the groups due to take over commissioning NHS care is highlighting fears about their size and budgets.

The questions were answered by 131 leaders, out of 253 new Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

A third said they felt under pressure to become larger, and two-thirds expressed fears that they might inherit debt.

The Department of Health said it expected parts of the NHS to work together to resolve any deficits.

The survey was organised by NHS Alliance and the National Association of Primary Care, which have joined forces to represent CCGs, who will take over buying and organising NHS services.

36% of GPs and other leaders who responded to the survey said they were under pressure from NHS managers to become bigger, so they could pass a viability test next month.

And 67% suspect they will have to deal with some legacy debt from former primary care trusts (PCTs) when the new system begins in England in April 2013.
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Health bill changes in Lords will be accepted, says Lib Dem minister | Politics | guardian.co.uk

The government is to accept further changes to its health plans after Lady Williams, the veteran Liberal Democrat, warned that peers are prepared to hold up the health and social care bill in the House of Lords.

As a leading Lib Dem rebel in the Commons condemned the bill as a “huge strategic mistake”, the health minister Paul Burstow admitted that peers would improve the bill next month.

Peers are to consider the bill after more than 1,000 amendments were rushed through the House of Commons earlier this month in the wake of the government’s “listening exercise”.

Burstow, the Lib Dem health minister, said the government was still open to change. “We didn’t stop listening when the listening exercise ended,” he told the Lib Dem conference in a question and answer session on health.
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Private firm offers GPs just two weeks’ sick pay – newsarticle-content – Pulse

Exclusive The company behind the UK’s largest network of privately run GP practices is offering its doctors less than half the paid sick leave they would receive under the BMA’s model contract.
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Wait weeks to see a GP: Some patients face delays of more than a fortnight for appointment with family doctor | Mail Online

Many patients are having to wait up to three weeks or more to see their GP, a survey has revealed.

A poll of more than 2,000 patients has found that well over two-thirds are not able to see their family doctor within two days.

More than a quarter cannot get an appointment within a week, including some who are made to wait longer than a fortnight or even three weeks.
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Aggressive marketing blitz by private firms seeking to gain from NHS cuts – mirror.co.uk

PRIVATE firms have launched an aggressive marketing blitz as they aim to profit from the cuts made to the NHS.

They are trying to lure patients away by highlighting rising waiting lists and the chaotic reorganisation.

One, BMI Healthcare, has placed adverts in local papers and put a waiting times map on its website to encourage NHS patients to go private.

Shadow Health Secretary John Healey said: “Firms are clearly lining up to cash in on damaging policies. It’s the same old Tory choice, wait longer or pay to go private.”

Continue ReadingNHS news review

NHS news review

GP magazine returns to the often recurring theme of NHS changes driving away GPs.

The Royal College of Nursing repeat their opposition to the Destroy the NHS / Health and Social Care Bill and say that MPs are not listening.

Health workers consider non-cooperation.

Health unions warn that a toxic combination of increasing demand, shrinking resources and the pay freeze, are putting staff under severe pressure.

Conservative election poster 2010

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

GPC update: NHS reforms are driving GPs away | GPonline.com

GP leaders have hit out at the government over its handling of the implementation of NHS reforms and warned even enthusiastic GPs were now being driven away.

GPC chairman Dr Laurence Buckman condemned the government’s failure to scrap plans to offer successful clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) a ‘quality premium’ bonus payment.

‘We are not going to have one. It is in the Bill still – it should not be, it is an inappropriate use of public money.’

Dr Buckman said the quality premium was ‘ethically dubious’ and not acceptable, suggesting that if the government had spare cash to hand out, it should ‘give it to the poor’.

‘We think it is utterly immoral to take some of the money out of patient care and give it to GPs.’

GPC negotiators questioned the logic behind growing pressure on CCGs not to form around small population sizes, and warned that the government was rapidly pushing the NHS back into structures similar to the ones it had just spent billions of pounds to dismantle.

In addition, many experienced managers ‘who know how to run an NHS’ had been expensively laid off and lost to the health service.

He pointed out that the government had initially had a ‘laissez-faire’ approach to the establishment of CCGs but had now performed a volte-face and was dictating how they should look.
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RCN monitoring Health and Social Care Bill – Health News – News – ChronicleLive

AT the Royal College of Nursing, we have been keeping a close eye on the Health and Social Care Bill, as it works its way through Parliament.

And despite reforms to the Bill, in response to a public outcry, it seems politicians still haven’t listened.

While MPs say the new Health Bill will reform the NHS and provide considerable efficiency savings, we fear these promises could prove hollow, and it will be the quality of care in the North East that suffers as a result.

Hospital Trusts throughout the North East are already struggling to make unprecedented budget cuts, after NHS CEO Sir David Nicholson demanded the NHS in the North East save £800m over four years, as part of a £20b national cost efficiency drive.

At the same time, we are facing the dissolution of our Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authority, which are being replaced by a large number of untested Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Ironically, the administration costs of running this new system of CCGs is forecast to be more expensive, and more complicated, than the one it is replacing. And if we get the commissioning of NHS services wrong, the delivery of care will not happen efficiently.

What this will mean for patients is a worryingly uncertain future for healthcare provision.

At the RCN, we’ve already identified the Government’s efficiency savings will result in 40,000 frontline NHS jobs being cut. This will result in understaffed and overstretched wards and practice centres across the country.

On top of this, the new Health Bill would remove the income cap for private patients, meaning there will no longer be a limit on the amount of money hospitals can make from private patients.

As a consequence, the access NHS patients have to services could become more limited.

The Government also hope by allowing ‘any qualified provider’ to supply healthcare services, they will drive up quality through competition.

However, this new policy could end up being a race to the bottom, with private sector companies undercutting the approved service tariffs of NHS providers.

At the RCN, we believe it is vitally important the new Health Bill puts safety guards in place to ensure the quality of patient care is not harmed by forced price competition.

Unions may call on members to resist reforms through ‘non-cooperation’ | News | Nursing Times

Unions may consider non-cooperation action against the government’s NHS reforms, a midwife leader has said.

Royal College of Midwives general secretary Cathy Warwick was asked about the prospect of action at a fringe event hosted by the Trades Union Congress at the Liberal Democrat autumn conference in Birmingham yesterday.

She said the organisation was still consulting with members about non-cooperation, although it was more likely to be in response to planned changes to pensions.

But she said: “It [non-cooperation] is something I think we maybe should be thinking about.”

Professor Warwick said the RCM was “close to thinking the only way forward is to ask for this [Health] Bill to be withdrawn”.

Her concerns include fragmentation of services and privatisation.

Ron Singer, a GP and Unite representative on the British Medical Association GP’s committee, said GPs were very unlikely to take action but it was becoming more likely in other health professions.
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UNISON Press | Press Releases Front Page

Health unions* are warning today (20 September) that a toxic combination of increasing demand, shrinking resources and the pay freeze, are putting staff under severe pressure. The impact of the proposed pension changes and the massive programme of NHS reforms in the Health and Social Care Bill, are adding even more to the stress felt by staff.

In their joint evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body, the unions, which represent staff including nurses, midwives, paramedics, therapists, porters, cooks and cleaners, highlight increasing concerns about how they can maintain the quality of patient care.

High inflation and the Government’s pay freeze have resulted in a big drop in the value of NHS pay over the last few years. Many NHS staff are suffering financial hardship and the £250 given to the lowest paid has been soaked up by the impact of changes to tax credits, childcare fees and the rising cost of basic essentials such as food and fuel.

Christina McAnea, UNISON, NHS Staff-Side Chair said:

“Stability is vital in any workforce – more so during a period of change. The current turmoil in the NHS is undermining staff morale and threatening the delivery of high quality patient care. On top of job cuts and ward closures, growing waiting lists and an attack on their pension, staff face a reorganisation on an unprecedented scale.

“By imposing a pay freeze for the second year running, the Government is adding insult to injury. Pay has never been generous in the NHS and, with inflation rising, many families are struggling to cover the costs of even basic essentials.

Josie Irwin, RCN, Staff-Side Secretary said:

“Coalition policy means that nurses face suffering a second year of pay cuts. This comes on top of unprecedented change and upheaval in the NHS – leading to low morale, uncertainty and insecurity. The RCN calls on the pay review body to recognise that further attacks on pay will only do more damage to recruitment and retention in the NHS.”

Stephen Austin, Head of Employment Relations for the BDA Trade Union said:

“For years the public have supported the workers in the NHS to get a fair rate of pay for the caring and committed work that they do and this was achieved by the last government, but the current government under the disguise of necessary cuts are returning health workers back into the position of being poorly paid”.

Rehana Azam GMB National Officer, Head of NHS said

“At a time when working people are dealing with their own deficits as the cost of living increases including the essentials like childcare, fuel and food. Wage stagnation and the position directed from Government to Pay Review Bodies is unhelpful and unfair.

“Public Sector workers are being attacked on a daily basis by this Government and the propaganda distributed about public sector workers with the attempts to put private sector workers against public sector workers will reveal that this Government’s only agenda is to undermine the hard working people of this country by making them pay for a deficit which was not their making. All employers in this country are expected to negotiate, consult and agree changes to employment terms and conditions and the bullying tactics applied by this Government in imposing changes to public sector workers terms and conditions will be challenged and stopped”.

Rachael Maskell, Head of Health, Unite, said:

” The Pay Review Body continues to play an important role in providing independent and robust evidence on the remuneration of NHS employees. The NHS workforce are facing unprecedented challenges to their pay, in the midst of mass re-organisation and cuts, in some cases losing 25% in pay as a result. These cuts to services and employment terms are causing morale in the NHS to fall significantly. We are hopeful that this year’s Pay Review Body will ensure that NHS staff are remunerated fairly to ensure that they stop falling behind other sections of the workforce and economy. Unite further hopes that the Pay Review Body will address the recruitment and retention challenges for pharmacists, and estates and maintenance workers in this year’s review.”

*British Association of Occupational Therapists, British Dietetic Association, British Orthoptic Society, Chartered Society of Physiotherpists, Federation of Clinical Scientists, GMB, Royal College of Midwives, Royal College of Nursing, Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, Society of Radiographers, UCATT, UNISON, Unite.

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