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Michael Lloyd, from Stroud, wrote to NHS bosses threatening a judicial review if the decision was not withdrawn before 22 September.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