There’s a non story today about GPs salaries being set to rise by 25%. The non story is that GPs who do commissioning will be paid for participating in Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). Yawn.
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Lansley claims that there are huge increases in readmittance to hospitals under the previous government. He says “These figures show how Labour’s obsession with waiting time targets meant that patients were treated like parts on a production line to be hurried through the system rather than like people who need to be properly cared for.” I’m not convinced by these figures and need to see the bigger picture e.g. where twice as many people treated, were they older or sicker, etc?
Conservative election poster 2010
A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat (Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
Care services for the elderly are being put in jeopardy due to government cuts trickling down to local councils, a leading charity warned yesterday.
Age UK director Michelle Mitchell said reductions in council social care budgets risked leaving an increasing number of elderly people with “absolutely no support at all, or poor quality and limited support.”
Research by the King’s Fund showed that by 2015 estimates suggest that there will be one million older people needing significant care but without assistance, a figure that is up from almost 900,000 in 2012.
And Ms Mitchell warned in an interview with the Guardian: “Care is in crisis and it is getting worse. We have evidence to show that local authorities have cut care for older people by 4.5 per cent this year, and this at a time when social care is chronically underfunded anyway.”
…
Hundreds of thousands of patients every year are readmitted to hospital after being sent home too soon, figures suggest.
Alarming figures show that over a decade the number of NHS patients who were readmitted to hospital in an emergency within a month of being discharged soared – rising by more than 75 per cent in the past decade.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley last night accused hospitals of treating patients ‘like parts on a production line’ as they tried to hit Labour’s waiting list targets.
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A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat (Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
Doctors slammed the Con-Dems’ NHS cuts today, warning that patients were being hit hard by longer waiting times and worse care.
Four in five GPs and hospital doctors have said that the cutbacks had already started to bite – resulting in fewer hospital beds, pressure to prescribe cheaper drugs and cuts to occupational and community health services.
The poll, conducted by the Guardian, makes a mockery of the coalition’s claims that it would protect the NHS from cuts.
And doctors’ representatives warned that there would be worse to come.
“The government is asking the NHS to save £20 billion in an extremely short space of time. It is inevitable that this will lead to the NHS contracting and offering the patient less as a service,” said Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association’s consultants committee.
He warned that the cuts would hit both patient care and investment in hospitals and local health services.
“Doctors and other healthcare professionals are working hard with managers to try and find greater ways of being efficient so that the impacts on patient care is reduced. However, the NHS does face an extremely tough financial future,” he said.
Computer Sciences Corporation admits it may have to write off entire value of its investment in the delayed Lorenzo system for health service
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), the American IT group, has admitted that eight years of delays and setbacks on its disastrous NHS contract have left little or no value for shareholders, as the company prepares to write off almost £1bn.
The colossal write off — equivalent to 40% of the CSC’s market value — comes after years of delays and IT glitches, centred on a new software system called Lorenzo. It was supposed to be ready in 60% of English hospitals more than four years ago, but was installed in its first acute hospital in June last year.
CSC’s failing contract has been one of the biggest challenges for Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, who has been reviewing large government contracts.
In September a heavily edited internal Cabinet Office report revealed the CSC contract remained a “major problem”, noting existing plans for Lorenzo were “not deliverable”. It described the software as “a long way short of the full functionality of the contracted solution” and “not proved to be wholly fit for purpose”.
Maude and the Department of Health have been deliberating on whether to continue with CSC or risk the US firm joining fellow failed NHS IT contractor Fujitsu in costly and protracted legal disputes.
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A poll of GPs and hospital doctors confirms that the ConDem coalition government is cutting the health service contrary to its promise not to impose cuts on the NHS.
Conservative election poster 2010
A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat (Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
Exclusive poll backs up consultants’ protests over bed closures and longer waiting times for surgery
The coalition’s pledge to protect the NHS is in fresh doubt after four out of five doctors said they had seen patient care suffer as a result of health service cuts during 2011.
A poll of GPs and hospital doctors, carried out for the Guardian, challenges David Cameron’s promise to “cut the deficit, not the NHS”.
Doctors cite hospital bed closures, pressure to give patients cheaper, slower-acting drugs, cuts to occupational health support, and reductions in community health services as examples of recent cost-cutting measures.
Doctors.net.uk, a professional networking site to which almost all British doctors belong, asked medics: “Have cuts to staff and/or services affected patient care in your department, area or surgery during the last 12 months?” Of the 664 doctors who responded, 527 (79%) said yes and 137 (21%) said no.
Among 440 hospital doctors, 359 have seen cuts, while 168 of the 224 family doctors said the same.
Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association’s hospital consultants and specialists committee, said the poll findings confirmed that the NHS was now “retracting” and doing less for patients, contradicting repeated ministerial pledges that frontline NHS services would escape the government’s deficit reduction programme.
“The reality is that whether you look at it from the point of view of a doctor, another clinician or a patient, there are NHS cuts ongoing and it adds up to a picture where the NHS is now retracting. So it’s hard to marry that back to the original statement ‘I’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS’,” he said.
“The evidence all around us of cuts that are being made adds up to a picture where the government has failed to deliver on the promises it made to people on coming into office.”
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The ConDem scum government quietly announces huge increases in the number of private patients to be treated at NHS hospitals. Clearly this is privatisation of the NHS on a huge scale. If you’ve got the money, you’ll cheat the waiting list and get treated. Otherwise, you suffer or die thanks to the Conservatives and Liberal-Democrat Conservatives.
NHS trusts face mounting financial difficulties in 2012.
Increased waiting times in York and North Yorkshire.
Conservative election poster 2010
A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat (Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
Health service reforms will pave the way for NHS hospitals to earn up to half of their income from private work, it has been reported.
The current cap on income generated from private patients is typically limited to just a few percent but is set to rise to 49% in a move slipped out by the Government last week, according to The Times.
It is expected to cause more friction within the coalition with a senior Liberal Democrat warning that it was part of an ideological drive that many in the party would oppose, the newspaper said.
Labour claimed the plans showed Prime Minister David Cameron was determined to mirror health care provision operated in the US.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham told the newspaper: “This surprise move, sneaked out just before Christmas, is the clearest sign yet of David Cameron’s determination to turn our precious NHS into a US-style commercial system, where hospitals are more interested in profits than people.
“With NHS hospitals able to devote half their beds to private patients, people will begin to see how our hospitals will never be the same again if Cameron’s health Bill gets through Parliament.”
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THE number of NHS trusts facing financial problems has nearly doubled as the Government’s funding squeeze bites.
Care chiefs in 21 areas fear they will be strapped for cash at some point this year, up from just 13 in 2010.
The findings by trust regulator Monitor come as ministers insist on “efficiency savings” of £20billion.
Of 137 trusts surveyed, 16 expect to miss waiting times targets, 14 fear losing the ability to treat A&E patients within four hours and 16 warn they will miss targets on controlling cases of the killer C.diff superbug.
Laurence Buckman, from the British Medical Association, said: “We could see more rationing stories than we are seeing now, particularly with secondary care procedures being cut.
“GPs (within clinical commissioning groups) will have to show great ingenuity in doing their best to introduce cuts in a humane way and I suspect that they will find that difficult.”
… [mistakenly refers to John Healey as Shadow Health Secretary]
THE number of people waiting more than 18 weeks for NHS treatment in York and North Yorkshire has risen by 26 per cent since the last General Election, according to new figures.
A report by the Socialist Health Association also claimed Government plans to restructure the health service will cost the local primary care trust £46.63 million.
The data was compiled from the NHS’ annual Operating Framework document published at the end of November. It also showed 18-week waits for treatment in East Yorkshire had fallen by 23 per cent since May 2010. Just over £18.8 million has been set aside for NHS reorganisation within the area.
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There is a tradition of denoting something by it’s opposite. Marilyn Manson’s ‘Beautiful People’ for all those that died on 7 July 2005 from many different religions and belief systems ~ indeed actually more than that ~ the day after Dubya’s bicycle accident on his birthday. Robin Cooke wrote about 7/7 shortly before he died on Ben Stack.
Then there’s kaleidoscope. the word “kaleidoscope” is derived from the Ancient Greek καλ(ός) (beauty, beautiful), είδο(ς) (form, shape) and -σκόπιο (tool for examination)—hence “observer of beautiful forms.” Who was it that mentioned “kaleidoscope” (and “tea and biscuits”)?
Tony Blair receives the Congressional Gold Medal of Honour from George ‘Dubya’ Bush
Getting my Christmas Message in early and keeping it short and sweet.
Season’s greetings.
I propose that it’s been established that Blair, Campbell & Co committed war crimes and genocide. This was established even as they were doing it. A war of aggression without UN authority & a war for regime change are war crimes. I sincerely hope that 2012 will see them answer for their crimes.
A Kenyan national who has accused MI5 and the FBI of complicity in his rendition and torture won a key legal victory in the British courts this week.
The Court of Appeal ordered that Omar Awadh Omar, a prominent Nairobi-based Muslim human rights activist, be allowed to bring his application seeking disclosure from Britain about what it knew of his alleged rendition from Kenya to Uganda in 2010.
Since September 2010, Mr Omar, a prominent Nairobi-based Muslim human rights activist, has been held at Luzira high-security prison in Kampala where he faces capital murder charges.
He is accused of involvement in the twin bomb attacks which killed 74 people in Kampala as they watched the 2010 World Cup final.
If found guilty, Mr Omar faces death by hanging.
Mr Omar alleges he was abducted by the Kenyan Anti-Terror Police Unit, bundled into a car and driven to the border crossing at Malaba where he was handed over, hooded and shackled, to Ugandan police.
He says he was then taken to the notorious “Rapid Response Unit” at Kireka, which human rights groups have described as a “torture chamber.”
While at Kireka, he alleges he was repeatedly interrogated over the course of 21 days by two FBI agents and one MI5 agent, was verbally abused, threatened with transfer to Guantanamo Bay, repeatedly pushed, slapped, kicked and punched so hard he suffered kidney damage.
The majority of these assaults were carried out by the FBI agents but they were witnessed and encouraged by the MI5 agent, he claims.
The British government has said it will “neither confirm nor deny” involvement in the ill-treatment or rendition.
On Wednesday the Court of Appeal held that it was at least arguably necessary to Mr Omar’s criminal defence and/or challenge in the Constitutional Court of Uganda for Britain to disclose to him any information it holds in relation to his alleged rendition.
Solicitor at Public Interest Lawyers Tessa Gregory, representing Omar, said: “This case involves extremely serious allegations of UK complicity in the unlawful rendition, treatment and prosecution of our client, Omar Awadh Omar.
“In light of the court’s decision today, the government can no longer sensibly maintain its policy of neither confirming nor denying its involvement in Omar’s case.”
UK Uncut has begun legal proceedings to force banking giant Goldman Sachs to pay more to the UK tax authorities.
The pressure group requested a judicial review into a decision by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that let the bank off paying interest on its tax bill.
The shortfall, which HMRC told MPs this week was an error, was estimated by the National Audit Office to be £5m-8m.
However, a whistleblower who worked for HMRC estimated the cost at £20m – a claim that has been rejected by HMRC.
UK Uncut has called for the government to crack down on tax avoidance by large corporations and the super-rich rather than pursue its “unnecessary austerity programme”.
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A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat (Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
There will be a leadership vacuum in the NHS after hundreds of senior staff in Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) were sent a letter asking for their immediate resignation before 31 December, the Labour party has said.
Although the Health and Social Care Bill is still going through approval, many of the changes detailed in it have already begun to happen. That’s why heads of the PCTs, which are to be abolished, have been told they must sign and return letters of resignation by the end of the year.
The shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: “Andrew Lansley looks increasingly like a man on a kamikaze mission to destabilise the NHS. Not only has he chosen the worst possible moment to re-organise the NHS, he now removes the very people who were crucial to holding things together.”
He went on: “By combining the financial challenge with the biggest-ever reorganisation, the government has created the conditions for a perfect storm that threatens to engulf the NHS in 2012. The government is steering the NHS towards the rocks and, unbelievably, is now busy throwing captain and crew overboard.
“This is no way to treat people and no way to run an NHS. It threatens to plunge the NHS into a vacuum just when it most needs experience, grip and focus. And it is arrogance in the extreme and an affront to democracy to dismantle the NHS in this way before Parliament has given its approval.
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Allegations about tax avoidance in the highest echelons of the corporate world have been vindicated in a Commons report.
The public accounts committee (PAC) substantiated claims from UK Uncut, which campaigns against corporate tax avoidance, and suggested there are £25 billion of outstanding tax issues with big companies which Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has failed to deal with.
“This report is a damning indictment of HMRC and the way its senior officials handle tax disputes with large corporations,” PAC chair Margaret Hodge said.
“We uncovered both specific and systemic failures which must be addressed.”
The £25 billion bill alluded to in the report is bigger than the entire UK deficit in 2002 and only slightly below the £30 billion level in 2006.
The sum is equivalent to £1,000 for every British family or a cut of 6p from the basic rate of income tax.
Companies such as Vodafone have vociferously denied the figures about outstanding tax made by groups like UK Uncut, but the Commons committee used evidence from a whistleblower and a private eye to reach similar conclusions.
One deal which allegedly let Goldman Sachs off the hook for £20 million would not have been made public without the intervention of the whistleblower, MPs said.
“It is extremely disappointing that senior HMRC officials were not prepared to cooperate with our inquiry in a spirit of openness. We accept that there is a need for confidentiality to protect individual taxpayers, but this must not be used as a cloak to protect the department from scrutiny,” Ms Hodge added.
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The super-rich are costing the taxpayer up to £1billion a year by exploiting a legal loophole which allows them to avoid paying stamp duty when selling their exclusive homes – meanwhile, ordinary families are paying tens of thousands of pounds simply to move home.
The tax dodge involves transferring ownership of a property to an off-shore company so when it comes to be sold the buyer purchases the company as a whole assuming de-facto ownership of the property.
This means that while a family buying a home costing £400,000 would pay £12,000 to the Government, a multi-millionaire buying a luxury pad could pay nothing.
Tax dodge: All the homes on London’s exclusive Cornwall Terrace have been transferred into offshore companies
Tax dodge: All the homes on London’s exclusive Cornwall Terrace have been transferred into offshore companies
Because the deal is classed as a corporate transaction as opposed to a property sale there are no stamp duty obligations involved. The extent of the avoidance was revealed in a Times report.
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On a different topic: I’ve been looking at Cameron’s speech on the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible intending to do an exegesis which quite possibly would be an exegesis of Cameron’s exegesis.
My attention was drawn to this speech by the widely reported soundbyte ~ He said “live and let live” had too often become “do what you please”. I recognise that as relating to something deeper than its superficial appearance.
The speech is obviously sucking up to Christians and is recieved well by them from a look at the comments. It’s an awfully tedious speech by David ‘Marvin‘ Cameron in which he makes some very dodgy assertions.
Marvin starts by suggesting that he’s in the lion’s den. It’s a reference to Daniel who survived the lion’s den unscathed. Some Christians are hardly lions now are they? I came across some Christians one Christmas day. I was collecting some friends by car for four-days-late Midwinter dinner. These Christians had just come out of a Cathedral and I stopped for them at a Zebra pedestrian crossing. I am usually patient, polite and considerate with pedestrians being a cyclist and motorcyclist as well being able to drive a car. One of these Christians was such a pain returning across the crossing that I wound down the window and shouted “F*****g Christians!” at them. Needlessly annoying motorists like children is hardly lion-like behaviour now is it? Not going to rip me to shreds with his fangs and claws and rip the flesh off my severed limbs is he?
Marvin talks in a confused way about ‘something’ and ‘anything’ without defining these terms and then using ‘something’ in an opposite sense. “You can’t fight something with nothing.” … “Because if we don’t stand for something, we can’t stand against anything.” It’s tedious vacuity.
So Marvin praises the language of the King James Bible. I’ve found it one of the nastiest translations actually. “It crystallises profound, sometimes complex, thoughts and suggests a depth of meaning far beyond the words on the page…” “depth of meaning far beyond the words on the page” is imagination and subjective so that it can’t be shared (discounting telepathic abilities). “…giving us something to share, to cherish, to celebrate.”
Marvin praises the contribution that the KJB has made to British society and culture, values and morals when really it’s just part of historic tradition.
Marvin says that we are a Christian country and should not be afraid to say so then goes on to qualify Christian country so that it is meaningless.
Christ, this speech is tedious bullshit. And what’s with the dot, dot, dot? …
Committee members looking at implications of public bills say health secretary’s role should be made explicitly clear
The coalition government’s health bill will dilute accountability to parliament and the courts and should be amended to address serious constitutional issues that remain, a Lords committee has warned.
The committee examining the constitutional implications of public bills, chaired by Lady Jay, says the House of Lords will have to alter the health bill so that “ministerial responsibility” for the NHS is made “explicitly” clear.
Last month the government had been forced to hold up the part of its NHS bill dealing with the health secretary’s new role to stave off an embarrassing rebellion from a coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrat peers over the issue.
The health bill is expected to pass through committee stage, but will face a crunch vote on the issue in January.
Jay said: “It must be made clear in the bill that the secretary of state for health continues to be accountable for the provision of health services in England.
“This is vital to ensure parliament can properly scrutinise the NHS in the future.”
She warned that the bill at present leaves it unclear “on where the buck stops when health services are removed”, picking up on campaigners’ fears that the health secretary would be helpless to stop patient care disappearing from the NHS.
At the heart of the debate is the government’s plan to devolve its “constitutional responsibility” to provide NHS services to a quango and also, in the words of the white paper, “liberate” hospitals and GPs to decide what level of provision patients could expect.
This represents a significant shift. The health secretary has a legal duty to provide key NHS services, such as hospital accommodation, ambulances, maternity and nursing.
