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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 is a huge amount of NHS news now that the Health and Socal Care / Destroy the NHS Bill is back in the Lords and discussed at Prime Minister’s Question time.

NHS bill faces fresh opposition ~ Channel4

David Cameron was barely on his feet at PMQs when the Faculty of Public Health announced it was calling for the Health and Social Care Bill to be withdrawn, writes Victoria Macdonald.

It was tricky timing. Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) was inevitably going to be dominated by the NHS reforms simply because it is back in the House of Lords today.

And sure enough, the Labour leader Ed Miliband attacked the PM for “breaking his word on no top-down reorganisation”. All Mr Cameron’s attention, he said, was on the reforms and this meant the front-line was suffering.

“He knows in his heart of hearts that this is a complete disaster,” Mr Miliband said.

“Why won’t you just give up and stop wasting billions and drop your bill?”

Mr Cameron repeated the claim that GPs were not just “supporting our reforms, they are implementing our reforms”.

But this is a claim that is becoming more difficult for the government to keep making. The list of organisations now calling for the bill to be scrapped is growing and pressure is growing on the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley.

David Cameron and Ed Miliband clash over NHS reform in PMQs

Miliband tells Cameron to ‘stop wasting millions and drop the bill’ while Tory leader retorts that Miliband is an opportunist

David Cameron delivered a passionate defence of the government’s health reforms in the face of a challenge by Ed Miliband to “stop wasting millions and drop his bill”.

The prime minister made it clear his government intended to put the health and social care bill on to the statute book despite growing opposition within the NHS and the Conservative party.

Cameron cast the battle over the NHS shakeup as one between a bureaucrat-run NHS and a doctor-run NHS, insisting that the reforms were stripping billions of pounds in bureaucracy to “plough back” into patient care, and he attacked Labour’s refusal to fund increases in the NHS budget.

“They are not in favour of the money, they are not in favour of reform, they are just a bunch of opportunists,” Cameron told the Commons.

The premier also rallied to the defence of his beleaguered health secretary, Andrew Lansley, after a No 10 insider was quoted as saying he should be “taken out and shot”, raising doubts about his future in the cabinet.

The prime minister and the Labour leader clashed at prime minister’s question time on the day that the health and social care bill returns to the Lords for its report stage, where it is tipped to face staunch opposition from sections of the second chamber. In a heated exchange, Miliband told Cameron that “in his hearts of hearts” the prime minister knew that the bill was “a complete disaster”, and he cited opposition to the reforms from a long list of health care unions and associations.

David Cameron attacks Labour’s handling of NHS Wales

Prime Minister David Cameron has launched an attack on Labour’s handling of the health service in Wales.

Mr Cameron said people were waiting longer for operations and accused the Welsh government of cutting funding.

He made the claim while defending reforms of the NHS in England – plans which the Welsh government said were a “complete and utter shambles”.

The Welsh government said the prime minister’s figures were “totally wrong”.

At question time in the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Cameron said the NHS in Wales showed what happens “when you don’t put the money in and don’t do the reform”.

Prime Minister David Cameron compared to General Custer after attack on Welsh Government’s NHS policies

Prime Minister David Cameron was compared to General Custer by the Welsh Government yesterday after he launched a furious attack on the NHS in Wales.

In the latest burst of conflict between the two governments, Health Minister Lesley Griffiths blasted the UK Government’s plans for the NHS as a “complete and utter shambles” and accused Mr Cameron of lacking a mandate.

It came after Cameron lambasted the Labour Welsh Government’s management of the NHS as he fought back against calls to abandon his controversial health policies for England.

The BMA in Wales applauded the Welsh Government for remaining “loyal” to the vision of Labour NHS pioneer Aneurin Bevan and called on Mr Cameron to withdraw the legislation. The Royal College of Nursing also defended the record of the government in Cardiff.

The Welsh Government claimed the Prime Minister had his facts wrong and compared him to Custer – a US general remembered for the defeat he suffered when overwhelmed by Native American fighters in 1876 at the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand.

The Prime Minister launched his attack on the Welsh Government as he came under sustained attack in the Commons from Labour leader Ed Miliband over the coalition’s NHS reforms.

 

NHS Reforms: Government Lacks Plan B, Lords Told

The coalition government has no “plan B” for its controversial proposals to reform the NHS, the House of Lords has heard.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley has seen his Health and Social Care Bill come under heavy fire, with calls for it to be dropped gaining momentum.

The bill, which centres around the responsiblity for the commissioning of health services passing from primary care trusts to GP consortia, is viewed by critics as privatisation of the NHS.

Parliamentary undersecretary of state for health Earl Howe told lords that the government was set on its bill as it was “the right thing to do”.

[“The right thing to do” is recognised as a Blairite argument whereby the divorced-from-reality fruitcake felt that it was unnecessary to justify His decision.]

 

NHS managers oppose Health Bill

The Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM) is ‘close to’ calling for the withdrawal of the Health and Social Care Bill.

An IHM member opinion poll found managers had experienced “worsening conditions” for both patients and NHS staff thanks to the reforms.

The official release of the survey is not due until 14 February but Sue Hodges, Chief Executive of IHM, told MiP that 87% of its members that have responded to the poll currently want to see the bill withdrawn.

Hodges said that within minutes of the request being posted online, the IHM was able to “confidently” say Health and Social Care managers do not support the Health Bill and the “inevitable consequences” of it.

She said it is “very likely” the IHM will make an official call for the withdrawal of the bill next week.

IHM leaders criticised the government’s almost “total disregard” for its advice given during its consultation period last year.

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