- 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.
Friday, 10 February
Cameron should scrap NHS bill and drop Lansley, says influential Tory blog
ConservativeHome editor says health secretary has failed to win public support for health and social care billDavid Cameron has been urged to replace Andrew Lansley and drop large chunks of the health bill by the Conservative party’s most widely read and influential website.
Tim Montgomerie, the editor of ConservativeHome, said in a post published on Friday that Lansley, the health secretary, had failed to win public support for the legislation and that, if the Tories did not back down, every problem with the NHSover the next three years would be blamed on the bill. The ConservativeHome intervention is particularly damaging to Cameron because Montgomerie says he was encouraged to speak out by three Conservative cabinet minsters who believe that pressing ahead with the bill would be folly. “One was insistent the bill must be dropped. Another said Andrew Lansley must be replaced. Another likened the NHS reforms to the poll tax,” says Montgomerie in his article. “The consensus is that the prime minister needs an external shock to wake him to the scale of the problem.”
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The unnecessary and unpopular NHS Bill could cost the Conservative Party the next election. Cameron must kill it.
The NHS was long the Conservative Party’s Achilles heel. David Cameron’s greatest political achievement as Leader of the Opposition was to neutralise health as an issue. The greatest mistake of his time as Prime Minister has been to put it back at the centre of political debate.
CSC confirms $1.5bn NHS IT write-off
Discussions between government and supplier over scope of National Programme for IT work continue
CSC has confirmed it is to write-off almost $1.5bn as a result of its involvement in the National Programme for IT (NPfIT).
In December 2011 the company, which had been contracted to supply electronic patient records systems to a number of NHS trusts, warned shareholders it may lose an amount equal to, or in excess of, its $1.49bn investment in the NPfIT.
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The Lib Dem dozen demanding release of “secret” NHS risk register
The drive to force Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to release the NHS risk register will also be ringing alarm bells in Downing Street.
A dozen MPs have signed the early day motion tabled by Labour MP Grahame Morris demanding ministers publish the document – which he claims could reveal a “cost surge” related to controversial NHS reforms and finish them off.
Here are the names of those Lib Dems to sign the motion – backed by 75 MPs in total:
Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Mike Crockart (Edinburgh West)
Andrew George (St Ives)
Duncan Hames (Chippenham)
Mike Hancock (Portsmouth South)
Martin Horwood (Cheltenham)
Julian Huppert (Cambridge)
John Leech (Manchester Withington)
Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West)
John Pugh (Southport)
Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute)
Bob Russell (Colchester)
And an Opposition Day debate in the House of Commons on publication of the NHS risk register is now scheduled for 22 February.
Mr Morris said: “Our suspicion is that it identifies a cost surge and one of the Government’s principle justifications for the Health and Social Care Bill is that this reorganisation will bring about the delivery of improved outcomes in a more efficient manner.
“Our suspicion is that the risk register suggests that may not be the case.
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Saturday, 11 February
Miliband writes to lords over NHS reforms
Ed Miliband has taken the unusual step of writing to every member of the House of Lords in an attempt to block key parts of the coalition’s NHS reform Bill.
“On behalf of my Party, I want to extend this offer to peers of all parties and of none: we will work with you to stop this Bill damaging the NHS,” he wrote.
“Recent weeks and months have shown just how widely the concerns about this Bill are shared – not just among patients and the public, but also among doctors, nurses and other NHS staff.
“The Government would have us believe that those who oppose this Bill are ‘vested interests’. I think that is deeply insulting to people who have devoted their lives to working in the NHS and care about its future.”
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Sunday, 12 February
The firm that hijacked the NHS: MoS investigation reveals extraordinary extent of international management consultant’s role in Lansley’s health reforms
- McKinsey & Company paid for NHS regulator staff to go to lavish events
- Many Health and Social Care Bill proposals drawn up by the company
- Document shows it has used access to share information with other clients
- McKinsey also worked closely with previous government and on disastrous Railtrack privatisation under John Major
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A Mail on Sunday investigation, based on hundreds of official documents disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, has revealed the full extent of McKinsey’s myriad links to the controversial reforms