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Conservative election poster 2010

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

Urgent warning on nursing shortage / Britain / Home – Morning Star

The NHS could be short of 100,000 nurses in the next 10 years as the government drives through damaging cuts and reforms, worrying statistics revealed today.

In the worst case scenario 28 per cent of nurses might be cut from the current workforce of just more than 352,000, the independent study commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing shows.

The research carried out at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University examined eight possible sequences of events taking into account training places for nurses and midwives, rates of retirement and overseas recruitment.

RCN warned that the results show how small policy changes can have a large long-term effect on staff numbers.

The nursing union’s chief executive and general secretary Dr Peter Carter said: “This report highlights what the truly shocking scale of losses could be to the nursing workforce in England over the next 10 years.

“A loss of more than a quarter of the nursing workforce would be hugely damaging to patient care. The nursing workforce has grown in recent years, but only just enough to keep up with rising demands on healthcare.

Hackney consultant joins protest against NHS changes | Hackney Citizen

A human chain thrown around the Homerton Hospital included some of Hackney’s most senior NHS staff who joined patients and others to protest at radical plans to overhaul the health service

Heavy rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of NHS staff and others who gathered outside Homerton Hospital to voice their opposition to the government’s proposed healthcare reforms as part of the Hands around the Homerton event on July 16.

As the 50-strong group, including a GP and a hospital consultant, congregated on a small piece of parkland next to the hospital, they were roused by a band who played some upbeat numbers. Persevering through the driving rain the protestors marched in single file over to the main hospital building and gathered on the forecourt. They were soon asked to move by one of the nurses from the hospital and readily complied.

Alongside local residents there were a significant number of Homerton Hospital staff, who are concerned about how the reforms could impede their ability to provide quality care for their patients.

Jonathon Tomlinson, a local GP at the Lawson practice in Hoxton said: “The healthcare proposals would be an absolute disaster for the NHS. Personally, I will probably be fine but I’m more concerned about what it means for my patients. There’ll be a conflict of interest because GPs will have to buy in services for their patients, so the focus won’t be on quality of care, but on cost.”

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