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Friday 16 August 2013

David Cameron the most double-dealing politician in UK history ?

David Cameron said the NHS is safe in his hands as he brought the annual Conservative conference to an end. He promised "no more pointless and disruptive reorganisations". Instead, change would be "driven by the wishes and needs of NHS professionals and patients". 4 October 2006 here.

Hospitals being closed, waiting lists longer, medical professionals morale at an all time low, massive budget cuts and privatisation the order of the day, patients medical records being sold for a £1. Would you trust Cameron as far as you could throw him ? Very soon the NHS as we know it will be gone. Never perfect, the NHS was the finest institution this country ever had, the government is destroying it. Bit by bit, day by day. Ever more politicos are pilling their often ill gotten gains into private healthcare. Banks too big to fail, big pharma too big to control, but the government can fragment and destroy the NHS.

Eddie



NHS waiting list at five-year high as cost-cutting reforms strike.

Numbers of patients waiting for treatment in the NHS have increased by more than 300,000 since the start of 2013, to 2.88 million people, according to figures released by NHS England yesterday.

Further criticism follows today, however, as an editorial in The Lancet launches a furious attack on the Coalition’s NHS record, accusing it of treating the health service like “a failing bank or business”. The Lancet’s editors accuse the Coalition of setting it on a “path to a market commodity.
 
In a pointed critique of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, The Lancet editors say that under the new system, “exact responsibilities are at best complex, not easily understood, and at worst deliberately obfuscated”.

Commenting on the appointment of a new chief executive of the NHS, a position that will be filled in the autumn, the editors said it was “astonishing” that the candidate “does not have to have experience in, or knowledge of healthcare systems”.

The editorial comes amid growing dissent among the medical profession over the impact of the Government’s health reforms, which came into effect in April this year and have been accused of and enabling private sector organisations to win more and more NHS contracts.

More here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Highly recommended read
Jeff

Anonymous said...

Things just get worse and worse under this government. But can any of them be trusted?

Paul B

Lowcarb team member said...

Obfuscation, great word says it all. I am not really surprised that they are not seeking anyone with knowledge of healthcare systems-it is just another business and will be managed as such. Its very common for senior executives to leave one business with golden handshake etc to join another organisation with a huge salary and bonus package, spend a few months asking questions ordering new furniture for his suite of offices etc and then move on to repeat the whole process without having contributed anything at all to the business except for his name as Chief exec or whatever.

I don't think either of the major parties have a good record on the NHS. One threw money at it without ensuring it was spent effectively-and introduced medicine by tick box and the other seems to want to keep the name or even change it to "Our NHS" while selling it off-leaving only the most unprofitable parts which will be run down and under funded. It is fairly plain that something fundamental had to change. Maybe the old model NHS was not sustainable.

Instead of having open discussions and telling the truth {ha-ha) about such an important issue they have all attended to run it down by stealth. Its too big and important an issue for that. I can understand them in a way,whoever did it would be accused forever of "dismantling the NHS" so they are all doing it brick by brick.I just wish they would stop tinkering around with the edges and wasting money on silly initiatives and hold the proper debate, I cannot imagine why they thought it a good idea to put more money in the hands of the GPs through CCG's for example. Doctors are not financiers, yet they have to be The CCG’s often have to include so many practices and cover such a wide area that the local connection becomes almost meaningless. What it is really about is to intensify the struggle that was going on with the PCTs, Hospitals and Drs all fighting over the same amount of money. Does it go to the hospital or to the local practice.The outcome not necessarily or even usually I suspect in the interest of the patient.

I have seen this first hand recently. GP's objecting to Consultant to Consultant referrals "without having had treatment". This from my local CCG’s. If you have been referred to a consultant or Dep’t which is inappropriate it is surely a good thing that you were not treated inappropriately. This interference means that you should be referred back to your GP and then start over. In my case I had to be referred to two clinics where no-one understood the condition I have been treated by that hospital for over the past six years before I could be referred back to the dept I have been treated by for the past six years. How does this benefit the patient or the budget. Quite frankly the GP's representing the Practices on these groups now seem to be those most easily spared from their normal duties, this is inevitable. Its all a waste of time and money why the wider questions remain unasked let alone unanswered. Meanwhile the privatisation proceeds unchecked and unseen. Something had to change but there has been no real debate about how and when. I often wonder why we still feel we live in a democracy.

Kath