They say “Thank you sir”
I say “Thank you comrade. Come the revolution”.
edit: The point I’m trying to make here is:
Whenever you’re called sir or madam (or whenever you have a similar opportunity, say
“Come the revolution”, “we will prevail”, “we need a fucking revo” or something similar).
It is going to happen.
A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
NHS reform bill must be resisted, leading doctors tell royal colleges | Society | The Guardian
by Randeep Ramesh
Co-ordinated by the NHS Consultants’ Association, the medics have written to presidents of the royal medical colleges urging them to stop co-operating with the government’s proposed NHS reforms.
The move comes as the British Medical Association begins to mobilise a public campaign against the bill, and coincides with the suggestion of Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, that family doctors hire lawyers to cope with the conflicts of interest they would face over the commissioning reforms.
The letter says the health bill, devised by the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, is not supported by the majority of the medical profession and is not in the best long-term interests of either patients, doctors or the royal colleges.
The plan would, the doctors argue, lead to “marketisation and privatisation” of the English NHS, as well as promote competition with a new regulator, and remove the health secretary’s duty to provide a comprehensive health service. The letter highlights a poll of more than 1000 doctors from the British Medical Journal, showing 93% want Lansley’s bill withdrawn, and suggests there is a lack of democratic legitimacy. The government needs to “reform its reforms”, following the public and professional backlash this year, and the changes have been expensive, the writers say: savings from the changes would bring in £4.5bn over the next four years, £700m less than the government first envisaged.
The doctors are also concerned at the emollient tone of some royal colleges. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges told MPs there were too “many disadvantages” in delay, while Norman Williams, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said his body largely backed “the aims of the reforms to modernise the health care system”. The letter claims “colleges are out of touch with the views … of the majority of grassroots doctors”, and accuses them of failing to safeguard their own principles, a key role being to “promote the underlying principles of medical professionalism and leadership”.
The bill, the letter says, cannot pass without the medical profession’s support.
“The colleges have a rare opportunity to make a stand for the NHS, medical profession, and patients. We therefore call upon the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges to act in the public interest by publicly calling for the withdrawal of the health and social care bill.”
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‘Timebomb’ fear as ‘rationing by stealth’ of operations hits NHS – Telegraph
These referrals had shown a 3.5 per cent increase at the same stage last year, according to the department.
The number of patients attending for outpatient appointments has also fallen, by 2.7 per cent.
Professor Norman Williams, president of the RCS, described the figures as “extremely disturbing”.
He said: “These data provide further evidence that rationing by stealth is occurring across the NHS.
“Such a steep reduction in the number of referrals by GPs suggests that patients are being given limited access to specialist clinical advice and could be missing out on treatments.”
He went on: “If correct this is extremely concerning for surgeons across the NHS.
“Stopping referrals is only storing up problems for the future – a timebomb which will end up costing the NHS and taxpayer more in the long-term.
“The rise in waiting times for orthopaedic surgery is an indicator that demand for surgery is not reducing and that the issue of rationing needs to be addressed. It will not go away.”
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The Destroy the NHS / Health and Social Care Bill passed it’s third reading yesterday with a mjority of 65. The bill will now pass to the House of Lords.
Many doctors and professional medical associations raised serious objections to the bill. The Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of General Practicioners took exception to Prime Minister David Cameron’s claim that they supported his proposals.
Colin Leys – co-author of ‘The Plot Against the NHS’ – has an article in the Guardian.
Campaign group 38degrees responds to the government’s so-called Myth-busting nonsense and to many claims made by Andrew Lansley yesterday.
Selected excerpts from ‘The Plot Against the NHS’ by Colin Leys and Stewart Player. Chapter One is available here. I highly recommend this book available from Merlin Press for £10.
A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
Health professionals deny Cameron’s claim they back NHS shakeup | Politics | The Guardian
The row came hours before the health and social care bill was approved by MPs, after Cameron hailed the profession’s support at prime minister’s questions.
“Now you’ve got the Royal College of GPs, the physicians, the nurses, people working in the health service, supporting the changes we’re making,” he said.
The bodies questioned the prime minister’s claim. Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, told the BBC: “While we acknowledge that the government has listened to our members in a number of areas, we still have very serious concerns about where these reforms leave a health service already facing an unprecedented financial challenge.
“At a time when the NHS needs to find £20bn in efficiencies, tackle waste, work harder to prevent ill-health, and deal with an ageing population, we are telling MPs this bill risks creating a new and expensive bureaucracy and fragmenting care.”
Clare Gerada, chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), said: “The college supports putting clinicians at the centre of planning health services. However, we continue to have a number of concerns about the government’s reforms, issues we believe may damage the NHS or limit the care we are able to provide for our patients.
“As a college we are extremely worried that these reforms, if implemented in their current format, will lead to an increase in damaging competition, an increase in health inequalities, and massively increased costs in implementing this new system. As independent research demonstrates, the NHS is one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the world and we must keep it that way.”
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The end of the NHS as we know it | Colin Leys | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
The prime minister promised before the 2010 election not to introduce any “top-down reorganisations” of the NHS; to say he, Andrew Lansley and Nick Clegg lack an electoral mandate for the bill is an understatement. It is also an understatement to say that they have not told the truth about the bill’s intentions, and that they have reduced Department of Health statements, such as its latest so-called MythBuster document, to a level of brazen mendacity that demeans a once great office of state.
The principle seems to be that if an official lie – such as that the bill does not imply privatisation – is repeated often enough, most people will feel it must be true. And by using existing powers to abolish PCTs and set up “pathfinder” so-called GP consortia, and making arrangements with foreign private companies to take over NHS hospitals, the government has also pre-empted such debate as MPs are inclined to have. The Conservative MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, who originally denounced the bill, now says that changes have already gone too far to oppose it any further – a remarkable statement of political impotence.
The bill will end the NHS as a comprehensive service equally available to all. People with limited means will have a narrowing range of free services of declining quality, and will once again face long waits for elective care. Everyone else will go back to trying to find money for private insurance and private care. More and more NHS hospital beds will be occupied by private patients. Doctors will be divided into a few who will become rich, and many who will end up working on reduced terms and with little professional freedom for large corporations (the staff of the hospitals that are being considered for handing over to private firms will have noted that the firms in question want “a free hand with staff”).
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The one serious obstacle to the bill’s promoters has been the impact of social media: 38 Degrees, Facebook, expert bloggers and tweeters. Along with the million-plus people who work for the NHS, a steadily growing portion of, especially, younger voters, have been exposed to a different narrative and see through the spin. At the moment most of them may be more cynical than politically active. But if the bill becomes law and the reality begins to be felt in people’s daily lives it is this counter-narrative that will make sense. MPs – and now the Lords – would be well advised to ponder the implications of this.
38 Degrees | Blog | Busting the NHS myths
TOP MYTHS
MYTH: The Health Secretary will wash his hands of the NHS
The Bill does not change the Secretary of State’s duty to promote a comprehensive health service.
This is very carefully worded. It totally avoids addressing one of the main issues with Andrew Lansley’s plans – that the bill would remove the “Duty to Provide” a health service currently contained in s.3(1) and 1(2) of the 2006 Act. Why do you continue to dodge the issue Mr Lansley?
MYTH: Bureaucracy will increase significantly
We are abolishing needless bureaucracy, and our plans will save one third of all administration costs during this Parliament.
The plans may abolish some bureaucracy, but our legal advice warns that the plans have the potential to increase bureaucracy too. See the quote from pages one and two of the executive summary, below:
The procurement regime is a complicated and developing body of rules and case law which gives rise to enforceable rights in the High Court and makes available draconian remedies and penalties for breach of the Regulations. The practical and financial implications of ensuring that goods and services are procured compliantly are considerable. There is a real risk that there will be a deficit of incumbent expertise in new consortia to cope with the regulatory burden. It appears however that the government has simply failed to grapple with the frontline issues in procurement, has wholly underestimated the increasing rather than diminishing complexity in the area and has had no or perhaps little regard to the administrative and financial burdens arising from the regime.
Taken from: IN THE MATTER OF THE HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE BILL AND THE APPLICATION OF PROCUREMENT AND COMPETITION LAW – an independent legal opinion provide by Rebecca Haynes of Monkton Chambers.
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MYTH: NHS hospitals will be managed by foreign companies
Even if independent sector management is used, NHS assets will continue to be wholly owned by the NHS. And there would be rigorous checks to ensure that any such independent provider is reputable and fit for purpose.
We note that they are confirming that this is not a myth, it is a fact.
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38 Degrees | Blog | Save our NHS: What Lansley said in the House of Commons
Below is a transcript (copied from Hansard) of the specific things mentioned, along with our comments (shown in red).
Mr Lansley: This Bill, for the first time, stops the Secretary of State—and, indeed, Monitor or the NHS commissioning board—from trying deliberately to increase the market share of a particular type of provider. If the previous Labour Government had put such a requirement in law when they were in office, hundreds of millions of pounds would not have been paid to independent sector treatment centres to carry out operations that were not required and never took place. If the Opposition had their way this afternoon, the safeguards that we intend to put in place would not be available.
In its response to the opportunity provided by Report stage, the Labour party is being not progressive but reactionary, while the trade unions are being misleading in the presentation of their campaign. To be specific, the trade unions and other proxy organisations such as 38 Degrees have gone to some trouble to misrepresent the Bill in order to attack it.
That’s simply not true. We have not misrepresented information, deliberately or otherwise. If the Secretary of State still believes we have then we would invite him to provide examples. We note Mr Lansley made this statement inside the House of Commons – where libel laws do not apply.
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The third and final reading of the Destroy the NHS / Health and Social Care Bill is taking place now. I think that the vote is yet to be taken.
Many doctors and other health professionals have spoken out against the bill.
During Prime Ministers Questions David Cameron falsely claimed that the Royal College of GPs and the Royal College of Nursing backed the government’s NHS plans.
Tory minister Lord Howe caused a row by describing the huge opportunities for private companies by the proposed ‘reforms’.
I regret and apologise for my recent comments.
A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
Black mood in Westminster as NHS vote looms
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John Healey spent the afternoon as Labour’s attack dog, challenging the facts of the prime minister and publicising slip-ups by ministers while online activists frantically lobbied their MPs to oppose the bill.
A stormy PMQs session saw David Cameron insist that the Royal College of GPs and the Royal College of Nursing backed the government’s NHS proposals, a fact the shadow health secretary challenged immediately afterwards.
“When experts criticise Cameron’s health bill, he doesn’t just ignore them – he pretends they support him,” he said.
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RCGP rejects David Cameron’s claim that it supports NHS reforms | GPonline.com
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RCGP chairwoman Dr Clare Gerada said while the college supports putting clinicians at the centre of health service planning, it continues to have a ‘number of concerns’ about the government’s reforms.
‘As a college we are extremely worried that these reforms, if implemented in their current format, will lead to an increase in damaging competition, an increase in health inequalities, and to massively increased costs in implementing this new system. These concerns have been outlined and reiterated pre- and post-pause.’
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BBC News – Private sector have huge NHS opportunity – minister
The overhaul of the NHS in England presents “huge opportunities” to the private sector, a health minister says.
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He said that the changes being made presented “huge opportunities” to private groups who could provide high quality care.
And he added: “In the coming months and years, the NHS is going to evolve and grow into a very different animal.”
However, after the speech he released a statement once again reiterating that the government would never privatise the NHS.
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City doctors back call for rethink on NHS reforms | This is Bristol
SEVEN Bristol doctors have signed a letter calling on the government to completely scrap its health reforms.
GPs and specialists were among the 400 medics who said the changes would cause “irreparable harm” to the NHS.
Their intervention came at a critical time for the controversial legislation as it was last night debated on the floor of the House of Commons.
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Doctors in revolt over NHS shake-up (From The Northern Echo)
A NORTH-EAST doctor at the forefront of a campaign against the Government’s controversial plan to overhaul the NHS last night insisted: “We will continue to fight it.”
As MPs prepared to vote on the Health and Social Care Bill, nearly 30 health professionals from across the North- East and North Yorkshire signed a letter saying the reworked Bill would “cause irreparable harm to the health service”.
The protest also accused David Cameron of “misleading the public by repeatedly stating that there will be no privatisation of the NHS”.
Last night, Dr Clive Peedell, a cancer consultant at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, said: “The overwhelming feeling is that doctors want the Bill withdrawn.”
Dr Peedell represents the North-East on the national council of the British Medical Association and proposed the motion calling for a public campaign against the Bill.
He said the Bill was a “clear drive towards increasing privatisation that goes completely against what the coalition Government is saying”.
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News & Star | News | Government changes could harm NHS, claim Cumbrian doctors
Three Cumbrian doctors are demanding the Government scrap its health proposals amid fears that it will destabilise the NHS.
Dr Gavin Young, of Temple Sowerby Medical Practice, Dr Kate Keohane, of Caldbeck Surgery and retired west Cumbrian GP Dr Mary Henman, are among more than 400 doctors across the country worried the reforms will not improve patient care.
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Southampton doctors join NHS reforms protest (From Daily Echo)
FIVE Southampton doctors have signed a letter calling on the Government to scrap its health reforms.
GPs and specialists were among the 400 medics who said the changes would cause “irreparable harm” to the NHS.
Their intervention came at a critical time for the controversial legislation as it was last night debated for one of the last times on the floor of the House of Commons.
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A top Manchester doctor has hit out at plans to reform the NHS – saying it could lead to chaos.
Raymond Tallis, emeritus professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Manchester, has spoken out to warn the government’s planned shake-up could ruin decades of progress.
Prof Tallis, 64, from Bramhall in Stockport, fears the Health and Social Care Bill could open the way to privatisation of care and an American-style health service.
He has written to the British Medical Association and senior politicians to voice his concerns and urge health secretary Andrew Lansley to reconsider the proposals.
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