… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Author: dizzy

  • NHS news review

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    A poll of GPs and hospital doctors confirms that the ConDem coalition government is cutting the health service contrary to its promise not to impose cuts on the NHS.

    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.

    NHS cuts have affected patient care say four out of five doctors | Society | The Guardian

    Exclusive poll backs up consultants’ protests over bed closures and longer waiting times for surgery

    The coalition’s pledge to protect the NHS is in fresh doubt after four out of five doctors said they had seen patient care suffer as a result of health service cuts during 2011.

    A poll of GPs and hospital doctors, carried out for the Guardian, challenges David Cameron’s promise to “cut the deficit, not the NHS”.

    Doctors cite hospital bed closures, pressure to give patients cheaper, slower-acting drugs, cuts to occupational health support, and reductions in community health services as examples of recent cost-cutting measures.

    Doctors.net.uk, a professional networking site to which almost all British doctors belong, asked medics: “Have cuts to staff and/or services affected patient care in your department, area or surgery during the last 12 months?” Of the 664 doctors who responded, 527 (79%) said yes and 137 (21%) said no.

    Among 440 hospital doctors, 359 have seen cuts, while 168 of the 224 family doctors said the same.

    Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association’s hospital consultants and specialists committee, said the poll findings confirmed that the NHS was now “retracting” and doing less for patients, contradicting repeated ministerial pledges that frontline NHS services would escape the government’s deficit reduction programme.

    “The reality is that whether you look at it from the point of view of a doctor, another clinician or a patient, there are NHS cuts ongoing and it adds up to a picture where the NHS is now retracting. So it’s hard to marry that back to the original statement ‘I’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS’,” he said.

    “The evidence all around us of cuts that are being made adds up to a picture where the government has failed to deliver on the promises it made to people on coming into office.”
    …

    Related: David Cameron’s pledge to protect NHS clouded by emerging reality of cuts | Society | The Guardian

     

  • NHS news review

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    The ConDem scum government quietly announces huge increases in the number of private patients to be treated at NHS hospitals. Clearly this is privatisation of the NHS on a huge scale. If you’ve got the money, you’ll cheat the waiting list and get treated. Otherwise, you suffer or die thanks to the Conservatives and Liberal-Democrat Conservatives.

    NHS trusts face mounting financial difficulties in 2012.

    Increased waiting times in York and North Yorkshire.

    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.

    NHS private income cap to be lifted | News

    Health service reforms will pave the way for NHS hospitals to earn up to half of their income from private work, it has been reported.

    The current cap on income generated from private patients is typically limited to just a few percent but is set to rise to 49% in a move slipped out by the Government last week, according to The Times.

    It is expected to cause more friction within the coalition with a senior Liberal Democrat warning that it was part of an ideological drive that many in the party would oppose, the newspaper said.

    Labour claimed the plans showed Prime Minister David Cameron was determined to mirror health care provision operated in the US.

    Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham told the newspaper: “This surprise move, sneaked out just before Christmas, is the clearest sign yet of David Cameron’s determination to turn our precious NHS into a US-style commercial system, where hospitals are more interested in profits than people.

    “With NHS hospitals able to devote half their beds to private patients, people will begin to see how our hospitals will never be the same again if Cameron’s health Bill gets through Parliament.”
    …

    Health chiefs warn of financial crisis and growing waiting times as Government cuts bite – mirror.co.uk

    THE number of NHS trusts facing financial problems has nearly doubled as the Government’s funding squeeze bites.

    Care chiefs in 21 areas fear they will be strapped for cash at some point this year, up from just 13 in 2010.

    The findings by trust regulator Monitor come as ministers insist on “efficiency savings” of £20billion.

    Of 137 trusts surveyed, 16 expect to miss waiting times targets, 14 fear losing the ability to treat A&E patients within four hours and 16 warn they will miss targets on controlling cases of the killer C.diff superbug.

    Laurence Buckman, from the British Medical Association, said: “We could see more rationing stories than we are seeing now, particularly with secondary care procedures being cut.

    “GPs (within clinical commissioning groups) will have to show great ingenuity in doing their best to introduce cuts in a humane way and I suspect that they will find that difficult.”
    … [mistakenly refers to John Healey as Shadow Health Secretary]

    NHS waiting times ‘up’ in York and North Yorkshire (From York Press)

    THE number of people waiting more than 18 weeks for NHS treatment in York and North Yorkshire has risen by 26 per cent since the last General Election, according to new figures.

    A report by the Socialist Health Association also claimed Government plans to restructure the health service will cost the local primary care trust £46.63 million.

    The data was compiled from the NHS’ annual Operating Framework document published at the end of November. It also showed 18-week waits for treatment in East Yorkshire had fallen by 23 per cent since May 2010. Just over £18.8 million has been set aside for NHS reorganisation within the area.
    …

  • Reflecting on: Beautiful

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    There is a tradition of denoting something by it’s opposite. Marilyn Manson’s ‘Beautiful People’ for all those that died on 7 July 2005 from many different religions and belief systems ~ indeed actually more than that ~ the day after Dubya’s bicycle accident on his birthday. Robin Cooke wrote about 7/7 shortly before he died on Ben Stack.

    Then there’s kaleidoscope.  the word “kaleidoscope” is derived from the Ancient Greek καλ(ός) (beauty, beautiful), είδο(ς) (form, shape) and -σκόπιο (tool for examination)—hence “observer of beautiful forms.” Who was it that mentioned “kaleidoscope” (and “tea and biscuits”)?

  • Christmas message

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    Traitor Tony Blair receives the Congressional Gold Medal of Honour from George 'Dubya' Bush
    Tony Blair receives the Congressional Gold Medal of Honour from George ‘Dubya’ Bush

    Getting my Christmas Message in early and keeping it short and sweet.

    Season’s greetings.

    I propose that it’s been established that Blair, Campbell & Co committed war crimes and genocide. This was established even as they were doing it. A war of aggression without UN authority & a war for regime change are war crimes. I sincerely hope that 2012 will see them answer for their crimes.

    RIT.

  • News review

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    Highlighting a couple of news articles today.

    Further evidence of UK involvement in rendition and torture.

    UK Uncut initiate legal action against Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HRMC) over letting Goldman Sachs escape millions in tax.

    Rendition secrets to be released / Britain / Home – Morning Star

    A Kenyan national who has accused MI5 and the FBI of complicity in his rendition and torture won a key legal victory in the British courts this week.

    The Court of Appeal ordered that Omar Awadh Omar, a prominent Nairobi-based Muslim human rights activist, be allowed to bring his application seeking disclosure from Britain about what it knew of his alleged rendition from Kenya to Uganda in 2010.

    Since September 2010, Mr Omar, a prominent Nairobi-based Muslim human rights activist, has been held at Luzira high-security prison in Kampala where he faces capital murder charges.

    He is accused of involvement in the twin bomb attacks which killed 74 people in Kampala as they watched the 2010 World Cup final.

    If found guilty, Mr Omar faces death by hanging.

    Mr Omar alleges he was abducted by the Kenyan Anti-Terror Police Unit, bundled into a car and driven to the border crossing at Malaba where he was handed over, hooded and shackled, to Ugandan police.

    He says he was then taken to the notorious “Rapid Response Unit” at Kireka, which human rights groups have described as a “torture chamber.”

    While at Kireka, he alleges he was repeatedly interrogated over the course of 21 days by two FBI agents and one MI5 agent, was verbally abused, threatened with transfer to Guantanamo Bay, repeatedly pushed, slapped, kicked and punched so hard he suffered kidney damage.

    The majority of these assaults were carried out by the FBI agents but they were witnessed and encouraged by the MI5 agent, he claims.

    The British government has said it will “neither confirm nor deny” involvement in the ill-treatment or rendition.

    On Wednesday the Court of Appeal held that it was at least arguably necessary to Mr Omar’s criminal defence and/or challenge in the Constitutional Court of Uganda for Britain to disclose to him any information it holds in relation to his alleged rendition.

    Solicitor at Public Interest Lawyers Tessa Gregory, representing Omar, said: “This case involves extremely serious allegations of UK complicity in the unlawful rendition, treatment and prosecution of our client, Omar Awadh Omar.

    “In light of the court’s decision today, the government can no longer sensibly maintain its policy of neither confirming nor denying its involvement in Omar’s case.”

    BBC News – Goldman Sachs tax deal faces UK legal challenge

    UK Uncut has begun legal proceedings to force banking giant Goldman Sachs to pay more to the UK tax authorities.

    The pressure group requested a judicial review into a decision by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that let the bank off paying interest on its tax bill.

    The shortfall, which HMRC told MPs this week was an error, was estimated by the National Audit Office to be £5m-8m.

    However, a whistleblower who worked for HMRC estimated the cost at £20m – a claim that has been rejected by HMRC.

    UK Uncut has called for the government to crack down on tax avoidance by large corporations and the super-rich rather than pursue its “unnecessary austerity programme”.
    …