NHS news is dominated by the British Medical Association (BMA) representing doctors calling for the Bill to destroy the NHS to be abandoned entirely. Unite health worker members believe that the NHS is going to be privatised for the benefit of private companies. Nick Clegg and Labour’s John Healey are to make speeches on the NHS today,

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.

NHS ‘Reforms’ In The UK Receive Massive Thumbs Down From Unite Members, Survey Reveals

Nearly 90 per cent of Unite health sector members have ‘no confidence’ in the coalition’s handling of the NHS ‘reforms’, a new survey has revealed.

The massive vote of ‘no confidence’ from Unite – which has 100,000 members in the health service – comes as the coalition’s ‘listening exercise’ on the Health and Social Care Bill draws to a close.

The snapshot survey of specified professional groups represented by Unite also revealed that two-thirds said that they had seen the treatment and care of patients/service users reduced or rationed in the last six months.

Unite Head of Health, Rachael Maskell said: ‘Those working in the NHS have no confidence that the universal service that they have dedicated their working lives to is safe in Tory hands – they fear that it is going to be privatised and broken up for the benefit of profiteering private healthcare companies. No matter how it is dressed up.’

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Nick Clegg prepares to announce diagnosis of faults in NHS bill | Society | The Guardian

Nick Clegg will seek to maximise the Liberal Democrats’ influence over the imminent changes to the government’s NHS plans with a major speech on Thursday setting out his party’s demands.

The deputy prime minister will outline the substantial revisions he expects to see made to the health and social care bill to ensure that his MPs feel able to support it when it returns to parliament.

He will also make clear why the NHS needs reform. Party sources say it will echo a keynote speech last week by David Cameron and endorse the prime minister’s view that, although some of health secretary Andrew Lansley’s proposals will be rethought, the service in England will still be expected to embrace far-reaching changes so it can cope with growing financial and clinical pressures.

John Healey, shadow health secretary, will accuse Cameron of refusing to amend the bill enough to ensure that it does not harm healthcare. “David Cameron is a PR man looking for a PR answer.

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Health Bill must be withdrawn, BMA demands | GPonline.com

In its response to the government’s listening exercise, the BMA said it is vital for the future of the NHS that the Bill is withdrawn, or ‘changed significantly’.

The BMA demanded a number of changes to the proposals, including putting an ‘explicit duty’ on commissioning consortia to involve doctors in secondary care, public health and academia.

It said: ‘The existing duty in the Bill on commissioning consortia to “obtain appropriate advice” is insufficient to ensure that the best clinical practice is enshrined in commissioning.

‘Clear guidance should be developed on models for how this can be achieved in practice, such as by developing clinical networks alongside the strategic and decision-making functions of commissioners.’

The BMA also called for economic regulator Monitor’s primary role to be amended to protecting and promoting high quality, integrated healthcare services, not promoting competition.

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BBC News – Health bill may have to be withdrawn – doctors

The government’s health plans for the NHS in England need changing so much that the entire bill may need to be withdrawn, doctors say.

The British Medical Association called for a series of changes as part of its submission to the listening exercise.

In particular, the union has demanded the duty on the regulator to promote competition be dropped, something other critics have called for.

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Cameron’s pledge to increase health spending in real terms is yet again shown to be untrue.

The NHS Confederation – which represents all types of providers and commissioners of NHS services in England – opposes the bill to destroy the NHS claiming that the case for the breadth of the government’s reforms ‘has yet to be clearly made’.

Shameless liar Nick Clegg claims that “There will be no privatisation of the NHS” at Prime Minister’s Questions. He is definitely a Tory and a liability to the Liberal-Democrats and they should dump him.

Wales and Scotland are to have more severe NHS cuts that England.

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.

Unite cautiously welcomes news on privatisation of blood service

Unite, Britain’s biggest union has cautiously welcomed news that Linda Hamlyn, head of the NHS blood service has expressed optimism it will escape privatisation amid suggestions the government is becoming worried about the political backlash against competition (see http://www.hsj.co.uk/5030170.article.)

The Department of Health (DH) is currently leading a review into ways the NHS Blood Service could cut costs. As part of the review the DoH have been talking to private providers.

Unite launched a media and  online campaign against the potential privatisation of parts of the blood service and raised the issue with MPs who asked questions in the house. A recent independent poll of 18,000 people commissioned by Unite showed that 74 per cent opposed the privatisation of any part of the blood service. Over 50,783 people signed a petition started by Unite against privatisation.

Unite national officer, Rachael Maskell said: “This is a step in the right direction but we will continue to keep a careful watch over this very precious service. Privatisation of any part of the blood service contaminates the whole of the blood service. Our campaign struck a chord with the general public, who were outraged when they learnt that the government was prepared to even consider privatising parts of the blood service.

“It is totally wrong to allow private sector companies to profit from men and women who freely donate their blood to help others. The government got the message that the people of this country were saying no to blood money but we will remain vigilant to ensure that these proposals have not just been kicked into the long grass for the time being.”

Cameron’s NHS budget pledge false, says expert | Society | The Guardian

David Cameron‘s pledge to increase the NHS budget in real terms has been challenged by a leading health economist who claims the service’s spending power is set to fall. The NHS budget in England will be 0.9% lower by 2014-15 than it was in the financial year that ended last month, Professor John Appleby writes in the British Medical Journal.

Although ministers are giving the service more cash in each of the remaining four years of this parliament, inflation will mean its purchasing power is eroded so much that it will drop, he says.

Appleby, chief economist at the King’s Fund health thinktank, contradicts Cameron and health secretary Andrew Lansley’s repeated promises to deliver year-on-year rises in real terms. They claim the NHS will receive an extra £11.5bn over the next four years thanks to protecting the health budget, increasing it from £103.8bn in 2010-11 to £114.4bn by 2014-15.

Appleby does not dispute the cash increases but insists that “by 2014-15 the amount of money the NHS has to spend in real terms, its purchasing power, will have gone down by 0.9%.”

He based his predictions on Treasury estimates of inflation in the economy as a whole, and the likelihood of NHS staff pressing for pay increases once the current three-year freeze ends in 2013.

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38 Degrees | Blog | NHS Ads: Lansley has his fingers in his ears

“When we tell him his plans aren’t working, he doesn’t seem to want to hear what we’re saying.”

– Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chair of the British Medical Association, May 2011

It’s hard to listen with two fingers stuck in your ears. That’s the message 38 Degrees members have sent Health Minister Andrew Lansley this morning.

Newspaper ads funded entirely by thousands of donations from 38 Degrees members have been published in five daily papers, the Guardian, Mirror, Mail, Express and Metro. The combined circulation is a whopping six million people. These ads were driven by people power with thousands of contributors raising over £90,000 in just a few days. And not only did 38 Degrees members fully fund the ads, they also contributed important feedback during the design process.

Lansley still isn’t listening. His sham “listening exercise” draws to a close at the end of the month and today 38 Degrees members have sent a message he can’t possibly ignore. The future of the NHS is too important for us to let it be decided behind closed doors.

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Cheltenham MP speaks out on plans for NHS shake-up in county|Gloucestershire news

CONCERNS have been raised that a shake-up of NHS care in the county could see health services move away from Cheltenham.

Town MP Martin Horwood yesterday warned the proposals put forward by health bosses may continue the “drip, drip” erosion of services at Cheltenham General Hospital.

This week saw a consultation begin on plans affecting stroke care, outpatient breast cancer services, trauma cases and emergency treatment for children.

Mr Horwood greeted the proposals with caution. He said: “I’m relieved that, as promised, there is no suggestion that Cheltenham’s A&E is going to close and that there are no further threats to maternity or other key local services.

“But it’s clear that the consultation is leading people to endorse a further shift in key emergency services from Cheltenham to Gloucester.”

Under the plans, those who suffer a stroke and trauma patients may be treated at one site in the county. There is also a proposal to have one dedicated children’s emergency unit at Gloucestershire Royal.

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Health reforms need rethink, says NHS Confederation | Public Finance — official CIPFA magazine

The body that represents most of the organisations in the NHS has refused to back the government’s planned health reforms. The NHS Confederation argues that the reforms will provide neither the productivity gains nor financial savings needed. It says the proposals need a ‘significant overhaul’ and are being implemented against an ‘arbitrary’ timetable.

In its submission on the Health and Social Care Bill, the confederation, which represents more than 95% of NHS organisations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland,has said it is in favour of reform of the NHS. But it believes the plans need to be ‘better focused on the challenges that the NHS now faces’.

The proposed reforms would transfer health care commissioning transfer from primary care trusts to consortiums of GPs. It would also open up NHS services to bids from ‘any willing provider’ to provide care.

The reforms were put on hold on April 4 when Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said that the government would embark on a ‘listening exercise’ on the plans, dubbed the NHS Future Forum.

The NHS Confederation’s contribution to this consultation agrees that part of the reforms, including the introduction of clinical commissioning led by GPs, ‘have real merit’. It also backs the use of competition in the NHS where it can show benefits to patients and taxpayers.

However, it argues that the case for the breadth of the government’s reforms ‘has yet to be clearly made’, adding that the changes are not ‘sufficiently focused’ on the problems facing the NHS, including the need to save £20bn by 2014/15.

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NHS reforms are not privatisation through the backdoor, says Clegg | Mail Online

Nick Clegg today insisted the Government’s healthcare reforms did not amount to NHS privatisation.

The Deputy Prime Minister was repeatedly pressed over the coalition’s shake-up of medical services at Commons question time, with Labour MPs lining up to accuse the Government of backdoor privatisation.

But an angry Mr Clegg told them: ‘There will be no privatisation of the NHS.’

Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman told MPs: ‘People are worried about the NHS being turned from a public service into a commercial market.’

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BBC News – Wales facing ‘worst health cuts’

Wales is facing the worst NHS cuts in the UK, a review of spending suggests.

The analysis, by Professor John Appleby, of the King’s Fund think tank, suggests the Welsh NHS budget will fall by nearly 11% in the next three years, once inflation was taken into account.

Northern Ireland faces a 2.2% cut over four years, he says, with the long-term picture in Scotland less clear.

England came out best, but even it is facing a cut of 0.9% over four years – despite promises to protect the budget.

Prof Appleby said this was because new inflation figures, which were higher than expected, had counteracted the small rises for the NHS in England that were announced last autumn.

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NHS news review:

Speculation concerning the future of the Destroy the NHS bill and the coalition government.

The King’s Fund response to the Destroy the NHS Bill proposes greater intergation and collaboration to improve services.

Further health funding cuts in Manchester.

Waiting times rise.

NHS Central Lancashire is considering making GPs redundant.

Lansley admits that the NHS Bill may be delayed by further scrutiny by MPs.

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.

Will the Liberal Democrats really save the NHS? » Hospital Dr

The Lib Dems have a lot to answer for when it comes to the deeply unpopular Health and Social Care Bill. The Orange Book wing of the Lib Dems, of which Nick Clegg is a key member, actually supports the idea of a social insurance scheme with private providers to replace the NHS, which is a key objective of the current bill.

The Lib Dem election manifesto promoted the idea of a market-based healthcare system and abolition of SHAs. The coalition agreement on health reform was signed by Nick Clegg and reviewed by Danny Alexander. The final page of the Bill itself (p367) has the Lib Dem names of Nick Clegg, Vince Cable, Danny Alexander and Paul Burstow as supporters the Bill.

Finally, Lib Dem MPs have fully supported the Bill through its first two readings in Parliament.

However, the political landscape changed when the scale of the public and professional opposition became clear. The Lib Dem’s Spring conference, along with other factors such as the Royal College of Nursing vote of no confidence in health secretary Andrew Lansley, was crucial in terms of changing Nick Clegg’s stance on the reforms and gaining a natural “pause” in the Bill.

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Major changes to health reforms needed to deliver ‘new model’ of care says The King’s Fund – The King’s Fund

The King’s Fund has called for significant changes to the government’s health reforms to enable the NHS to provide a ‘new model’ of care that meets the challenges of the future.

In its response to the government’s listening exercise on the Health and Social Care Bill, the Fund says it supports the need for reform but argues that it must be based on a clear diagnosis of NHS performance and the challenges it faces. It calls for the NHS to be re-orientated to deliver a new model of ‘integrated’ care, based on stronger collaboration between health professionals and more effective co-ordination of services.

The response argues that integrated care offers the best prospect of improving services for patients and addressing the key challenge facing the NHS – demographic change and the increasing number of people with long-term conditions such as diabetes, asthma and dementia. It draws on evidence from the NHS and the United States showing that integrated care delivers better outcomes for patients with long-term conditions and improves the quality of specialist services such as cardiac, cancer and stroke care.

The Fund calls for a number of significant changes to the Health and Social Care Bill and wider health policy to deliver integrated care.

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“NHS is under-managed but over-administered” » Hospital Dr

The NHS is under-managed but over-administered, a report from the King’s Fund finds.

It calls for a new style of leadership to overcome unprecedented financial pressures and adapt to future challenges.

High-quality, stable management is be key to high-performing health services, it finds. Yet across the NHS, the average chief executive spends just 700 days in post. In part, this reflects a culture where ‘heroic’ leaders grapple with problems only from the top of the organisation, or are ‘parachuted in’ to replace individual managers and ‘turn around’ troubled NHS services. The report advocates a new type of ‘shared leadership’ involving leaders at different levels of the workforce working collaboratively with all those involved in patient care to lead change and improve services, rather than only tackling problems inside specific institutions.

The report criticises the government for not assessing the future needs of the NHS before imposing a 45% cut in NHS management posts and 33% cut in administration costs.

It says: “There is no persuasive evidence that the NHS is over-managed, and a good deal of evidence that it may be under-managed. While administration and management costs will have to take at least their fair share of the pain as real-terms growth in NHS spending ceases, a more sophisticated approach to the reduction in both is needed.”

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Health chiefs in new bid to save another £20m | Manchester Evening News – menmedia.co.uk

Health chiefs say they will have to save more than £20m from Manchester’s NHS budget this year. It comes after £30m in cuts in spending last year.

NHS Manchester is now drawing up plans including slashing management costs by £3.7m and cutting £2m by rationing treatment.

A new system for GPs’ referrals is being credited with helping make savings last year.

All treatment apart from mental health, obstetrics and urgent care, now has to go through a ‘referral gateway’ before being approved.

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Pulse – Waiting times on the rise

The number of patients waiting more than 18 weeks from referral to treatment is greater than at any time since mid-2008, the latest NHS statistics for England reveal.

More than 35,000 patients waited more than 18 weeks for treatment in March, breaking the NHS constitution-enshrined right for 18 week waits for the second month running.

The figures show that 10.4% of patients waited for more than 18 weeks from referral to treatment in March, up from 10.2% in February.

The numbers of patients waiting for more than 18 weeks has increased steadily since ministers removed the formal target of admitting 90% of patients within 18-weeks last summer. The target had been strictly enforced until last June but still remains a patient right under the NHS Constitution.

Figures for non-admitted patients showed the numbers being treated within 18 weeks had stayed stable on around 97% since the beginning of the year. Some 25,578 non-admitted patients waited for longer than 18 weeks in March.

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Pulse – GPs to be made redundant as managers cut costs

Exclusive: Salaried GPs employed by a PCT face being made redundant as NHS managers charged with cutting costs turn their attention to general practice.

NHS Central Lancashire has placed a series of salaried GP positions under review as the PCT looks to restructure the organisation and realign costs.

Dr Edoardo Cervoni, a full-time permanent salaried GP employed by the PCT to work in practices in Preston and Ormskirk, is one of several GPs to be told their contracts are due to be terminated by the trust.

Dr Cervoni was informed in April that salaried GP positions had been placed under review and has now been told to expect to be made redundant at the end of July.

‘I was told that the PCT was going to stop providing clinical services and it had been planned that salaried GP positions “had to go”,’ said Dr Cervoni, a GP specialist in ENT medicine with 17 years’ experience.

‘Being made redundant is not nice and it has a negative impact on your career and particularly on your family life. I hope I may remain one of the very few GPs to have to experience the feeling, but it really seems that the process of dismantling the NHS is well on the go.’

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NHS bill may need fresh scrutiny from MPs after ‘listening exercise’ | Society | The Guardian

The changes to the government’s flagship NHS bill could be so substantial that it has to undergo fresh scrutiny by MPs – delaying its passage through the Commons, the health secretary said on Monday.

The bill has already passed through the committee stage, where it was scrutinised line by line by MPs, but the proposals have been paused for a “listening exercise” with NHS staff and the public. A panel of experts, known as the Future Forum, was tasked with hearing concerns about the bill – a process that ends next week.

In an online question and answer session with Guardian readers, the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, answered a post about “recommitting” the bill to the house. “We won’t decide that until we have received the NHS Future Forum report and have responded to that. I told the House of Commons on 4 April that we would ensure proper scrutiny of the bill – we have done that so far and we will continue to do so,” he wrote.

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