conservatives

Tory plans to update NHS Constitution ‘made in a parallel universe’ says nurses’ union 

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/tory-plans-to-update-nhs-constitution-made-in-a-parallel-universe-says-nurses-union/. Many articles from LeftFootForward featured today.

Part of the proposals include divisive plans to treat trans people in separate rooms

Proposals announced by the UK Government to adjust the NHS Constitution in England have been ‘made in a parallel universe’ to the realities of NHS workers, the UK’s leading nurses’ union has said. 

New government plans which could see transgender people treated in separate rooms in hospitals in England have been taken apart by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), as equality organisations raised concerns about how the proposals will impact trans patients and healthcare professionals and NHS bosses accused the government of dragging the NHS into “pre-election culture wars”.

Under the proposed NHS Constitution changes, trans people may be treated in single rooms if patients request single-sex wards. RCN Chief Nursing Officer and Deputy Chief Executive, Nicola Ranger, said patients are already able to request intimate care from staff of the same sex, however this is “nigh-on impossible to accommodate with any consistency” due to a staffing crisis seeing a shortfall in tens of thousands of nursing staff. 

“Much of this announcement sounds like it was made in a parallel universe to the everyday experience of nursing staff working in the NHS,” said Ranger. 

“Nursing staff are caring for people in corridors, doorways and even store cupboards. They will have little faith in ministers’ supposed commitment to the ‘privacy, dignity and safety’ of patients.  

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Amnesty UK said today: “No one’s health should suffer because of who they are or where they live. The government must strengthen the NHS constitution to ensure everyone’s right to healthcare.

“We need real solutions, not distractions from government failures that have left people waiting too long for care.” 

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/tory-plans-to-update-nhs-constitution-made-in-a-parallel-universe-says-nurses-union/. Many articles from LeftFootForward featured today.

Continue ReadingTory plans to update NHS Constitution ‘made in a parallel universe’ says nurses’ union 

Nigel Farage set to announce return to politics as Reform UK candidate

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/nigel-farage-set-to-announce-return-to-politics-as-reform-uk-candidate/. Many articles from LeftFootForward featured today.

“He is well aware what those weeks of national TV exposure have done for him – and the position he could be in to help Reform.”

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage is set to announce a return to frontline politics it has been reported, as he seeks to capitalise on the increased media exposure he has gained following his appearance on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

The Mirror reports that the former UKIP politician, 60, who retired in 2021, ‘is understood to want to stand as a parliamentary candidate this year. And it comes after sources say he is determined to make the most of the exposure he gained in the I’m A Celebrity jungle.’

There have previously been rumours that Farage was considering joining the Tory party, after his appearance at the party’s conference and after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hinted that he could be welcomed in the ‘broach church’ of the Conservative Party.

However, sources have told the Mirror that he wanted to capitalise on the recent media exposure he has gained, including on GB News.

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“The shitbag returns”.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/nigel-farage-set-to-announce-return-to-politics-as-reform-uk-candidate/. Many articles from LeftFootForward featured today.

Continue ReadingNigel Farage set to announce return to politics as Reform UK candidate

People with depression or anxiety could lose access to benefits in Tory welfare reforms

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/people-depression-or-anxiety-could-lose-access-benefits-tory-welfare-re

At eternity's gate by Vincent Van Gogh portreys depression. Copyright expired.
At eternity’s gate by Vincent Van Gogh portreys depression. Copyright expired.

PEOPLE suffering from depression or anxiety could lose access to sickness benefits as part of the government’s major welfare reforms, the Work and Pensions Secretary said today.

Mel Stride announced plans to overhaul disability benefits in a statement to the Commons, with proposals aimed at providing “more tailored support in line with their needs.”

In a green paper published alongside Mr Stride’s statement, ministers set out plans to reform personal independence payments (PIP), the main disability benefit, through changes to eligibility criteria and assessments.

The proposals follow Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of major changes to the welfare system earlier this month, saying that “people with less severe mental health conditions should be expected to engage with the world of work.”

Tom Marsland, policy manager at the national disability charity Sense, said recent government narrative around disability benefits has been “divisive and deeply damaging.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/people-depression-or-anxiety-could-lose-access-benefits-tory-welfare-re

Continue ReadingPeople with depression or anxiety could lose access to benefits in Tory welfare reforms

Morning Star: The Tories have wrecked the NHS – but that doesn’t mean Labour will rescue it

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/tories-have-wrecked-nhs-doesnt-mean-labour-will-rescue-it

The NHS overtook the economy as voters’ biggest concern in February, according to polling by Ipsos. Small wonder when waiting lists have hit 7.5 million: there can hardly be a person in the country who doesn’t have a friend or relative who has been affected.

And the Conservatives bear a heavy responsibility.

In the decade up to the pandemic, real-terms healthcare spending per head rose on average by just 0.4 per cent a year — in four years it actually fell, despite rising pressures on the service.

That compares very poorly to the record of the last Labour government, which raised spending by 5.7 per cent a year on average from 1997-2010. It even compares badly to that of the Thatcher and Major Conservative governments, which averaged a 2.1 per cent annual increase.

But we should be more cautious than Poulter about endorsing Keir Starmer’s solution.

Starmer and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting have pointedly refused to offer the increases in NHS budgets that the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown governments delivered. Streeting is emphatic that he will not “pour money into a 20th-century model,” instead demanding reforms which, in increasing reliance on the private sector, both mimic existing Conservative policy and are unlikely to make a difference to waiting lists (because private healthcare in Britain recruits from the NHS, so overall capacity will not grow).

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Britain’s public services are collapsing under the strain of decades of neoliberal policy. In the NHS, hospitals have been undermined through outsourcing services to the private sector as well as by the cost of PFI debt — both issues with their origins in the Blair years.

To restore our NHS to health, we need a reversal of privatisation and outsourcing and a forced end to all PFI contracts, as well as a significant increase in overall funding to bring us closer to healthcare spending levels in France or Germany.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/tories-have-wrecked-nhs-doesnt-mean-labour-will-rescue-it

Continue ReadingMorning Star: The Tories have wrecked the NHS – but that doesn’t mean Labour will rescue it

Government failure to tackle NHS dentistry crisis has left morale at all-time low

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-failure-tackle-nhs-dentistry-crisis-has-left-morale-all-time-low

A dentist at work, May 19, 2011

THE government’s failure to tackle the growing exodus from the NHS workforce has left morale among dentists at an all-time low, official data shows.

Figures reveal that 64 per cent of dentists in England are thinking of leaving the NHS.

The British Dental Association (BDA) has described the government’s recent recovery plan as “unworthy of the title” and hit out at the “non-stop spin from ministers attempting to defend their unambitious and unfunded policies.”

It also slammed the Tories for rejecting the health and social care committee’s key recommendation to break with the discredited NHS contract, “which is fuelling this exodus.”

Any progress will “hinge on real reform and sustainable funding,” it said.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-failure-tackle-nhs-dentistry-crisis-has-left-morale-all-time-low

Continue ReadingGovernment failure to tackle NHS dentistry crisis has left morale at all-time low