David Cameron

Closure of 23% of NHS walk-in centres ‘will put more pressure on A&E’

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http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/11/nhs-walk-in-centres-quarter-closedNHS regulator

Monitor says closures of 53 popular clinics could leave vulnerable people unable to access GP care

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Despite huge popularity, nearly a quarter of NHS walk-in clinics offering seven-day care and evening opening have closed in the past three years, according to research by Monitor, the health service regulator.

It said there was a danger that closures could leave some patients unable to access GP care, particularly those unable to register with a surgery, as well as low-income working families and high-risk socially excluded groups such as homeless people, refugees and drug addicts.

More than 230 centres offering family doctor services were set up in England in the decade to 2010 under a Labour government initiative to improve access to care for patients who found it hard to register with their local GP or were unable to get a speedy appointment at a time that suited them.

Ironically, some of the closures appear to be the result of the centres being too successful. NHS commissioning authorities that have closed walk-in centres told Monitor that the clinics triggered “unwarranted” demand among “worried well” patients for often minor conditions. Some said they had closed centres to make savings as they could “no longer afford the convenience that walk-in centres offer”.

The closures are widely spread around England including in London, Plymouth, Southampton, Bristol, York, Manchester, Blackpool and Colchester. Six so-called “commuter” walk-in centres based at major railway stations in Manchester, London, Leeds and Newcastle, have closed in recent years after for failing to attract enough patients.

Monitor’s research found nearly two-thirds of patients who attended walk-in centres were already registered with a GP. Of these, just over a fifth said they had contacted their GP practice beforehand but were unable to get an appointment. A further 24% said they did not even bother to contact their GP because they anticipated there would be no convenient appointments available.
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‘Truly shocking’ that the private-school educated and affluent middle class still run Britain, says Sir John Major

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/10439303/Truly-shocking-that-the-private-school-educated-and-affluent-middle-class-still-run-Britain-says-Sir-John-Major.html

The dominance of a private-school educated elite and well-heeled middle class in the “upper echelons” of public life in Britain is “truly shocking”, Sir John Major has said.

The dominance of a private-school educated elite and well-heeled middle class in the “upper echelons” of public life in Britain is “truly shocking”, Sir John Major has said.

The former Conservative Prime Minister said he was appalled that “every single sphere of British influence” in society is dominated by men and women who went to private school or who are from the “affluent middle class”

More than half of the Cabinet, including David Cameron, the Prime Minister, George Osborne, the Chancellor, and Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, are thought to have gone to private school [Isn’t that a fact? what’s this “though to have”? Isn’t it closer to all than half?] and are independently very wealthy.

In the speech to Tory party grassroots activists on Friday evening, Sir John – who went to a comprehensive in south London and left school with three O-Levels – said: “In every single sphere of British influence, the upper echelons of power in 2013 are held overwhelmingly by the privately educated or the affluent middle class. To me from my background, I find that truly shocking.”

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KPMG to face MPs again over HS2 report

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http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/11/kpmg-hs2-mps-forecast-report

Consultants to defend forecast of £15bn economic boost following claims that calculation was ‘essentially made up’

Consultants KPMG will again be called before parliament to defend their report into the regional benefits of HS2 which claimed the high speed rail line could boost the economy by £15bn a year.

Last week leading transport economists told MPs that they believed a key calculation behind the figure was “essentially made up”.

The Commons transport select committee is summoning representatives from KPMG, and the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, to answer its questions on the high speed rail project in the light of “significant new information”. The hearing is scheduled for 26 November.

The committee, which broadly supported building HS2 in a 2011 report but said there were still questions over its economic basis, is reopening its inquiries after the government issued a fifth Strategic Case for HS2 in late October.

The Department for Transport’s strategic case included figures from a KPMG report, commissioned by HS2 Ltd, into the potential impacts of HS2 on the economy at a city and regional level.

It said: “The results of the analysis suggest that HS2 could increase economic output by £15bn per year. Even with more cautious assumptions the annual benefit could be £8bn.”

At a Treasury select committee hearing last week, the KMPG partners behind the report said their work was robust and stood by the £15bn forecast, despite admitting it did not have a firm statistical foundation.

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Calls to government departments ‘too expensive’, say MPs

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24888608

More than 100 million calls by the public to government departments were charged at a premium rate, costing people an estimated £56m, MPs said.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee found a third of Whitehall numbers used by the public last year were higher-rate, including those for victim support, benefit and tax enquiries.

Labour MP Margaret Hodge said their continued use was “not acceptable”.

The government acknowledged a “more consistent” approach was needed.

According to the cross-party committee, which has been looking into the issue, of the 208 million calls made to government departments in 2012/13, about 63% were made to higher-rate numbers.

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Number of NHS ‘super managers’ earning up to £240,000 soars amid pay freeze fear

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http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/10/nhs-super-managers-428-nurse-pay

Figures undermine David Cameron’s claims that health service bureaucracy is being cut

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The number of elite NHS “super-managers” being paid up to £240,000 a year to implement the government’s controversial health service reforms has soared to more than four times the level originally expected by ministers, the Observer can reveal.

The latest official figures – which show a total of 428 “very senior managers” (VSMs) working in the newly constituted NHS bureaucracy – undermine David Cameron’s repeated claims to be slashing management posts and costs at every level in the service.

The figures will also anger more than a million NHS employees at the other end of the pay scale, including nurses and non-medical staff, such as cleaners, who have been warned that their planned 1% increase for 2014 could be cancelled because there is not enough money to fund it.

In 2010, as the coalition embarked on its controversial reforms aimed at opening the service up to more private competition, ministers told the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) that by the time the changes were completed in April this year, there would be fewer than 100 very senior managers working in the top salary bracket of between £70,000 and £240,000 a year. But the Department of Health last night confirmed recent SSRB data which shows the number is now 428, including 211 super-managers at NHS England, the new body which oversees the budget and delivery of day-to-day services. The average pay of these managers is around £123,000 a year.

Pay review body documents also show that in May 2012, at the height of controversy over the changes, pioneered by the former health secretary, Andrew Lansley, there were 770 VSMs in post “during transition from old to new NHS structures”.

The figures do not include the 259 chief executives of NHS trusts whose pay is set by their own organisations’ remuneration committees and in some cases is more than £240,000 a year.

The revelations will pile more pressure on ministers after it emerged that some 2,200 NHS managers have been made redundant with large payoffs, only to be re-employed soon after.
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Continue ReadingNumber of NHS ‘super managers’ earning up to £240,000 soars amid pay freeze fear