NHS

Should health workers work with counter terrorism agencies?

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Original article by Peoples Health Dispatch republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

(Action against Prevent by members of Medact’s Securitization of Health group outside the UK Home Office on February 15, 2023. (Photo: Medact/Twitter)

NHS staff pulled into counter-terrorism programs, raising alarms over patient care and professional ethics

Mental health workers in the United Kingdom are being drawn into joint ventures with police and intelligence institutions as part of the national counter-terrorism agenda.

A new report by Medact, an association of health workers advocating for peace and social justice, highlights how the Counter Terrorism Clinical Consultancy Service (CT CCS) integrates National Health Service (NHS) staff with counter-terrorism agents. This service effectively turns health workers into interpreters for the police, who use the information provided to decide on tactics for individuals identified as potential terrorist threats.

Read more: Prevent: Health workers resist UK’s ‘counter terrorism’ strategy that weaponizes public services

In 2024, approximately £17 million was awarded to NHS Trusts to collaborate with security services involved in counter-terrorism. At the report’s launch in London, author Charlotte Heath-Kelly explained that these funds support interdisciplinary teams tasked with analyzing information about selected subjects.

The teams comprise mental health professionals, including nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and police officers. Health workers receive basic information on individuals identified as threats, which they then process and explain to their police counterparts. If the decision is made to continue monitoring a person, health workers interpret new information collected and may reach out to the person’s GP practice to encourage them to report on their patients in case they, for example, discontinue therapy or experience a stressful situation.

“This creates an indirect surveillance relationship between health workers and patients and may compromise a patient’s right to discontinue medical treatment since police-led interventions may follow non-compliance,” Heath-Kelly writes.

Unseen patients

CT CCS health professionals contextualize and explain how potential mental health issues could affect an individual’s behavior. This process, referred to as “formulating,” is commonly used in mental health care to better understand a person’s mental health status in the context of their everyday life and offering them support. However, unlike in healthcare settings where formulating is done collaboratively with the patient, CT CCS professionals have no direct contact with the people they are assessing, nor do they have their consent for the process to take place. This puts the teams at odds with professional ethics.

The involvement of health workers means that counter-terrorism teams do not only profile individuals but are guided in using available medical information contextually. Despite these “improvements,” it is likely that those most affected by this new line of intelligence will be racialized. Previous analyses by Medact have shown that Muslims were about 23 times more likely to be referred to a mental health hub for ‘Islamism’ than white British people were for ‘Far Right extremism.’

CT CCS work: legal but controversial

Alarmingly, there is no public accountability or oversight over the implementation of this program. If allowed to continue unchecked, it will persist as a “bubble of trust” between select health professionals and police officers, as described by a high-ranking officer interviewed by Heath-Kelly. This could easily erode the relationship between health workers and their patients and undermine the overall role of the NHS.

The work of CT CCS teams, while controversial, is entirely legal. They operate within regulations such as the GDPR, relying on provisions that allow information sharing when a person is flagged as a risk to themselves or others. However, they apply these rules even at very low levels of perceived risk, including many cases involving young people and children. This potential for misuse in the field of health information and data, which is particularly sensitive, suggests that similar practices could occur in other areas.

There must be a better way to utilize the millions of pounds allocated to the intersection of health and policing services, Heath-Kelly appealed at the launch. Considering the soaring needs in mental health services and the shortage of health workers in the field, the new government might want to divert the budget to address these critical areas instead.

Original article by Peoples Health Dispatch republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

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Greens pledge £22bn to rebuild crumbling NHS buildings

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The Green Party is today calling for an additional £22bn capital investment to bring crumbling NHS hospitals, primary care buildings and outdated equipment up to modern standards. This comes as the King’s Fund warns that without action, we will inevitably continue to have a ‘deteriorating NHS estate increasingly unfit for purpose’

Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

Green Party co-leader, Carla Denyer, said: “No other political party is being honest enough with voters – the very fabric of our NHS is crumbling and must be repaired and rebuilt. 

“The NHS is stretched to breaking point and so we are offering a package to train and retain staff and cut waiting lists, but we also need to recognise that we are asking over-worked staff to cope with outdated equipment and poor buildings.” 

Rachel Birch, an intensive care nurse with 12 years’ experience in the NHS, added, “I’ve seen leaking ceilings in our intensive care unit, staff having to work out of portacabins, and wards in desperate need of improvements and modernisation.  

“The buildings that we use treating patients are old and inadequate for use.  

“Our department cares for critically ill patients needing maximum support that deserve the best facilities and treatment.”  

Green MPs elected on Thursday would press for:  

  • £22bn in capital investment over the next five years to bring our crumbling hospitals and old equipment up to standard 
  • Including, a one off £2bn capital investment in primary care buildings, £1.1bn annually assigned to clear the maintenance backlog and £3bn a year to be spent on hospitals.   
  • This £22bn capital investment fund will sit alongside a £30bn revenue expenditure that will see people accessing an NHS dentist, working towards GP appointments on the day of need for those in high need and significant uplift in pay for frontline staff.  

Denyer added: “We know the importance of the NHS.  

“The Conservatives promised 40 new hospitals and failed to deliver.  

“Labour promises to hold the door open to the private sector. 

“It is only the Greens who are offering a cast-iron guarantee to push back against the creeping privatisation of the NHS and rebuild it, so it is fit for the future.    

Continue ReadingGreens pledge £22bn to rebuild crumbling NHS buildings

Striking doctors threaten more summer walkouts if Labour echoes Tory ‘lies’ on NHS

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/striking-doctors-threaten-more-walkouts-over-starmers-nhs-lies

Junior doctors on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital, London, during their continuing dispute over pay, June 27, 2024

SIR KEIR STARMER was warned today against repeating Rishi Sunak’s mistakes as 25,000 junior doctors began a five-day pay walkout across England, threatening further strike action this summer.

The British Medical Association (BMA) members hit out at the Labour leader’s “lies” over NHS funding as they staged their 11th walkout since March last year, including at the Friarage Hospital close to the Prime Minister’s constituency in North Yorkshire.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has said he would not grant the BMA’s demands for real-terms pay restoration in one go as it would mean any “trade union worth their salt” would ask for the same the following year.

But with the dispute now in its 20th month, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairman Rob Laurenson said: “Keir Starmer would do well not to repeat the mistakes of Rishi Sunak, and to empower his health secretary to negotiate in good faith.”

He welcomed Mr Streeting describing pay negotiations as a “journey, not an event,” saying the union was happy to negotiate a multi-year deal.

But he added: “The truth of the matter is a doctor starts with £15 an hour and we are asking for doctors to be paid about £21 an hour — that is affordable.

“The government has spent £3 billion on strikes and pay restoration costs £1.3 billion — again if an incoming government under Keir Starmer wants to continue lying then it looks like strikes will have to continue as well.”

His committee co-chairman Dr Vivek Trivedi warned that as the current strike mandate ends on September 19, “if talks do not move in a timely manner, then of course our members would expect us to call for strike action.”

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/striking-doctors-threaten-more-walkouts-over-starmers-nhs-lies

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Youth Demand shit in Rishi Sunak’s private lake

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Youth Demand shit in Rishi Sunak's private lake 25/6/24
Youth Demand shit in Rishi Sunak’s private lake 25/6/24

As a thankyou and a parting gift to Rishi Sunak and the Tories for the last 14 years of service, a Youth Demand supporter has ‘sunk the Bismarck’ in Rishi Sunak’s lake. Youth Demand is a campaign calling for a two-way arms embargo on Israel and for the incoming UK government to revoke all new oil and gas licences granted since 2021.

At around 12:50 pm, Oliver, 21, a student from Manchester visited Rishi Sunak’s North Yorkshire mansion and ‘murdered a brown snake’ in the multi-millionaires’ lake, whilst wearing a shirt emblazoned with ‘Eat Shit Rishi’. Police arrived on the scene almost immediately and detained four people, including a press photographer, which may lead to their arrest.

Before shitting in the lake, Oliver said: 

“We have so much to thank the Tories for: from crumbling schools, shit in the rivers and a collapsing NHS; to creating a nation with more food banks than McDonalds and 4.3 million UK children living in poverty. From allowing their mates to get filthy rich from selling weapons to battle-test on toddlers in Gaza, or by drilling for more oil as the world burns – it’s quite a legacy!” 

“Yet this shit-show is set to continue with yet another party led by a pathological liar who will be taking office next. Both Labour and the Tories are content to keep shitting on Gaza, and on every future generation, by continuing weapons trading with Israel and by not revoking all oil and gas licences granted since 2021. The two party system is just two cheeks of the same arse. We deserve better! Take action at youthdemand.org.”

Youth Demand shit in Rishi Sunak's private lake 25/6/24
Youth Demand shit in Rishi Sunak’s private lake 25/6/24

A Youth Demand spokesperson said:

“From Number 10 to Number 2, let’s face it: he’s done a shit job, and the Tories are facing an electoral wipe-out. As a final goodbye, we’re issuing a ‘code-brown’ to Mr Sunak and his colleagues in government for 14 years of total failure, by delivering them some much needed moral fibre. They’ve landed us all up shit-creek and so we hope they accept these ‘gorilla fingers’ as a heartfelt gesture of our feelings towards them.” 

“But although we’ve unloaded some timber, we’re not out of the woods yet. Our political system is broken. Labour has to lose the policies from the bottom-drawer and convince floating voters by putting the skids on arms trading with Israel and flushing all oil and gas projects licensed since 2021- policies which stain the UK’s reputation. It’s a big job, but it’s time to sort shit out. Join us for a week of action in London from the 13th July, sign up at youth demand.org.” 

This mansion is one of several properties owned by Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty. Murty owns a reported £400 million stake in her billionaire father’s company Infosys, which  signed a $1.5 billion deal with BP in May 2023. Sunak and Murty bought the £2 million Grade-II listed Georgian manor house in the picturesque village of Kirby Sigston, before Mr Sunak became MP for Richmond in 2015. However, this isn’t the only property in the couple’s extensive repertoire, which include a £6.6 million mansion in Kensington, London, and a vacation home in California. The couple have an estimated combined net worth of £730 million.

Last year 16 Just Stop Oil supporters were arrested outside Sunak’s London Mansion, after Louise Harris sang her chart-topping track ‘We Tried’.

Young people are sick of the shit-show. We deserve better. People from all over the country are coming together to resist. Youth Demand will be taking action in Central London from the 13th-20th July. 

Continue ReadingYouth Demand shit in Rishi Sunak’s private lake

Labour’s Otherworldly Manifesto

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Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted "I support Zionism without qualification." He's asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.

https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/52233/labours-otherworldly-manifesto

Keir Starmer’s party is set to win by a landslide, but its ambitions are simultaneously unrealistic and uninspiring

AUTHOR: Keir Milburn

“Stability is Change!” This seemingly paradoxical, almost Orwellian statement is the principal slogan of the Labour Party’s current parliamentary election campaign. Labour leader Keir Starmer used the slogan at the party’s manifesto launch, and it provides a key prism for understanding the manifesto and its weaknesses.

There is little doubt that the UK electorate is in the mood for change. The widespread, off-stated consensus in the country is that nothing works. The National Health Service is so chronically underfunded that doctor’s appointments are difficult to get and long waiting lists proliferate. The trains are shockingly expensive but utterly unreliable.

The list could go on and on, but the image most frequently used to sum up the situation comes from the failure of the privatized water services. A lack of investment in infrastructure accompanied by the looting of those companies for huge shareholder dividend payouts has led to the near constant release of untreated sewage into the UK’s river system. It flows from there onto our beaches. The British are quite literally swimming in shit!

These problems are identified quite clearly in the Labour Party manifesto, but the diagnosis of their causes and therefore their solutions proves much less convincing. Labour may have a plan to win in July, but how it will govern in the interests of its voters is anybody’s guess.

…

The totality of Labour’s spending pledges amounts to just 0.2 percent of GDP, smaller even than the Conservative pledges of 0.8 percent and dwarfed by the previous two Labour manifestos, which promised 2.1 percent and 3.2 percent respectively. Even the pro-market Institute for Fiscal Studies called Labour’s plans “tiny, going on trivial”.

These policies do not point to stability, not least because they do not address the 18 billion pounds of government spending cuts that the Conservatives have already baked into the government budget going forward. The effects of implementing such cuts on government services — which have already suffered so badly under 14 years of severe austerity — makes it hard to imagine that Labour will stick to this commitment. It seems likely that money will be found to prevent the worst of these cuts through technical changes in accounting between the government and the notionally independent Bank of England.

Beyond this paddling, however, the need for investment in the UK is huge. Both public and private investment in the country has collapsed since 2008. It has the lowest business investment in the G7 and ranks just twenty-eighth out of the 31 OECD countries. In the face of this, Labour, hamstrung by self-imposed fiscal rules on bringing down government debt and pledges not to raise the main forms of taxation, are promising so little investment that their plans seem unbelievable.

…

Until last February, Labour was promising to immediately strengthen workers’ rights through a New Deal for Workers, and to spend 28 billion pounds per year to decarbonize the economy through its Green Prosperity Plan. The Labour Party’s current openness to corporate funding and lobbying, including the imposition of over 30 parliamentary candidates with corporate lobbying backgrounds, has led to a dramatic watering down of these pledges. The Green Prosperity Plan has been reduced to just 3.5 billion pounds, but the form that spending will take reveals another logic or worldview which may come to the fore as crises mount.

The word “securonomics”, an ugly portmanteau favoured by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, makes an appearance in the manifesto, introducing the idea that public investment should support and de-risk private investment in strategically key sectors. The chief vehicle for this will be a National Wealth Fund “capitalised with £7.3 billion over the course of the next parliament”. What precisely this will look like has yet to be determined, but The National Wealth Fund “will have a target of attracting three pounds of private investment for every one pound of public investment”. This is an explicit return to and acceleration of the kind of public-private partnerships that lost legitimacy in the UK during the fallout from the disastrous Public Finance Initiative under New Labour.

…

Recommended article at https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/52233/labours-otherworldly-manifesto

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