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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.

Health bill in fresh trouble as first signs of cabinet dissent emerge

Plans being laid for call at Liberal Democrat spring conference for bill to be scrapped

The government’s beleaguered health bill has run into fresh trouble after it emerged that plans are being laid for a call for it to be scrapped at the Liberal Democrat spring conference.

It is also expected that the influential Conservative Home website, seen as the voice of the party grassroots, will publish an editorial on Friday calling for the bill to be dropped altogether. It is understood that Conservative Home has been urged to make the call by three cabinet members who believe David Cameron is not listening on the issue. One source said: “We have almost been instructed to write this.” It is extraordinary that cabinet members feel so frustrated at the political deadlock that they have resorted to urging Conservative Home to raise the flag of rebellion.

It has been widely canvassed within the government that non-contentious parts of the bill covering public health, social care and GP commissioning could be retained, while controversial parts dealing with an extension of the private sector could be abandoned altogether, something that would be a humiliation for the health secretary, Andrew Lansley.
… [informative article]

 

Lib Dem group launches in protest against Tory-led coalition

Liberal Left group aims to mobilise opposition against ‘drift to the right’, claiming the mood in the party is radicalising

The first Liberal Democrat group openly opposed to the coalition is to be launched at the party’s spring conference in Gateshead next month with a warning that the coalition has been a political disaster for the party, as well as a denial of its radical roots.

Launching a website on Wednesday, the group Liberal Left said it hoped to become a rallying point for members opposed to the coalition and those who see the party as a centre-left organisation seeking common cause with Labour, Greens and others on the centre left.

One of its founders, Richard Grayson, conceded that the vast majority of the party was committed to the coalition and denied the group would be working to put a motion to conference calling for the Liberal Democrats to withdraw from its partnership with the Conservatives. He said the focus was more on developing policies on the centre left, and creating a space for a coalition with Labour if necessary after a general election.

Most of the group’s founder members have long been opposed to the coalition, but it believes other party members will join, and the mood of the party is radicalising. Grayson said Liberal Left differed from the other well-established left group inside the party – the Social Liberal Forum – in that it opposed the coalition, and did not agree that the party should be politically equidistant between Conservatives and Labour.

In its strongly worded founding statement, Liberal Left asserts: “We articulate policy positions within the Liberal Democrats which should be central to a radical party. Such policies have informed recent general election manifestos which our candidates have stood, and on which our MPs have been elected.

“Those views are not being currently voiced effectively in a party whose radical traditions have become muted in government and whose leaders have taken the party’s policy positions to the right. We are now part of a government which is Eurosceptic, neo-liberal and socially conservative.”
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NHS backs down in dramatic court battle over services

NHS bosses have backed down in their battle with campaigners fighting major changes in Gloucestershire.

This afternoon at the Royal Courts of Justice NHS Gloucestershire and claimant Michael Lloyd issued a joint statement.

It reads: “Both parties agree that the public of Gloucestershire deserve the best possible NHS services.

We recognise the need for efficient use of public funds and believe that an end to legal proceedings is in everyone’s interest – particularly patients.

NHS Gloucestershire is pleased to be able to report that it has agreed terms to settle the Judicial Review brought by Gloucestershire resident, Mr Michael Lloyd.

The PCT recognises that it is important to maintain the confidence of patients, public and staff in decisions made concerning NHS services in our county.

Accordingly, and in view of the matters raised in court and without in any way accepting that there is merit in the legal complaints made by Mr Lloyd, the PCT has agreed not to implement its decision to enter into a contract with GCS at this time.

The PCT has agreed that it will start a new process to explore the best option for providing community services in Gloucestershire. As part of that process, NHS Gloucestershire will advertise for expressions of interest for the provision of NHS services in Gloucestershire.

The PCT will take necessary steps to ensure an appropriate level of staff and public engagement.
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Unite threatens new NHS pension strike ballot

The Unite trade union says it may hold a fresh strike ballot of its 100,000 members in the NHS over their continuing pension dispute.

The union’s leadership has already rejected a draft agreement proposed by the government in December.

In November, staff throughout the public sector staged a national one-day strike against the proposed changes.

Since then, union opposition has become divided, with some agreeing to further talks which others have rejected.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Fire Brigades Union are also threatening to strike over proposed changes to their pension scheme.

They said there would be a “rapid move” towards a strike ballot after finding the government’s proposals “unacceptable”.

Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey said: “There have been no substantive changes from what was on the table before Christmas – our hard-working members will still be expected to pay more, work longer and get less when they retire.”

“‘Our members are deeply unhappy at the government’s stance and we will be holding a consultative ballot to reaffirm our members’ position – the prospect of further strike action will be very real, unless ministers move on their hardline position.”
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Bank of England gives yet another £50B to bankers

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“…quantitative easing – printing money by another name – is the last resort of desperate governments when all other policies have failed.”

George Osborne, speech January 9 2009

The Bank of England announced today that it intends to do a further £50billion round of Quantitative Easing. Quantitative Easing involves pumping money into the economy in an apparently futile – it hasn’t yet been shown to work – attempt to stimulate the economy. There is a problem that there is very little to show for so many billions after billions that have already been squandered on Q.E.

It appears that it’s austerity for the vast majority and rolling in lolly for the rich elite. No money for the NHS for the plebs, plenty of billions to stimulate the markets for rich multi-millionaire traders and bankers to get yet richer.

There is an argument that the poor would stimulate the economy far more – since they would have to spend the money.

 

 10/2/12:

Quantitative Easing is stimulating commodity trading, not the real economy

As the economy slides towards recession, the Bank of England today announced today it was creating a further £50bn worth of ‘quantitative easing’ (QE).

If you read articles on the topic in the media, you will see statements like “the Bank is ‘printing’ money” or the Bank  will “pump a further £50 billion in to the economy”.  Both these statements are misleading.

QE actually involves the Bank of England buying financial assets – usually government bonds – belonging to institutional investors and sitting in Banks. The Bank buys these assets with newly created central bank reserves.  These reserves can only be held by banks – they do not and cannot go to businesses the real economy.

As explained in nef’s Where Does Money Come From?, central bank reserves are used by commercial banks to settle payments with each other.

By ‘pumping’ more reserves in to the intra-bank clearing system the idea is that banks will feel more confident about making loans to the real economy because they will know that other banks are in a stronger position to settle with them.

In addition, by buying up ultra-safe government bonds in vast quantities and thus pushing down the yield (the interest received on holding) on these assets, the central bank hopes to encourage investors to buy higher yielding corporate bonds – which again provides money for real businesses.

QE may reduce long-term interest rates, but there is little evidence it has stimulated commercial banks to start lending more to businesses, in particular small businesses, or soften the conditions banks are attaching to loans.

In fact the most recent figures published by the Bank show that net lending – the amount of loans minus the amount repaid – to small businesses has contracted by six per cent in the year to November 2011. And this despite the banks being given small business lending targets by the government through ‘Project Merlin’.  Not much wizardry there then.

The hard truth is that commercial banks are still in a process of ‘de-leveraging’, more keen on getting their loans repaid and building up their capital base than making new loans to productive businesses in what is perceived to be a risky real economy.

Evidence suggests the additional funds provided by QE are more likely to be used by banks to create more speculative credit, not least commodity speculation,  that provides shorter term returns.  As a result, the money supply in the real economy is contracting just at the point where new investment is most needed.

…

 

 

Continue ReadingBank of England gives yet another £50B to bankers

NHS news review

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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.

There is a huge amount of NHS news now that the Health and Socal Care / Destroy the NHS Bill is back in the Lords and discussed at Prime Minister’s Question time.

NHS bill faces fresh opposition ~ Channel4

David Cameron was barely on his feet at PMQs when the Faculty of Public Health announced it was calling for the Health and Social Care Bill to be withdrawn, writes Victoria Macdonald.

It was tricky timing. Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) was inevitably going to be dominated by the NHS reforms simply because it is back in the House of Lords today.

And sure enough, the Labour leader Ed Miliband attacked the PM for “breaking his word on no top-down reorganisation”. All Mr Cameron’s attention, he said, was on the reforms and this meant the front-line was suffering.

“He knows in his heart of hearts that this is a complete disaster,” Mr Miliband said.

“Why won’t you just give up and stop wasting billions and drop your bill?”

Mr Cameron repeated the claim that GPs were not just “supporting our reforms, they are implementing our reforms”.

But this is a claim that is becoming more difficult for the government to keep making. The list of organisations now calling for the bill to be scrapped is growing and pressure is growing on the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley.
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David Cameron and Ed Miliband clash over NHS reform in PMQs

Miliband tells Cameron to ‘stop wasting millions and drop the bill’ while Tory leader retorts that Miliband is an opportunist

David Cameron delivered a passionate defence of the government’s health reforms in the face of a challenge by Ed Miliband to “stop wasting millions and drop his bill”.

The prime minister made it clear his government intended to put the health and social care bill on to the statute book despite growing opposition within the NHS and the Conservative party.

Cameron cast the battle over the NHS shakeup as one between a bureaucrat-run NHS and a doctor-run NHS, insisting that the reforms were stripping billions of pounds in bureaucracy to “plough back” into patient care, and he attacked Labour’s refusal to fund increases in the NHS budget.

“They are not in favour of the money, they are not in favour of reform, they are just a bunch of opportunists,” Cameron told the Commons.

The premier also rallied to the defence of his beleaguered health secretary, Andrew Lansley, after a No 10 insider was quoted as saying he should be “taken out and shot”, raising doubts about his future in the cabinet.

The prime minister and the Labour leader clashed at prime minister’s question time on the day that the health and social care bill returns to the Lords for its report stage, where it is tipped to face staunch opposition from sections of the second chamber. In a heated exchange, Miliband told Cameron that “in his hearts of hearts” the prime minister knew that the bill was “a complete disaster”, and he cited opposition to the reforms from a long list of health care unions and associations.
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David Cameron attacks Labour’s handling of NHS Wales

Prime Minister David Cameron has launched an attack on Labour’s handling of the health service in Wales.

Mr Cameron said people were waiting longer for operations and accused the Welsh government of cutting funding.

He made the claim while defending reforms of the NHS in England – plans which the Welsh government said were a “complete and utter shambles”.

The Welsh government said the prime minister’s figures were “totally wrong”.

At question time in the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Cameron said the NHS in Wales showed what happens “when you don’t put the money in and don’t do the reform”.
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Prime Minister David Cameron compared to General Custer after attack on Welsh Government’s NHS policies

Prime Minister David Cameron was compared to General Custer by the Welsh Government yesterday after he launched a furious attack on the NHS in Wales.

In the latest burst of conflict between the two governments, Health Minister Lesley Griffiths blasted the UK Government’s plans for the NHS as a “complete and utter shambles” and accused Mr Cameron of lacking a mandate.

It came after Cameron lambasted the Labour Welsh Government’s management of the NHS as he fought back against calls to abandon his controversial health policies for England.

The BMA in Wales applauded the Welsh Government for remaining “loyal” to the vision of Labour NHS pioneer Aneurin Bevan and called on Mr Cameron to withdraw the legislation. The Royal College of Nursing also defended the record of the government in Cardiff.

The Welsh Government claimed the Prime Minister had his facts wrong and compared him to Custer – a US general remembered for the defeat he suffered when overwhelmed by Native American fighters in 1876 at the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand.

The Prime Minister launched his attack on the Welsh Government as he came under sustained attack in the Commons from Labour leader Ed Miliband over the coalition’s NHS reforms.
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NHS Reforms: Government Lacks Plan B, Lords Told

The coalition government has no “plan B” for its controversial proposals to reform the NHS, the House of Lords has heard.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley has seen his Health and Social Care Bill come under heavy fire, with calls for it to be dropped gaining momentum.

The bill, which centres around the responsiblity for the commissioning of health services passing from primary care trusts to GP consortia, is viewed by critics as privatisation of the NHS.

Parliamentary undersecretary of state for health Earl Howe told lords that the government was set on its bill as it was “the right thing to do”.
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[“The right thing to do” is recognised as a Blairite argument whereby the divorced-from-reality fruitcake felt that it was unnecessary to justify His decision.]

 

NHS managers oppose Health Bill

The Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM) is ‘close to’ calling for the withdrawal of the Health and Social Care Bill.

An IHM member opinion poll found managers had experienced “worsening conditions” for both patients and NHS staff thanks to the reforms.

The official release of the survey is not due until 14 February but Sue Hodges, Chief Executive of IHM, told MiP that 87% of its members that have responded to the poll currently want to see the bill withdrawn.

Hodges said that within minutes of the request being posted online, the IHM was able to “confidently” say Health and Social Care managers do not support the Health Bill and the “inevitable consequences” of it.

She said it is “very likely” the IHM will make an official call for the withdrawal of the bill next week.

IHM leaders criticised the government’s almost “total disregard” for its advice given during its consultation period last year.
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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.

The debate on the Health and Social Care / Destroy the NHS Bill descended into tastelessness yesterday and today with an attack on a prominent doctor for being a successful, accomplished GP and mention of David Cameron’s sadly deceased son.

 

The Health and Social Care Bill is expected to receive a rough ride when it returns to the House of Lords today amid an ongoing row over the coalition’s planned reforms.

Prime Minister David Cameron has been forced to declare his “full support” of Health Secretary Andrew Lansley as criticism of the changes continues.

Downing Street tried to end speculation about Mr Lansley’s future after claims there had been discussions about bringing back Labour health secretary Alan Milburn to replace him.

A spokesman said on Tuesday: “The Prime Minister backs Andrew Lansley and he backs the reforms we are pushing through Parliament in order to deliver a better health service for the future.”

The Bill is back in the Lords less than a week after the Royal College of GPs wrote to Mr Cameron calling for it to be scrapped.

A new poll has shown more than 90% of readers of the British Medical Journal believe the Bill should be withdrawn.
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CAMPAIGNERS and health bosses were facing each other in the High Court today.

Retired railwayman Michael Lloyd’s bid for a judicial review of the transfer of county NHS services to a community interest company could be granted.

If it is, a judge in London’s High Court will make a ruling tomorrow on whether NHS Gloucestershire can go ahead or be forced to backtrack.

Campaign group Stroud Against the Cuts fears the transfer of nine Gloucestershire community hospitals, 10 health clinics and 3,000 staff to a community interest company could lead to the privat-isation of the National Health Service.

“I’m worried that if local health services leave the NHS they will be more vulnerable to cuts, more fragmented, more bureaucratic and less accountable,” said Mr Lloyd, 75.

NHS Gloucestershire has said it wants timely resolution of outstanding legal matters and that concluding the arrangements for the transfer is in the interests of patients and staff and will ensure service continuity and stability.

 

Is reform of the NHS doomed to fail?

Andrew Lansley’s shakeup of the NHS won’t work, says Randeep Ramesh, because you can’t downsize healthcare

When Nigel Lawson, the former Conservative chancellor, remarked that the NHS was the closest thing to a national religion that the English have, he encapsulated an inconvenient truth: that challenging belief in the good of a state-financed, state-run health service could end in, as the editors of three medical journals put it last week, an “unholy mess”. The English are simply too heavily invested emotionally in the NHS to change it too much, too quickly.

This is the politics that has led Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, to proclaim that there are three months to save the health service from Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, and his radical shakeup.

No matter how much Lansley gives up of his original vision of a market-driven, patient-centred NHS, the bill – which is back in the Lords with some 100 amendments – is politically toxic. No party wants to go into the local elections in May saying it has not done enough to temper the worst excesses of the founding white paper. The bill gives vent to some pretty crazy ideas: such as getting credit rating agencies to vet hospitals.
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Andrew Lansley came under more fire today as the crisis deepened over the Government’s NHS reforms.

London GPs, MPs and peers urged David Cameron to consider pulling the plug on the reforms, which face a barrage of opposition from health professionals.

Even Downing Street insiders were said to be aghast at the Health Secretary’s handling of the reforms. A No 10 source was quoted in The Times saying: “Andrew Lansley should be taken out and shot. He’s messed up both the communication and the substance of the policy.”

The Health and Social Care Bill returns to the Lords tomorrow where it faces a mauling by peers despite the Government already making a string of concessions.

Today Michelle Drage, chief executive of the Londonwide Local Medical Committees which represents 6,000 GPs, said: “We want to see the chaos that has arisen from the Bill stopped and a return to the original principle of GP-led commissioning and the removal of all the aspects that relate to privatisation which have caused all of the worries among all groups in the NHS.”
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Juggling financial cuts with patient needs threatens quality of care

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s (CSP) Annual Representative Conference, which begins in Manchester tomorrow (Wednesday), will hear how the combined effect of Government reforms of the NHS and cost cutting measures are leaving physiotherapy staff in an impossible position where they have to implement financial cutbacks yet still meet patient’s clinical needs.

A number of motions for debate, raised by the CSP’s National Group of Regional Stewards, East of England Regional Network, South Central, London and Yorkshire Stewards, will discuss the range of impacts the NHS reforms and measures to cut costs are having on physiotherapy services for patients.

Commenting, Alex MacKenzie, Chair of the CSP’s National Group of Regional Stewards, said: “Physiotherapists are between a rock and a hard place, where they are being forced to act against their professional clinical judgment because money for the right treatment is not there.

“More and more we’re hearing about rationing of services. In some cases, patients are having to see their GP twice, many weeks apart, before even getting a referral to a physio – and then they’re often only getting an assessment and exercise prescription, with limited hands-on treatment. The ability to offer the best professional care is being stripped away.”
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Andrew Lansley has prime minister’s ‘full support’ over NHS reforms

Health and social care bill continues to come in for fierce criticism, but No 10 says health secretary has full backing

Downing Street has said the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, has the prime minister’s “full support”, as pressure on the coalition government mounts over its NHS reforms.

Speculation over Lansley’s future in the cabinet was sparked by an unnamed No 10 insider quoted saying he should be “taken out and shot”.

The comment in the Times came as the health secretary faced another embarrassing blow when the Guardian reported that two doctors who had previously been prominent supporters of the proposed health service structure had turned against the reforms.

However, the prime minister’s spokeswoman dismissed the anonymous briefings, saying she “did not recognise” the name of Labour’s former health secretary Alan Milburn being floated as a possible successor.

“The prime minister backs Andrew Lansley and he backs the reforms we are pushing through parliament in order to deliver a better health service for the future,” she said.

Lansley’s health and social care bill enters the crucial report stage in the House of Lords from Wednesday, where Labour and crossbench peers are hoping to defeat the government on a number of key issues.
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Coalition will force NHS bill on to statute book, says David Cameron

PM to get behind Andrew Lansley as No 10 suggests it may have taken eye off ball, allowing opposition to reforms to grow

David Cameron is to rally behind his health secretary Andrew Lansley on Wednesday and insist that the coalition will force its health and social care bill on to the statute book despite growing opposition within the NHS and the Conservative party.

Speculation over Lansley’s future in the cabinet was sparked by an unnamed No 10 insider being quoted saying he should be “taken out and shot”.

The briefing was described as unauthorised, but No 10 acknowledged it may have taken its eye off the ball, allowing opposition to the bill to re-emerge.

Cameron and Lansley have met within the last 48 hours to discuss tactics. There is widespread frustration inside Downing Street at the way in which the professions were brought on side, but then slipped from the coalition’s grasp over the past two months.

Cameron is to undertake a series of NHS events next week, and is said to be confident that opposition to the bill in the Lords will be overcome. He is determined to set up the battle as one between a bureaucrat-run NHS and a doctor-run NHS.
…

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NHS news review

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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.

 

Backers of NHS shake-up turn against Andrew Lansley’s plans

Leading doctors voice concerns that reforms will suffocate GPs and jeopardise promised freedom to commission care

Two prominent backers of the coalition’s NHS shake-up have joined the growing chorus of critics by claiming that GPs will be “suffocated rather than liberated” by the planned changes.

Dr Charles Alessi and Dr Michael Dixon have helped Andrew Lansley claim credibility for his plans among doctors over the past 18 months by strongly supporting his radical restructuring. They are leading lights in the NHS Alliance and the National Association of Primary Care, two key pro-reform organisations.

But they now fear that the new consortiums of local doctors, which will start commissioning healthcare for patients in England from next year, will not have the freedom that the health secretary has repeatedly pledged. Lansley has attempted to persuade sceptics that his reorganisation will put family doctors in charge of healthcare.

NHS primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs) are due to be abolished next year.

But the doctors are worried that the GP-led clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), which will replace PCTs, will find themselves unexpectedly under the control of another organisation, the NHA National Commissioning Board (NCB).

In July the NHS chief executive, Sir David Nicholson, said “CCGs will be the engine of the new system” and that the reformed NHS “gives pride of place to clinical leaders”. But the reality is that primary care doctors and clinical commissioners will not have the promised ability to make key decisions because the current bureaucracy is simply being replaced by another that is growing up around the NCB, the pair claim.
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MP believes Prime Minister is pushing NHS to the brink of collapse

SLOUGH MP Fiona Mactaggart has claimed the Prime Minister is pushing the NHS to the brink of collapse – with patients waiting even longer for their treatments.

The latest data shows that 44 more patients were forced to wait longer than 18 weeks for treatment in the Berkshire East PCT area, between November 2010 and November 2011.

Waiting times are also up nationally with an increase of more than a third in the number of patients waiting more than four-and-a-half months for treatment.

Ms Mactaggart said “The chaos caused by the Health Bill is starting to take its toll. By the time Labour left office, waiting times had fallen to a historic low, but this Government is throwing that legacy away.

“It is hard to get this right and we have had some particular local challenges with our hospital, but we must keep our focus on patient care, and patients who are left to wait are not being cared for.

“If the Prime Minister succeeds in allowing hospitals to fill 49% of hospital beds with private patients, this will get worse.
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Nurses at the first NHS general hospital to be run by the private sector risk shouldering the burden for deep financial problems that are out of their control, the Royal College of Nursing has warned.

Private company Circle was awarded a 10-year contract to run Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust in November. Last week it unveiled a 16-point plan for turning round the financially troubled Cambridgeshire trust, with a major focus on nursing. The trust is in the red by around £40m.

The widely publicised plan included devoting two thirds of nurses’ time to contact with patients, a culture of “complete transparency” around patient harm, reducing rates of preventable falls and pressure sores to the lowest in the region. Staff will also be subject to “360 degree” performance reviews, with assessments from both their peers and line managers.

In addition, staff will be organised into “clinical units” each run by a nurse, a doctor and a manager. The three will have authority to take all decisions about a patient’s care and have responsibility for their own quality measures and costs.

But RCN director of policy Howard Catton warned that Circle’s “public relations strategy” was placing too much responsibility on nurses for overcoming the hospital’s huge financial challenges.

“Nursing could lead improvements, but it’s beyond nursing’s control to turn around all the cost pressures and [find] a £40m saving,” he told Nursing Times. He said: “What we’ve had this week is nursing and the workforce standing on their own at the front of this PR strategy.”

Mr Catton said the RCN wanted to see the same level of “transparency” expected of nurses placed on the work of Circle’s management team and the returns expected from the company’s shareholders.
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Terminally ill care turmoil as NHS suspends company

THE care of dozens of terminally ill people in South Yorkshire has been thrown into turmoil after NHS chiefs yesterday suspended a contract with a care firm.

More than 30 people and their families, mainly in Rotherham and Sheffield, have been affected by the decision to suspend the services of care provider Abacus.

NHS officials are carrying out an investigation following allegations over patient safety and quality of care, believed to include claims staff have failed to attend home visits or cut them short.

Patients and their families were told only yesterday that the contract was being suspended.

Margaret Kitching, nurse director for the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw cluster of primary care trusts, said: “An investigation is currently taking place into Abacus following a number of allegations.”
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NHS reforms: the bill that will cost us dear

It is hard to think of a starker failure in domestic government since the poll tax

No one, but no one, thinks that the health and social care bill returning to parliament this week is any good. Nurses and doctors have lined up to denounce it – even GPs, whom the legislation claims to put in charge. Professional resistance can be dismissed as “producer interest”, but not so the joint editorial published by three specialist periodicals, including the Health Service Journal. The journal is generally supportive of exposing medicine to competition, yet it damns the particular market-based reforms on offer as “unnecessary, poorly conceived, badly communicated” and “a dangerous distraction”. Meanwhile, a committee dominated by coalition MPs has just concluded that the current upheaval “complicates” necessary cost-cutting, and displaces “truly effective” reforms.

Even the health secretary cannot any longer really believe in the watered-down product he is saddled with punting. The one hope for the bill which Andrew Lansley had originally articulated intelligibly was removing politics from healthcare. But, after a year of amendments and grudging stand-offs with the Liberal Democrats, he has utterly failed in this – as is underlined by the latest concession, which explicitly reaffirms that he will retain full political responsibility to parliament.

Having foolishly nodded the legislation through in the Commons, the Lib Dems blundered again by failing to kill the bill – as they could have done – when their members and peers revolted. Instead, they settled for fudge. The bill before parliament is littered with warm words such as “integrated”, which mean entirely different things to advocates of planning and cheerleaders for restructured competition. It may well fall to the courts to determine what on earth whole passages mean. And yet – carried along only by the crack of the government whip – this unloved legislation rolls towards the statute book. The strongest remaining argument for passing it is that the hard-to-manage mess of half-disbanded care trusts could descend into uncontrollable chaos if new rules and structures of some sort, however flawed, are not agreed on soon.

Mr Lansley’s great error was to allow the charged words “Tory”, “cuts”, “health” and above all “privatisation” to combine to become the story of the bill. The technocrat imagined that he could quietly impose a new healthcare market, and that England would soon bow to its logic. He not only misread opinion, but also mistook a well-founded concern to restrain medical profiteering for socialistic superstition. Last month the Guardian revealed that millions were being diverted to the likes of KPMG and McKinsey to teach “business skills” to GPs. On Friday, it emerged that a cash-strapped health department was having to stump up £1.5bn to trusts that cannot afford repayments under the PFI – the last great brainwave for getting the private sector involved. Public fear of racketeering is not boneheadedness. The medical marketplace will never be one where consumers (or, as they were once known, patients) can be sovereign – the knowledge gap with “producers” is too great.
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The NHS bill could finish the health service – and David Cameron

NHS reforms: the plans and the results so far

in other news:

Treasury Wrote Off £11bn In Unpaid Tax

Revenue and Customs wrote off almost £11bn in unpaid tax in one year, according to the first joint audit of every government department.

The Treasury was not fully aware of the figure until it appeared in the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) for 2009 to 2010, according to the Public Accounts Committee.

The PAC said it also had “no knowledge” of whether plans were in place to cut the taxpayer’s huge £15.7bn liability for clinical negligence claims.
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PAC chair Margaret Hodge said the document also “currently falls short of giving a true and fair view of the UK’s financial position”.

“The Treasury has departed from accounting standards by leaving out of the accounts of such bodies as Network Rail and the publicly-owned banks,” the Labour MP said.

“This has led to the accounts being qualified by the Comptroller & Auditor General. We want the Government to provide the necessary information so that these accounts are comprehensive and credible.”
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war of terrorism BS

‘Lone wolf’ terror threat warning

Continue ReadingNHS news review