NHS news summary: There appears to be a growing acceptance that Lansley’s bill will destroy the NHS and transform UK health care to the US model i.e. health care only for the rich. UK Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg claims that he will “front up” the issue with the Conservatives. I wonder what that means and why he had to be directed by his party before starting his front-upping. Many GPs intend to retire early to protect their pensions and more cuts.

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.

BBC News – NHS satisfaction ‘at record high’

Public satisfaction with the NHS has reached record levels, according to a leading health economist.

Writing on the BMJ website, Professor John Appleby said 64% of people were either very or quite satisfied with the NHS.

Critics have questioned why the government is reorganising the NHS when the public is happy with it.

Lansley’s health Bill set to ‘break up NHS’ / Britain / Home – Morning Star

Experts published research today detailing why the coalition’s controversial Health Bill means the end of the NHS.

The paper, by Professor Allyson Pollock and David Price of the Centre for Health Sciences at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, shows how Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s NHS assault will amount to the break-up of a universal, comprehensive, publicly accountable, tax-funded service that is free at the point of use.

The researchers say that the government is going against its duty to provide comprehensive care by abolishing the structures and mechanisms needed to do this.

BBC News – Petition to stop Southampton heart unit closing

A mother from Jersey has launched a petition against the closure of the children’s heart unit at Southampton Hospital.

Children from the Channel Islands use it for specialist heart treatment.

The NHS could close it under plans to improve treatment by providing fewer and more specialised services.

Nick Clegg set to rein in NHS reforms | Politics | The Guardian

Nick Clegg told a meeting of his MPs in Westminster on Tuesday that he would now be “taking the lead” within government to rein in its programme of reform for the NHS.

The Liberal Democrat leader said he was determined to ensure changes were made to the health and social care bill, the clearest sign that he will personally negotiate with the health secretary, Andrew Lansley. A senior party source said that the Lib Dem leader had decided to “front up” the issue with the Conservatives.

Lansley’s reforms to the NHS – handing over a majority of the healthcare budget to GPs for commissioning, and scrapping primary care trusts – have been opposed by some Conservative MPs and the British Medical Association, and 10 days ago Lib Dems voted at their spring party conference to ensure modifications were made to the bill. Then it was suggested that even though the Lib Dems had registered their discontent, there was little their leader would be able to do within government.

One in three GPs threaten to quit before pensions change | Mail Online

One in three GPs is considering early retirement to avoid changes to their gold-plated NHS pension scheme, a poll has found.

Ministers want to increase family doctors’ retirement age from 60 to 65 – and eventually to 68 – in line with their patients.

But thousands of GPs are threatening to cut their losses and take early retirement before the changes come in, according to the survey.

BBC News – Lincolnshire mental health service cuts jobs

An NHS trust which provides mental health services in Lincolnshire has said it is looking to cut 15% of its staff to save £13m over three years.

The Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Trust said the move, which equates to about 300 posts, had been forced on it by tight limits on government funding.

Bosses said they were planning to save £750,000 in management costs alone.

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.

Cuts protests: why we’re marching | World news | The Guardian

Nora Pearce, 62, midwife, Kingston upon Thames

I’m going to be there to defend the NHS. I’ll be with a very large group from Kingston hospital, where I work, and a couple of my grandchildren, and we’ll all be carrying two flipping heavy banners.

We feel the NHS is under attack. Before the last election, Nick Clegg and David Cameron used Kingston hospital as a backdrop to say that the NHS would be safe in their hands. But now the government has said the NHS must have £20bn worth of efficiency savings, despite maintaining that no frontline staff will be cut. And at Kingston we have been told that over the next four years we will be losing nearly 500 staff – 20% of whom are nurses and doctors. Now, if that ain’t frontline staff, then what is?

The hospital is saying that no services will be affected. Yeah, right. It is also saying there will be no redundancies. I half-believe that, because it could achieve staff reductions through people retiring. But it ain’t about redundancies: it’s about the service. You can’t run a hospital without the staff. At Kingston, we have 22 consultants, and 214 nurses and midwives. They’re not exactly sitting in the cupboard twiddling their thumbs.

Ambulance jobs axed as 999 calls hit record levels | News

About 100 frontline ambulance posts are to be axed in the capital, it was revealed today.

The positions will be lost as part of cuts affecting about 3,400 staff at the London Ambulance Service.

Tens of thousands of NHS jobs are to go as health trusts struggle with £20 billion of government cuts over the next four years.

Richard Webber, the LAS’s director of operations, expressed concern about losing the posts at a time when paramedics are busier than ever.

NHS satisfaction levels reach record high – Chemist + Druggist

NHS satisfaction levels have reached a record high among the public and employees, according to the latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey.

The latest BSA survey found that 64 per cent of the British public were either very or quite satisfied with the NHS – representing the highest levels since the survey began in 1983.

The results coincided with findings from the 2010 annual NHS staff survey, which reported record levels of job satisfaction in the NHS. Three quarters said they were satisfied by the quality of work and patient care they delivered, while 90 per cent were happy with the difference they made to patients.

Nurses feel the stress as cuts bite (From The Northern Echo)

A NURSES’ union has warned that North-East NHS staff are experiencing increasing levels of stress as Government cuts begin to bite.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Northern Region was responding to a national survey of NHS staff by the Care Quality Commission.

While staff still feel they can make a difference to patients, the RCN said cracks are beginning to show and stress levels are increasing.

Government’s skewed priorities on NHS pay, says Unite

The government has shown that when it comes to pay in the NHS its prefers the smart Saville Row suit of the bankers to the uniform of a hard-working nurse.

Unite, the largest union in the country, said it verged on the grotesque that the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) was marginalised by the government’s public sector pay freeze policy, while on the other hand, ministers allowed bankers’ bonuses to let rip at the 83 per cent state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

Unite national officer Rachael Maskell said today (Monday 21 March): ”It is quite clear who wields the influence in the corridors of Whitehall – the well-suited investment banker – and not hardworking public sector staff, who are being made to pay, through higher taxes and reduced living standards, for the financial crisis the banking elite created in the first place.

Nutrition: NHS patients fed £1 meals as hospitals budget just HALF the amount spent on prisoner food | Mail Online

Patients in NHS hospitals are being fed cheaper food than prison inmates, it was revealed yesterday.

Spending on hospital food has been slashed by up to two-thirds over the last five years, according to official figures.

In some hospitals in England budgets have fallen by 62 per cent – with meals costing little more than £1. That’s just half the £2.10 spent on the average meal in jail.

23,000 sign letter to Chancellor before Budget – RCN

Three Royal College of Nursing members handed a letter co-signed by nearly 23,000 members to 11 Downing Street, to express concerns about cuts to NHS frontline services.

Salma Bilkis, Lee Thomas and Kevin Takooree were joined by Janet Davies, the RCN’s Director of Nursing and Service Delivery, when they handed in the letter at the official residence of Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.

The letter was handed in as Mr Osborne prepared to deliver his latest Budget. The UK is braced for massive cuts in public services, but the Coalition Government has said NHS spending is ring-fenced.

A Westcountry MP will today come face-to-face with Health Secretary Andrew Lansley in the wake of claims that his reforms risk destroying the NHS.

A Westcountry MP will today come face-to-face with Health Secretary Andrew Lansley in the wake of claims that his reforms risk destroying the NHS.

Sarah Wollaston, GP-turned-Tory MP for Totnes, has warned that the Government is in danger of creating a “Trojan horse” that could undermine the NHS from within.

In outspoken remarks, Dr Wollaston said the controversial re-organisation risked changing the NHS “beyond recognition” and was “doomed to fail”.