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NHS news review

Andrew Lansley to face a creative protest in York.

NHS cuts, NHS cuts, NHS cuts.

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 Secretary Andrew Lansley to face protest from York Stop The Cuts group (From York Press)

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to face protest from York Stop The Cuts group

HEALTH Secretary Andrew Lansley will visit York this weekend to speak at a Conservative Party fundraiser – but he is set to face strong protests over his proposed NHS reforms.

Mr Lansley is due to be the guest speaker at a black-tie dinner organised by the York Conservatives organisation at the Merchant Adventurer’s Hall on Saturday night.

But campaigners from the York Stop The Cuts group plan to don tuxedos, ballgowns and masks and cut up a giant papier-maché pie outside the venue to voice their anger at what they claim is a threat to “slice up the NHS”.
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Sussex mental health services ‘at full stretch’ (From The Argus)

Sussex mental health services ‘at full stretch’

Mental health services say they are operating at “full stretch” to balance rising numbers of service users and substantial funding cuts.

Senior figures at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust say they are being “challenged like never before” with some services seeing a 44% increase in people needing help over the last three years.

The rising number of people turning to the trust, which now sees more than 100,000 people every year, has been blamed on the pressures of increasingly difficult economic times.

The increase comes as the trust has to make major financial savings of more than £14 million in the current financial year.
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Safety fears over £78m NHS cuts (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

PATIENT safety fears have been raised over plans to shave £78million from the NHS in north Essex in three-and-a-half years.

Stephen Beresky, non-executive director for primary care trust NHS North East Essex, said he believed services were already “creaking” from the cost-saving measures.

At a board of directors meeting in Braintree recently, he questioned plans which will see £27.7million cut from the PCT’s budget and £51million from the amount it pays to providers such as the ambulance service, hospital and mental health care by 2015.

Mr Beresky, of Stanway, who runs a consultancy business, said: “The biggest cost in most organisations is staffing.

“The quickest way to have an impact on reducing budgets is staff.

“I want to make sure the the consequences of the decisions which are being taken are understood because, anecdotally, and a little less than anecdotally, they are creaking.”

The trust has not yet revealed how many jobs will be shed however it plans to slash staff pay by £4million between now and 2015.
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Fears continue over A&E services at St Helier Hospital (From Your Local Guardian)

Fears continue over A&E services at St Helier Hospital

Fears continue about the future of A&E services in Sutton after NHS London bosses refused to give assurances over the future of St Helier hospital.

Following a presentation to councillors last week, Andrew Woodhead, head of mergers and acquisitions at NHS London, said the transition board was “working on an assumption that services would remain”, but would not guarantee that St Helier hospital could continue to provide A&E and maternity services in the future.

He said the proposed merger of St Helier and St George’s in Tooting was an organisational matter, which would allow the hospital to achieve Foundation Trust status.

But he said the future of services was being dealt with by a separate review of healthcare in south west London called Better Services Better Value.
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Continue ReadingNHS news review

NHS news review

The big NHS news today is further example of Liberal-Democrat spin that they opposed the Destroy the NHS Bill. Let’s get this clear: The NHS is getting destroyed by Conservatives and Conservative Liberal-Democrats acting in unison.

Lib-Dem peers have published a letter in the Guardian proclaiming that “The time for declaratory statements is past.” I had to find a definition for declaratory statements. It is unnecessarily complex and is inteded to exclude most people from understanding it but I think that it’s about explaining the law and stating the rights of parties. Liberal-Democrat hypocrisy is exposed by the letter also stating “Any politician who plays party political games with the NHS would be open to justified public criticism.” There you go then: justified public criticism.

The letter comes after Health Secretary Andrew Lansley signalled that he would accept an ammendment regarding ultimite responsibility for providing a health service. The ammendment appears to be a dimunition from responsibilty for providing a comprehensive health service to “retains ultimate responsibility” for NHS services. While I find this also a little complex it does seem to continue Con-Dem government’s attempts to evade responsibility for proving a health service but I’m waiting for commentary from others.

The Labour Party claims that Prime Minister David Cameron has broken three promises on the NHS: to end top-down reorganisations, to increase NHS funding in real terms and to stop hospital reconfigurations.

The British Medical Association repeats it’s call for the bill to be abandoned and states 11 changes it wants made.

The TUC highlights the government’s “credibity deficit”.

Campaign group Stroud Against the Cuts is continuing legal action against NHS Gloucestershire’s plans to transfer local health services to a community interest company.

trying to see what Gerada has to say about bloggers …

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.

Letters: Lib Dems draw a line on the NHS | Society | The Guardian

The time for declaratory statements is past. Patients who care passionately about the NHS, and staff who want to give the best possible service, need certainty about the future of the health service (The battle is far from over, 25 October). Any politician who plays party political games with the NHS would be open to justified public criticism. So it is now imperative that members of the House of Lords get on with their job of subjecting this bill to detailed, rigorous scrutiny.

In order to safeguard the NHS, free at the point of need and accessible to all, Liberal Democrat peers are putting forward amendments which require the secretary of state to remain responsible for health services being provided across England. In coming weeks we will seek to ensure that the NHS continues to develop cutting-edge research and that any income from private patients is used solely for the benefit of NHS patients. We will carry on scrutinising this bill so that the NHS can continue to deliver world-class care for patients.
Shirley Williams
Jonathan Marks QC
Paddy Ashdown
Liz Barker
Phil Willis
Floella Benjamin
Judith Jolly
John Shipley
John Alderdice
Navnit Dholakia
Monroe Palmer
Paul Strasburger
Diana Maddock
Chris Rennard
John Sharkey
Jenny Randerson
Ros Scott
Tim Clement-Jones
Dick Newby
Mike German
David Steel
Kishwer Falkner
Bill Bradshaw
Roger Roberts
Brian Cotter
Bill Rodgers
Anthony Lester
Sal Brinton
Paul Tyler
Mike Storey
Joan Walmsley
Trevor Smith

Related guff: Liberal Democrat peers end war with Tories over reform of NHS | Society | The Guardian BBC News – NHS bill: Lib Dem peers signal end to rebellion

David Cameron has ‘betrayed the NHS’, claims Labour | GPonline.com

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham has accused prime minister David Cameron of betraying the NHS ahead of a House of Commons debate on the Health Bill on Wednesday.

Labour said it was taking its fight against the Bill directly to the prime minister for ‘writing cheques in opposition that he couldn’t cash in government’.

In a debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham will accuse the prime minister of breaking three personal pledges on the NHS.

He is expected to criticise David Cameron for performing a U-turn on his pre-election promise to end top-down reorganisation in the NHS. He will also say the government’s pledge to increase NHS funding in real terms has not been met, and that the government has broken a pledge to enforce a moratorium on hospital reconfiguration.
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BMA highlights recommended changes to health bill – News – Practice Business

The British Medical Association publishes the changes it would like to see made to the Health and Social Care Bill, as the legislation reaches the Lord’s committee stage

The British Medical Association (BMA) has called for further changes it would like to see made to the Health and Social Care Bill as the bill enters the committee stage in the House of Lords this week.

The BMA outlines 11 areas of significant concern it has with the current draft of the legislation, as well as a call for the “mitigation of damage” to the NHS which it believes the bill will cause.

Included in these recommendations is an amendment making it explicit that increasing patient choice will not be given greater priority than ensuring fair access for all, a call for the secretary of state to retain ultimately responsible for the provision of comprehensive health services and a reduction of the overly restrictive powers granted to CCGs.

The BMA also expressed a wish for the government to be clearer concerning the role and the future role of the CCGs, and that the secretary of state should have a duty to ensure there is an effective system for delivering medical education and training.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, chair of the BMA Council, commented on the publication, stating: “The BMA’s preferred option is for the Health and Social Care Bill to be withdrawn – However, during this stage of the parliamentary process, there is scope for further significant change to be made.”

He added: “We have today set out the areas where we believe there still need to be amendments. We hope the Lords will agree with us and change the proposed legislation, limiting the damage this Bill could do to the NHS.”

Reforms have a ”credibility deficit” – Public Service

The gap between rhetoric and reality of the government’s public service reforms is growing, as privatisation and workforce opposition to the changes increase, according to a paper published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

In response to the government’s Open Public Services white paper, the TUC said a market-led approach to reform was increasing the private sector takeover of public services and public sector workers were turning against the measures:

The TUC pointed out that while health ministers were promoting social enterprise in the UK, NHS Surrey awarded the contract for its community health care services to private provider Assura Medical (75 per cent owned by the Virgin Group) rather than the government’s social enterprise champions Central Surrey Health.
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Legal action delays NHS Gloucestershire social enterprise plans | Healthcare Network | Guardian Professional

Gloucestershire’s primary care trust has paused plans to transfer local health services to a community interest company pending a hearing

NHS Gloucestershire has put on hold its plans to transfer community health services and a £100m budget from the local health service to Gloucestershire Care Services, a company spun out of the local primary care trust.

Jan Stubbings, the trust’s chief executive, said she had agreed not to sign the contracts needed to effect the transfer before the outcome of a legal hearing.

“Concluding the arrangements for the transfer is in the interests of patients and staff and will ensure service continuity and stability,” said Stubbings. “Timely resolution of outstanding legal matters is also in the interests of the taxpayer and public funds.”

Campaign group Stroud Against the Cuts said the pause followed a judicial determination that trust should not finalise its proposed transfer of more than 3,000 NHS health staff and a variety of health services out of the NHS, after a legal case presented by its solicitors.

The group has claimed that the proposed transfer would be highly damaging to NHS services in Gloucestershire. James Beecher, a co-ordinator of Stroud Against the Cuts, said that if the challenge is successful it will force managers to consider options which have been successfully implemented elsewhere in the country and would keep services and staff within the NHS.
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Continue ReadingNHS news review

NHS news review

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 battle for the NHS is far from over | Allyson Pollock | Comment is free | The Guardian

The Lords may yet succeed in rewriting the health and social care bill, but they must truly understand the stakes

Critics of the controversial health and social care bill were taken aback by the partisanship of peers when debate moved to the House of Lords two weeks ago. Amendments by Lord Rea to reject the bill altogether, and by Lords Owen and Hennessy to send parts to a select committee for more forensic scrutiny were defeated after energetic whipping by party bosses.

But all is not what it seems. For many peers it was not pro-competition sentiment that caused them to oppose the amendments but the so-called Salisbury convention, according to which the Lords does not throw out legislative measures trailed in manifestos.

Nor is the battle over by any means. Many peers are determined to rewrite the bill, and the list of amendments for debate on the floor of the house is building daily. More than 350 amendments have been tabled, and more are expected during the debate. The royal medical colleges, professional bodies and the general public have registered their concerns about competition, loss of professional autonomy, conflicts of interest and rank commercialism. The amendments include proposals to delete or alter clause 1 of the bill – which abolishes ministerial responsibility for the health service – and to ensure principles of comprehensive care are written into the legislation.

Professor Malcolm Grant’s evidence to the commons health committee last week adds fuel to the fire. Health secretary Andrew Lansley’s nominee for chairman of the NHS commissioning board, which will run the marketised system, revealed the extent of the legislative chaos when he said that the bill was “completely unintelligible” and with the £20bn efficiency target a “double hammer” for the NHS.

The scale of criticism underlines the constitutional and epochal character that the debate has assumed. Few by now are in any doubt that the England’s social contract is potentially redrawn by measures that shred a public institution designed for universal healthcare.

However, the response brings difficulties of its own – peers have been inundated with advice from thousands of correspondents. Finding a clear line through a bill of such length and complexity that has been amended by the government right up to the last minute was always going to be a huge challenge. But without that clarity, opposition forces will be disorganised and voting patterns a lottery.

The solution to the overload is for peers to work out a clearer understanding of what’s at stake. Put simply, the legal effect of the bill is to abolish the statutory basis of a national health service by repealing duties to provide a comprehensive and universal service. The change is effected by creating clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) with an obligation to cover fewer services and responsibility for fewer patients and residents than primary care trusts (PCTs). Whereas PCTs act on behalf of the secretary of state, CCGs will exercise functions in place of him or her but without a clear primary legislative framework. The bottom line is that commissioners and providers in the new market will have freedom to select patients and services on financial grounds and to redefine eligibility for NHS care and in so doing introduce charges for care.

The blurring of boundaries and responsibilities for funding and provision will make it almost impossible for parliament to hold health bodies accountable for the various elements of their expenditure or for the secretary of state to carry out his or her duty to promote a comprehensive health service throughout England.

The key features of the bill are therefore the move from comprehensive, universal, geographical duties and the assignment of extraordinary discretion to CCGs and the NHS commissioning board. These elements are laid down largely in part one of the bill. It is vital that amendments focus in the first instance on clause 1, which deals with the existing duties of the secretary of state, and clause 10, which sets out the new powers of CCGs.

Reports of drastic cuts to NHS frontline services lie behind the extreme urgency with which the government is pushing its changes. Cuts on the scale envisaged are only possible if the duties laid on government by parliament are abolished. So it is the bill or the NHS; the people will rely on the crossbenchers to decide their fate.

• David Price, a senior research fellow at Edinburgh University, contributed to this article

Kingston Hospital may be hit with more cuts (From Kingston Guardian)

Kingston Hospital could be hit with more swinging cuts as the NHS faces another £6.5m reduction in spending across its services.

The savings outlined for 2012-13 are on top of this year’s £6m target and form part of a national Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) efficiency programme.

Draft plans show £3.3m of the potential identified savings will come from acute care at hospitals.

Another £650,000 will come from mental health, including the reprovision of rehabilitation units from Rose Lodge in New Malden and Fuschia ward in Tolworth Hospital.

Some of the money will be saved from reducing the number of people with minor injuries going to accident and emergency (A&E) and spending less on expensive drugs, although those figures have not been decided yet.

A spokesman for NHS Kingston said: “We will work closely with partners to minimise the effect on front-line services.
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Patients waiting too long at A&E « Express & Star

Seriously ill and injured patients at New Cross Hospital are waiting too long to be seen in accident and emergency – with the situation worsening in recent weeks, a new report reveals.

The latest figures revealed at a meeting of the hospital’s trust board today show the majority of such patients waited up to 52 minutes for an initial assessment by a nurse in September.

This is almost 10 minutes longer than in August, when the majority waited up to 43 minutes.

NHS targets state such patients should be seen in under 15 minutes to reduce risks.

An initial assessment determines the priority patients are given.

The delays are on top of the time it takes doctors to treat or admit a patient to the hospital.

During September the average wait for treatment or admission was one hour and 12 minutes.

This means an average wait of more than two hours.
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Continue ReadingNHS news review

NHS news review

A leaked memo reveals that the Health Secretary will not remain responsible for the NHS despite repeated ConDem assurances that he would. You can’t trust the Tories – or the Lib-Dem Tories – with the NHS.

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.

NHS power will be held by quango, leaked document reveals | Society | The Guardian

Malcolm Grant, the government’s choice to run the powerful NHS commissioning board, makes remarkable admission

The health secretary will “franchise” the running of the NHS to a quango for up to three years at a time – a move that will result in an unelected academic and the nation’s 38,000 family doctors, rather than ministers, being accountable for the day-to-day running of the health service, according to leaked documents obtained by the Guardian.

In unpublished evidence to the health select committee last week, Malcolm Grant, the government’s choice to run the powerful NHS commissioning board, outlined “an extraordinary transformation of responsibility” that appears to undermine claims by ministers that the proposed legislation will not dilute the government’s constitutional responsibilities to the health service.

At present, the cabinet minister for health has a “duty to provide a national health service” in England, but that disappears in the NHS bill’s proposals.

Grant, a law professor who runs University College London, told MPs that, under the new system, the secretary of state “mandates” the commissioning board to run the NHS every “two … possibly three years” and then retreats into the shadows. The board will hand over taxpayers’ cash to groups of GPs to buy services on behalf of patients.

He admitted there would be “a fundamental change of responsibility and accountability under the bill” because about £80bn of public money would be transferred to the board and GPs. He said these two groups – not politicians – would run the NHS and ensure patients received an adequate level of health provision in England.

“If [GPs] are dissatisfied with what happens in a hospital, they need to deal with it and not simply complain to a secretary of state who no longer has this responsibility, nor to the commissioning board which has given them the responsibility, but to complain to the hospital and get it sorted, and, if it is not sorted, to use their commissioning power to ensure that it is.”

With peers beginning line-by-line scrutiny of the coalition’s NHS bill on Tuesday, the government has been attempting to rebut detractors of all political persuasions influenced by the powerful Lords constitutional committee.

The committee warned last month about the “extent to which the chain of constitutional responsibility as regard to the NHS [will be] severed”. In what is perceived as a sign of panic over the level of peers’ opposition, a 72-page letter from ministers sent to all peers last week conceded a “necessary amendment” might be needed to rectify the impression the government would not be “responsible and accountable” for the NHS.
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UNISON Press | Press Releases Front Page

UNISON, the largest health union, said today that its worst fears for accountability in the NHS were being realised. Leaked documents have today revealed that the Secretary of State for Health would lose accountability for the health service, under plans set out in the Health and Social Care Bill.

Christina McAnea, UNISON Head of Health, said:

“Here are our worst fears for NHS accountability realised. We have long been warning that the Bill would mean the Secretary of State for Health would lose accountability for the health service – and here is the proof. This is just another reason why the Bill represents the end of the NHS as we know it.

“But all is not lost – line by line scrutiny in the Lords begins tomorrow. If peers vote to amend Clauses 1 and 4 of the Health Bill, it could keep the Secretary of State ultimately responsible for the health service. We are calling on them to do so.”

GPs fear NHS reforms will lead to patients losing faith in care – Main Section – Yorkshire Post

RELATIONSHIPS between family doctors and their patients could be damaged by the Government’s controversial NHS reforms, according to new research published today.

The findings are revealed in a study published by the British Medical Association (BMA), which is described by the association as being the “most significant survey of GP opinion in recent years”.

Every family doctor in the UK was approached to take part in the research and around 40 per cent – 18,757 out of a possible 46,700 GPs – responded.

The figures show that seven out of 10 GPs are concerned about conflicts of interest resulting from the NHS reforms, and the same number also say they are concerned about the impact the Health and Social Care Bill could have on the patient-doctor relationship.

Sixty-nine per cent of doctors, meanwhile, say they are worried about their proposed role as both the commissioners and providers of care.

Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee, said: “The huge response rate shows how strongly GPs feel about the topics in question, particularly when it comes to the changes being made to the health service in England.

“GPs do not want the trust patients put in them to be damaged by these reforms, yet this is exactly what they fear will happen.

“The Government must take heed and further revise its plans for the quality premium in particular, to avoid any potential damage to the doctor-patient relationship.”

The BMA said the results of the study should “serve as a crucial measure of GP opinion for years to come.”

Some three quarters of GPs said they do not agree with the Government’s proposals to link practice income to the performance of their commissioning group, while 85 per cent do not believe that practice boundaries should be abolished.

Other findings show that 88 per cent of doctors say the “intensity of their consultations” has increased in the last five years, while 84 per cent say the “complexity of their consultations” has increased over the same period of time.

Dr Buckman added: “General practice has undergone huge change since the last time we carried out a survey of this size in 2007 – and this is shown clearly by the belief among the vast majority of GPs that the nature of their work has become more complex and intense.

“Much of the work we do now, such as looking after people with diabetes, used to be done in hospital and even though it’s work we want to do because of the clear benefit to patients, it has made it harder to fit a consultation into a ten-minute time slot and it can make it more difficult to deal with surges in demand.

“I’d like to thank all the GPs who filled in the survey as it has given us a great insight into the GP workforce.

“It will be invaluable in shaping our priorities in the months and years ahead.”
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Continue ReadingNHS news review