Lansley claims that he is not creating a market despite the private health industry expecting exactly that with healthcare bought privately or through health insurance, staff cuts affecting the standard of service, Lib-Dems demand that Monitor should not only promote competition – note that they are not demanding that it should not promote competition – Baroness Young on difficulties the bill will face in the Lords, UNISON calls for the bill to be dropped due to huge opposition and Dave Gilmour pays for Gary McKinnon’s treatment.

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.

Coalition ‘is weakening effective government’ – UK Politics, UK – The Independent

The British public’s brief flirtation with coalition government is over. A year after the Liberal Democrat-Conservative administration was formed, voters think it has made government weaker, less decisive, less responsive and more confused.

A study by a Whitehall think tank contains very bad news for Nick Clegg. It suggests he has failed in his mission to convince people that coalitions are a good thing. Even current Liberal Democrat supporters are not persuaded.

Mr Clegg’s fightback after last week’s double defeat at the ballot box suffered a setback last night when David Cameron said the Government’s rethink over its NHS reforms was his idea, not Mr Clegg’s. The Prime Minister told the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs that his party must not “allow the Liberal Democrats to pose as a moderating influence” on it. Mr Cameron said the partnership would put his party in a position where it could go for an outright majority at the next general election.

…

Almost three in five people (58 per cent) believe the Liberal Democrats have abandoned their principles by joining the Coalition. Some 61 per cent of people who voted for Mr Clegg’s party last year now support another one. The only crumb of comfort for Mr Clegg is that the public still think his party was right to join forces with the Tories – by a margin of 52 to 43 per cent.

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Pulse – Lansley insists: ‘I have no private sector target’

Health secretary Andrew Lansley has insisted he has no objective to increase private sector involvement in the NHS, as he moved to counter claims that his NHS reforms will pave the way for the privatisation of the health service.

Speaking at the NAPC’s GP-led commissioning conference in London yesterday, a defiant Mr Lansley hit back at the growing army of critics to his health bill by insisting that competition was ‘a means to an end but not an end in itself’.

The beleaguered health secretary has faced a fresh storm of criticism this week from opposition MPs and the profession, with RCGP chair Clare Gerada claiming that implementing it as it stands will cause ‘irreparable damage’ to the core values of the NHS.

In a clear attempt to re-shift the emphasis of the debate away from privatisation, the health secretary argued that competition was a vehicle for improving patient choice, but insisted he had no ideological wish to see more private sector providers.

He said: ‘What is important is for patients to be able to exercise choice. But then they say, “if we have choice, we also have competition, which, if conducted in the wrong way, could fragment those pathways of care that we’re looking for”.’

‘From my point of view, that is never the intention. Competition, [and] the tariff, are means to an end not an end in itself.’

Responding to a question from Nottingham GP Dr Chris Udenze, who asked if Mr Lansley could think of any public health services that haven’t ended up in the hands of multi-national corporations following marketisation, the health secretary insisted he was not creating a market, and had no quota for how much private involvement there should be in the NHS.

Mr Lansley said: ‘I know what a market is, and we are not creating a market. We are creating a public service, where we are using the benefits of competition to deliver that public service.’

…

Response: Lansley claims that he is not creating a market. Strange then that private health vultures believe that is exactly what he’s doing and anticipate a huge market for privatised health provision and health insurance on the US model.

HealthInvestor: Top health CEOs reveal fears for short-term

The NHS reforms will lead to “short-term pain” but huge long-term opportunities for independent healthcare providers, according to a survey of 20 leading chief executives in the sector.

Consultants The Parthenon Group interviewed 20 CEOs from the UK’s biggest healthcare companies including Nuffield Health, Barchester, Four Seasons, BMI and HCA.

Around 8/10 of respondents remain positive about NHS reform in the long term, with the government’s Any Qualified Provider (AQP) policy still likely to open up much of the NHS market.

Alistair Stranack, partner at The Parthenon Group’s healthcare practice, said he expects around 50% of the NHS’s £120bn funding will be up for grabs via AQP when the reforms are finally passed.

But continued bias against the private sector and worsening bureaucracy means the value of contracts actually awarded to the sector is unlikely to rise above 5-10% over the next five years, he said.

One CEO, responding to the survey, said “the bureaucratic burdeon of AQP is likely to slow down private sector participation and may prove more cumbersome than existing systems of choice like Choose and Book.”

There would be “some hiatus in the short term” but there was “no doubt we will see growth in the longer term as new areas are opened up to AQP,” another company leader commented.

Speaking at a Parthenon event in London, Nick Bosanquet, health economist at Imperial College, predicted that the current crisis in the NHS’s finances would lead to up to 25% of all healthcare in the UK being self-funded or insurance-based by 2018.

Patient care ‘hit by staff cuts’ – National – Lancaster Guardian

Patient care is suffering due to mounting workloads and staff cuts, according to a poll of nurses and midwives.

Two-thirds have thought of leaving the profession and 75% say the number of patients they are treating has increased in the last year.

Overall, 88% said their workload had gone up in the first year of the coalition Government, and 65% think the increase is undermining patient safety and care.

The poll of more than 2,000 nurses and midwives for Unison also found 61% had seen a reduction in staff numbers in their unit.

This could be through redundancy, staff not being replaced when they retire or leave, and less reliance on temporary staff.

More than 78% of those surveyed said their employer was making staff and budget cuts, with 36% reporting redundancies at their workplace.

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NHS bosses told ‘hands-off’ over heart surgery – Main Section – Yorkshire Post

Parents, patients and surgeons yesterday gave NHS bosses an unequivocal message not to end children’s heart surgery in Leeds.

There was a determined mood, which at times turned combative, as hundreds of people demonstrated their opposition to plans which could see children’s heart surgery axed in Yorkshire.

Families brought toddlers along to the Royal Armouries in Leeds for a protest and two consultation meetings which attracted about 300 people.

Campaigners fear changes to services could spell the end of heart surgery at Leeds Children’s Hospital.

…

Leeds Save Our Surgery campaign: It’s ‘not a done deal’ – NHS chiefs – Latest News – Yorkshire Evening Post

NHS chiefs pledged the decision over the future of children’s heart surgery is “not a done deal”.

During a stormy public meeting parents angrily accused experts of talking “waffle” as they quizzed them about why the Leeds unit only features in one of out of four possible future set-ups, while Newcastle is in three.

A total of 500 people attended two consultation meetings yesterday at the Royal Armouries where NHS heads involved in the review of children’s heart surgery were questioned.

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NHS reform: Lib Dems demand Monitor climbdown – politics.co.uk

Liberal Democrats fighting the government’s NHS reforms are demanding ministers back down over plans to make the health regulator promote competition.

The controversial health and social care bill places a statutory obligation on Monitor to encourage competition, to the frustration of senior Lib Dems.

politics.co.uk understands Nick Clegg has been presented with the party’s latest demands, as the “pause” over the legislation continues.

At the top of the list is a requirement that Monitor should promote coordination and collaboration among health agencies, as well as competition.

…

NHS Direct nurses fight plans to make them work more weekends | News | Nursing Times

Nurses working for NHS Direct have lodged a collective grievance after being told they will have to work more weekends in a bid to improve the organisation’s performance.

About 80, mostly band 6, nurses who work for the triage service on a part time basis are affected by the rota changes, Nursing Times understands.

They will require part time staff to work five weekends out of eight, the same number as full time staff. Currently the number of weekends worked by part time staff is worked out on a pro rata basis.

…

Baroness Young: Health Bill will stall in Lords | GP online

The Bill is part of primary legislation, but the government is expected to define much of the detail of consortia roles in supplementary regulations and guidelines. Regulations form part of secondary legislation and are subject to less parliamentary scrutiny. Guidelines are advisory and do not have legal force.

Many peers were unhappy that much of the detail on consortia would not be in the Health Bill as primary legislation, Baroness Young said.

‘Parliament gets quite antsy if the secondary stuff is not available, at least in draft form, before they have to pass the primary stuff, because you are buying a pig in a poke,’ she said. ‘We have to get work started on clarifying exactly what the role of the NHS Commissioning Board will be in holding consortia accountable.’

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UNISON Press | Press Releases Front Page

Health Minister Andrew Lansley must do more than listen – he must hear and act on the barrage of criticism and opposition to the Health and Social Care Bill. This is the message from UNISON, the UK’s largest union, representing more than 450,000 health workers, in its response to the NHS ‘Listening Exercise’.

Christina McAnea, UNISON’s Head of Health, said:

“Andrew Lansley seems incapable of actually hearing the outcry from patients, public, staff, health experts, charities, health economists and even from within the coalition government.

“The public do not want a health service where people can buy their way to the top of the NHS queue, or where healthcare is rationed to make profits for private companies and their shareholders. We know that three quarters of bankruptcies in America are because of the high cost of health bills – no one wants the NHS to be dragged in that direction.

“The Government’s plans are riddled with conflicts of interest and undermine the accountability of the NHS to patients and the public. Patients will soon be priced out of care and see services, wards and hospitals lost without any arrangement to continue treatment.

“We believe the bill is too fatally flawed to be amended and should be dropped completely. “

…

Pink Floyd star to pay Gary McKinnon’s medical bills – Telegraph

Mr McKinnon has had regular therapy at a London hospital to deal with his depression and suicidal feelings linked to his fight against extradition to the US.

In February, Haringey Primary Care Trust stopped paying the £240 a month cost of Mr McKinnon’s sessions at a hospital in south London.

David Gilmour, Pink Floyd’s lead guitarist, stepped in and agreed to pick up the bills through royalties from record sales.

Janis Sharp, Mr McKinnon’s mother, who was in London yesterday for a march by disability groups against welfare benefit cuts, said: “David Gilmour has been amazing. He stepped in at a time of crisis when we did not know where to turn.”

No one from Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust was available to comment last night.

…

27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

I’m going to start with a few comments on Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the Liberal-Democrat Party. This involves the wider political situation and is not strictly NHS news but it does have relevence to the Con-Dem bill to destroy the NHS.

There were many elections in UK last Thursday. There were local elections for local councils in England and Wales, elections for the devolved Scottish and Welsh parliaments and a vote on the Alternative Vote electoral reform.

Nick Clegg’s Liberal-Democrat party is ruling in coalition with David Cameron’s Conservative Party, the stronger party in the coalition. Nick Clegg’s Liberal-Democrats achieved remarkably poor results in Thursday’s elections – losing 700 hundred councillors and control of many local councils, losing many Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) to the Scottish Nalionalist Party (SNP) and losing the vote on electoral reform. Cameron’s Conservative Party, by contrast, made moderate gains.

This has led to claims by the Liberal-Democrats that they are getting blamed for unpopular Conservative policies. Further, there is the clear implication that such blame is undeserved – that the Lib-Dems are getting unfairly blamed for unpopular Conservative policies. In turn, this has led to Lib-Dems proclaiming that they will distinguish themselves more from their Conservative coalition allies and also that they may veto the bill to destroy the NHS.

Clegg threatens to veto NHS reforms in bid to reassert himself – UK Politics, UK – The Independent

Nick Clegg threatened to veto the Government’s controversial health reforms yesterday as he warned David Cameron that the Liberal Democrats would adopt a more independent stance inside the Coalition.

After a drubbing in last Thursday’s elections and the referendum on the voting system, Mr Clegg bowed to pressure from his party to reassert its separate identity from the Conservatives. The move also reflects the anger in Liberal Democrat circles that Mr Cameron allowed the No camp in the referendum battle to launch personal attacks on Mr Clegg for “broken promises” such as the rises in VAT and university tuition fees, which are government policies.

…

In an email to all Liberal Democrat members, Mr Clegg admitted he was “deeply disappointed” by a “bad set of results” last week. In a nod to his internal critics, he said: “I think it is clear that we need to do more to show people in the party and beyond what we are doing in Government and, perhaps more importantly, why.

After last week’s referendum showed the public’s limited appetite for constitutional reform, the Deputy Prime Minister has put health rather than an elected House of Lords at the top of his list of policy priorities. He wants to campaign on bread-and-butter issues such as the economy, education, welfare and health.

Yesterday, Mr Clegg declared that he would order his party’s MPs and peers to vote down the NHS reforms unless there are “substantial, significant changes” to the proposals from the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

“As far as government legislation is concerned, no Bill is better than a bad one, and I want to get this right. Protecting the NHS, rather than undermining it, is now my No 1 priority,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. He said GPs should not be forced to take on the role of commissioning services before they are ready, and that there should be no artificial deadlines. His warning throws into doubt the April 2013 target set by Mr Lansley.

Mr Clegg said: “I am not going to ask Liberal Democrat MPs and peers to proceed with legislation on something as precious and cherished – particularly for Liberal Democrats – as the NHS unless I personally am satisfied that what these changes do is an evolutionary change in the NHS and not a disruptive revolution…. What you will see in this legislation are clear guarantees that you are not going to have back-door privatisation of the NHS.”

There are issues with this analysis.

Firstly, the Lib-Dems are responsible for imposing unpopular Conservative policies and shitting on their pre-election promises e.g. tuition fees and the rise in V.A.T. Putting aside the issue that these were local rather than national elections, it is the logical conclusion that the Liberal-Democrats should be blamed for imposing unpopular Conservative policies. They would not be possible without Liberal-Democrat support.

Secondly, the Liberal-Democrats position is to veto the bill to destroy the NHS. The Liberal-Democrat spring conference in early March overwhelmingly passed a motion opposing the NHS bill.

Nick Clegg suffers defeat as Liberal Democrats reject health reforms | Politics | guardian.co.uk

Nick Clegg suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of his own party as Liberal Democrat activists voted overwhelmingly against coalition plans for a radical overhaul of the NHS.

Delegates rejected the “damaging and unjustified market-based approach” being championed by the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, as anger over the Tory-led NHS agenda boiled over at the party’s spring conference in Sheffield.

The Lib Dem leadership had gone into the session backing a motion unreservedly supportive of the Lansley approach – only to see the grassroots insert changes that would undermine the basic principles behind it.

After the crushing defeat, Clegg immediately faced demands from former education secretary Shirley Williams that he take the message back to the cabinet and demand that Lansley change the NHS bill to conform with Lib Dem demands.

…

Motion carried with amendments: Updating the NHS: Personal and Local | The Liberal Democrats: News Detail

Spring Conference 2011: Lines 6-15 deleted, Amendments 1 and 2 carried, Main motion carried as amended.

Twelve conference representatives
Mover: Paul Burstow
Summation: Cllr Richard Kemp

Conference believes that the NHS is an integral part of a liberal society, reflecting the social solidarity of shared access to collective healthcare, and a shared responsibility to use resources effectively to deliver better health.

Conference welcomes our Coalition Government’s commitment to the founding principles of the NHS: available to all, free at the point of use, and based on need, not the ability to pay.

Conference welcomes much of the vision for the NHS set out in the Government’s White Paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS which commits the Government to an NHS that:

i) Is genuinely centred on patients and carers.

ii) Achieves quality and outcomes that are among the best in the world.

iii) Refuses to tolerate unsafe and substandard care.

iv) Puts clinicians in the driving seat and sets hospitals and providers free to innovate, with stronger incentives to adopt best practice.

v) Is more transparent, with clearer accountabilities for quality and results.

vi) Is more efficient and dynamic, with a radically smaller national, regional and local bureaucracy.

vii) Gives citizens a greater say in how the NHS is run.

Conference particularly welcomes the proposals to introduce real democratic legitimacy and local accountability into the NHS for the first time in almost forty years by:

a) Extending the powers of local authorities to enable effective scrutiny of any provider of any taxpayer funded health services.

b) Giving local authorities the role of leading on improving the strategic coordination of commissioning across the NHS, social care, and related childrens’ and public health services through councillor led Health and Wellbeing Boards.

c) Creating Health Watch to act as a local consumer champion for patients and to ensure that local patients are heard on a national level.

d) Returning public health duty to local government by ensuring that the majority of public health services will now be commissioned by Local Authorities from their ring-fenced public health budget.

Conference recognises however that all of the above policies and aspirations can be achieved without adopting the damaging and unjustified market-based approach that is proposed.

Conference regrets that some of the proposed reforms have never been Liberal Democrat policy, did not feature in our manifesto or in the agreed Coalition Programme, which instead called for an end to large-scale top-down reorganisations.

Conference therefore calls on Liberal Democrats in Parliament to amend the Health Bill to provide for:

I) More democratically accountable commissioning.

II) A much greater degree of co-terminously between local authorities and commissioning areas.

III) No decision about the spending of NHS funds to be made in private and without proper consultation, as can take place by the proposed GP consortia.

IV) The complete ruling out of any competition based on price to prevent loss-leading corporate providers under-cutting NHS tariffs, and to ensure that healthcare providers ‘compete’ on quality of care.

V) New private providers to be allowed only where there is no risk of ‘cherry picking’ which would destabilise or undermine the existing NHS service relied upon for emergencies and complex cases, and where the needs of equity, research and training are met.

VI) NHS commissioning being retained as a public function in full compliance with the Human Rights Act and Freedom of Information laws, using the skills and experience of existing NHS staff rather than the sub-contracting of commissioning to private companies.

VII) The continued separation of the commissioning and provision of services to prevent conflicts of interests.

VIII) An NHS, responsive to patients’ needs, based on co-operation rather than competition, and which promotes quality and equity not the market.

Conferences calls:

1. On the Government to uphold the NHS Constitution and publish an audit of how well organisations are living by its letter and spirit.

2. On Liberal Democrats in local government to establish local Health and Wellbeing Boards and make progress developing the new collaborative ways of working necessary to provide joined up services that are personalised and local.

3. The government to seize fully the opportunity to reverse the scandalous lack of accountability of publicly-funded local health services which has grown up under decades of Conservative and Labour governments, by:

a) Ensuring full scrutiny, including the power to require attendance, by elected local authorities of all organisations in the local health economy funded by public money, including Foundation Trusts and any external support for commissioning consortia; ensuring that all such organisations are subject to Freedom of Information requirements.

b) Ensuring Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) are a strong voice for accountable local people in setting the strategic direction for and co-ordinating provision of health and social care services locally by containing substantial representation from elected local councillors; and by requiring GP Commissioning Boards to construct their Annual Plans in conjunction with the HWBs; to monitor their implementation at meetings with the HWBs not less than once each quarter; and to review the implementation of the Annual Plan with the HWBs at the end of the year prior to the construction of the Annual Plan for the forthcoming year.

c) Ensuring commissioning of health services has some degree of accountability by requiring about half of the members of the board of commissioning consortia, alongside GPs, to be local councillors appointed as non-executive directors.

d) Offering additional freedoms only to Foundation Trusts that successfully engage substantial proportions of their local populations as active members.

Applicability: England.

Clegg is directed by his party conference to oppose the NHS bill. Liberal-Democrat MPs are also directed by this motion. For further discussion of this motion and the Liberal-Democrat position see

Making sense of the ‘pause’ in Lansley’s Health Bill | Red Pepper

Nick Clegg has said he will not support privatisation of the NHS but he has repeatedly shown himself ready to sacrifice popularity with his supporters for the sake of his wider political ambitions, and Cameron and Lansley maintain that the Bill is not about privatisation, leaving Clegg plenty of room for fudge. The political calculation that he and Lib Dem MPs have to make in deciding whether to let Lansley get away with a fudge is going to be complicated. A key dimension will be how far they think the electorate will forget and forgive them if they allow the NHS to be eviscerated for the sake of their other goals.

Thirdly, Clegg still either doesn’t understand the effects of the bill to destroy the NHS or he supports it. He’s failing to comply with his conference’s directions by proposing only the slightest changes. The bill abolishes the requirement on the Secretary of State for Health to provide a health service. A comprehensive, national health service free at the point of use is to be abolished. Privatisation is what the bill is all about so that patients will have to pay for services no longer provided by the health service and private providers are given hugely preferrential terms to cherry-pick what services are provided.

Just as Clegg and the Liberal-Democrats have been blamed for tuition fees and V.A.T. they will be blamed for destroying the N.H.S. This bill should be opposed in its entirety.

Here’s another opportunity for the Liberal-Democrats to be accused of enabling unpopular Conservative policies. Thousands to march through London in protest over cuts to disability benefits | Society | The Guardian

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.

David Cameron sends his own spin doctors to help Lansley with NHS reforms – Telegraph

The crisis over NHS changes has already forced David Cameron to “pause” the reforms.

Now the Prime Minister has agreed that a civil service press adviser and his closest health special adviser will transfer from No10 to the Department of Health from Monday.

Much of the criticism of the health reforms from within the Coalition has concentrated on Mr Lansley’s inability to “sell” the reorganisation of services that includes the handing over of £80 billion to GP to provide services directly, stripping out Primary Care Trusts.

…

Clegg threatens to veto NHS reforms in bid to reassert himself – UK Politics, UK – The Independent

Nick Clegg threatened to veto the Government’s controversial health reforms yesterday as he warned David Cameron that the Liberal Democrats would adopt a more independent stance inside the Coalition.

After a drubbing in last Thursday’s elections and the referendum on the voting system, Mr Clegg bowed to pressure from his party to reassert its separate identity from the Conservatives. The move also reflects the anger in Liberal Democrat circles that Mr Cameron allowed the No camp in the referendum battle to launch personal attacks on Mr Clegg for “broken promises” such as the rises in VAT and university tuition fees, which are government policies.

…

Lansley health reforms may wreck NHS, doctors warn David Cameron | Society | The Guardian

The leaders of Britain’s 42,000 family doctors are warning David Cameron to radically overhaul the government’s unpopular health plans or risk them wrecking the NHS.

The Royal College of General Practitioners has written to the prime minister demanding major changes are made to the health and social care bill. It is undergoing a two-month “pause” while Cameron, his deputy, Nick Clegg, health secretary Andrew Lansley and a panel of health experts undertake a listening exercise designed to improve Lansley’s plans, which have drawn much criticism.

In a strongly worded submission – the first by a major health organisation during the renewed consultation – the college urges Cameron to remove or substantially amend many of the bill’s central proposals to radically reorganise the health service in England.

Without a major rethink, the NHS will cease to be a truly national service, postcode lotteries in care will be exacerbated and foreign firms will use EU competition laws to take control of hospitals and doctors’ surgeries, it says.

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Calls for central funding of research | GP online

University of Cambridge academic and GP Dr Jonathan Graffy warned that ‘responsibility for research will fall to GP consortia’ after the government’s NHS reforms.

In an editorial in the British Journal of General Practice, Dr Graffy, senior clinical research associate in the department of public health and primary care at the University of Cambridge, said the NHS Commissioning Board would be responsible for promoting research nationally.

But it seemed likely that ‘GP consortia will need to review studies planned in their area, not least because of the impact of research on services they commission’, he said.

‘Commissioners who grasp the opportunity to collaborate with researchers in developing and testing their services will attract the best staff and bring new resources and insights to their work,’ Dr Graffy added.

GPC negotiator Dr Beth McCarron-Nash said that research should be funded centrally, especially during at time of economic crisis. She warned that failure to secure investment could put the NHS at risk. ‘Medical research is vital to remain at the forefront of best practice,’ she said.

…

27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

There seeems to be very little NHS news today. The news is instead dominated by the results of yesterday’s local and devolved assemblies elections and the vote on adopting the alternative vote voting system. I can’t say that I’m not pleased that the Liberal-Democrats did very poorly.

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.

Four in ten people cannot afford the dentist – Telegraph

Increased NHS charges and the rising cost of living have forced almost 40pc of people to skip routine visits to the dentist, according to new research.

Higher dental costs have meant that one in five people now pay for this treatment on credit card, potentially incurring interest charges – according to research from insurers Simplyhealth.

But avoiding check ups can prove to be a false economy. The British Dental Association (BDA) said those who cancel appointments and defer treatments often wind up needing emergency treatment which can result in bigger bill – particularly as they may then end up paying for private treatment.

The “free” NHS does not extend to dental charges. In England most adults can expect to pay up to £17 for treatments such as scaling and polishing; £47 for procedures such as fillings or extractions and £204 for crowns, bridges and dentures.

Those who don’t have access to an NHS dentist face even steeper charges, and with latest figures suggesting that one in seven NHS dentist’s lists is now closed to adults – and a further one in 10 refusing children – it is not hard to see why many people have little option but to pay expensive private dental fees.

…

Fat cats fail to convince over NHS / Britain / Home – Morning Star

Health activists accuse privateers of creating ‘PR puff’ over break-up

Campaigners accused private health companies today of creating “PR puff” to downplay plans to break up the NHS.

An alliance of five leading private health firms dubbed H5 accused unions of “scaremongering” over the shake-up of the NHS under the Health and Social Care Bill, which they stand to rake in massive profits from.

H5 chief executive Matt James said: “Unions have whipped up accusations of privatisation but that is not going to happen. I cannot see the amount of NHS work the private sector does increasing by that much.”

But he neglected to mention the full scale of increasing privatisation in the NHS already taking place, with Cambridgeshire’s Hinchingbrooke Hospital being the first NHS hospital set to be run by a private health firm, Circle.

The future of St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust in Liverpool was also questioned after Health Minister Simon Burns failed to confirm whether the hospital rejected a government-proposed option for it to be privately managed.

…

POORLY children in North East Lincolnshire will suffer the most if a heart surgery unit at Leeds Royal Infirmary is forced to close as part of an NHS review, according to health bosses.

POORLY children in North East Lincolnshire will suffer the most if a heart surgery unit at Leeds Royal Infirmary is forced to close as part of an NHS review, according to health bosses.

If the unit closes, children will be forced to travel to Newcastle for treatment – putting local youngsters at the biggest disadvantage because of poor transport links.

Council health bosses claim consultants at the hospital have said the distance children are forced to travel for treatment is crucial and lives could be lost of the closure goes ahead.

It comes as staff at the unit revealed that 11 per cent of all the patients they treat come from the DN postcode area – which covers Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Barton, Barrow, Scunthorpe, Gainsborough and Doncaster.

As reported, the unit is being threatened with closure because of controversial NHS reforms, which will see the number of specialist heart units for children cut from 11 to six or seven.

A petition set up to demonstrate support for the Leeds unit currently has 31,000 signatures.

…

27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

A report by the Public Accounts Committee has generated a lot of news. The report raises concerns that there is no healthcare provision in the case of (financial) failure, that ‘reforms’ risk demanded ‘savings’ (cuts) and that they risk patient care. The British Medical Association (BMA) comments on the report.

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.

GPs ‘may exploit health reforms to boost pay’ – Health News, Health & Families – The Independent

GPs may demand more money before they agree to participate in the Government’s health reforms, ministers have been warned.

Under plans to alter the way the NHS is run, family doctors, many of whom are already earning over £100,000 a year, will be required to form “consortiums” to commission care for their patients.

But ministers have yet to reach agreement with the doctors’ union, the British Medical Association, on making the necessary changes to GPs’ contracts to allow the reforms to go ahead. NHS employers have warned this could cost the Government millions of pounds more in unbudgeted costs.

The last time the government renegotiated the GP contract in 2004, it cost £1.76 billion more than was predicted in its first three years while GP productivity fell. “The last time the government negotiated with the GPs it was quite a horrendous exercise,” said David Stout, deputy chief executive of the NHS Confederation.

“What you have to remember is the GPs are very good at negotiation and the Government’s problem is this: the legislation says that all GPs have to be in these new GP consortiums – but it is not in their contracts. Either the Government chooses to impose this on them or they have to renegotiate and that could be very tricky.”
…

Fears for NHS services if providers go bust | Society | The Guardian

MPs are demanding that the government urgently put in place plans to ensure vital health services continue if a hospital or other provider goes bust under its NHS reforms.

In a report published on Wednesday, the public accounts committee says the proposals for the NHS do not include details of what will happen if providers fail in the new market model of healthcare provision.

Members of the committee dismissed claims by the most senior civil servant in the Department of Health, Una O’Brien, that the government was “not planning for failure”, and condemned the lack of contingency planning, suggesting that the proposals now pose an intolerable risk to value for money and quality of services.

Richard Bacon, the Conservative MP for South Norfolk, said: “In any organisation as large and complex as the NHS, things can and do go wrong, and the Department of Health has yet to establish a robust framework for dealing with failure in the system. The department must not only understand the danger of either a provider or a commissioner going ‘belly up’, but also toughen up its contingency plans, drawing upon strong, effective and clear chains of governance and accountability throughout the new NHS model.”
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NHS Restucturing At Time Of Financial Crisis Is Risky – British Medical Association Comment On PAC Report

In a report published on today, the Committee of Public Accounts has warned that the reorganisation of the NHS in England could “make the challenge of achieving savings for reinvestment even tougher.”

Commenting on the report, Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of Council at the BMA, said:

“Having already been set the massive challenge of cutting costs by £20 billion, the NHS in England is now facing the most fundamental reorganisation in its history. The Public Accounts Committee is right to highlight the risks posed by such a massive restructuring at a time of financial crisis.

“However, it is not just the timing, but also the direction of travel of these reforms that will cause problems. We share the concerns of the PAC that the consequences of increasing competition in the NHS have not been fully addressed. ‘Market failures’ in healthcare have far more serious consequences than in other industries – and may have little connection with quality of care, or even patient demand.”

BBC News – ‘Radical’ NHS shake-up may jeopardise patient care

The planned shake-up of the NHS in England that will put GPs in charge of buying in services could risk patient care, warns a group of influential MPs.

The Public Accounts Committee says pushing through the changes while seeking £20bn in efficiency savings may damage front-line services.

The concerns follow those of others, including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s close adviser Norman Lamb.
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BBC News – Berkshire mental health beds move to be investigated

A council is to investigate a provisional decision by the NHS to leave east Berkshire without mental health in-patient services.

It would mean patients from Slough and Maidenhead having to travel up to 20 miles for beds at Reading’s purpose-built Prospect Park Hospital.

Three ideas were consulted on but the NHS trust said a plan to build a new facility in Slough was too expensive.

Slough council has set up a working group to look into the decision.

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which is trying to save £12m over the next three years, said it was working on a plan to put aside £100,000 a year for travel costs.
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Permanent Revolution – MARCH TO SAVE THE NHS

Kill Lansley’s Bill

OUR HEALTH SERVICE NOT FOR SALE

Tuesday 17 May

5.30pm Assemble UCH Gower St

6pm March to Whitehall

Andrew Lansley’s Health and Social Care Bill threatens to break up our health service and hand it to private healthcare companies.

The Bill would open up the entire health service to the private sector and as private companies calculate how much profit is to be made, 50000 NHS jobs are being cut and front line services are under threat.

The government has now been forced to retreat in the face of a huge groundswell of nationwide opposition. Cameron and Clegg had to intervene to “pause, listen, reflect and improve” the plans, but it is clear they only plan minor cosmetic changes.

We have to seize this opportunity to step up public opposition to demand the Bill is dropped and to force the government to really listen. Our NHS is precious and these plans will destroy it. We appeal to everyone to join us on 17 May and to speak out against these threats in what ever way they can.

27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

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dizzy