I’m ill again with overwhelming fatigue which explains in part why I’ve been neglecting this blog. It could be a symptom of something far more serious of course and I wouldn’t be surprised that it is. The UK’s NHS is reduced to little more than a notion where you have to ring at certain times of the day to be ignored by a health-ignorant de-skilled workforce in an attempt to have a 5-minute telephone conversation with and arrogant, dismissive GP a fortnight later.
Under Wes Streeting’s proposals you will be able to discuss your health with a health-ignorant de-skilled NHS employee at your home. There are already health-ignorant people I can discuss it with – neighbours, delivery drivers, postpeople, refuse workers. I can even tell random people in the street or shopworkers.
More than 100 people gathered in Bristol on Saturday
Scores of people took part in a city centre vigil for a GP jailed over his role in a Just Stop Oil protest.
Dr Patrick Hart, 38, was sentenced to 12 months in prison in January after causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to 16 fuel pumps at a service station in Essex in August 2022.
In March, Dr Hart also had his General Medical Council registration suspended for an interim 12-month period, and faces a possible further suspension following his release.
About 150 people, including former colleagues and patients, gathered at Cascade Steps in Bristol on Saturday to raise awareness of his sentence.
Dr Romola Pocock, a GP and former colleague of Dr Hart’s at Bridge View Medical Practice, said he had shown “care, integrity and dedication” to his job and was “greatly missed by patients and colleagues”.
Fellow GP at the practice Dr Emily Pollard said: “Will history remember doctors who stood against the destruction of the health of our planet as criminals?”
Colleagues of Dr Hart said he was “greatly missed” by his patients
Dr Hart was arrested after hitting petrol pumps with a hammer, spraying them with orange pain and “obstructed or otherwise interfered with the refuelling of vehicles”, and was found guilty of causing criminal damage.
Two Just Stop Oil supporters who disrupted the Gallagher Premiership Rugby final in May 2023 were acquitted today at Kingston Crown Court. The unanimous 12-member jury found Samuel Johnson and Dr. Patrick Hart not guilty of the charge of criminal damage exceeding £5,000.
On 27th May 2023, the two supporters stormed the pitch in a cloud of cornstarch-based orange powder paint at Twickenham, where the Saracens were facing off against the Sale Sharks. They were demanding an immediate halt to any new licences for oil, gas, and coal projects in the UK.
Dr. Patrick Hart, a 38 year old GP from Bristol, said today:
“Normal people recognise that civil resistance is absolutely essential to break through the lies of the politicians, fossil fuel companies and banks who are destroying life on earth. I told the jury that I am taking the most effective action I can, on the best available evidence, to protect the health of my patients. To put it simply: I am doing my duty as a doctor.”
During the trial, the prosecution relied on the detailed, hours-long testimony of the groundskeeper. He explained that, unlike a similar action by Just Stop Oil supporters at the men’s Ashes Test at Lord’s, where the cornstarch was easily cleared with a leaf blower, the Twickenham pitch features a hybrid grass system that combines a natural grass sublayer with synthetic plastic grass. However, the testimony did not establish that ordinary people would have known the intricacies of Twickenham’s pitch maintenance, making it difficult for the prosecution to prove that the defendants had the criminal intent to cause the alleged damage.
One of those acquitted, Sam Johnson, a 41-year-old construction worker from Essex, commented on the outcome:
“A year ago, Patrick and I ran onto Twickenham during the Premiership final, throwing orange powder in the air. Today, we have been found not guilty of criminal damage. I took part in this action because our politicians continue to issue licences, knowing full well it will result in the deaths of millions of people. Thousands have died due to extreme heat brought on by climate change while we were on trial. This is happening now!”
Dr Sarah Benn said that as a doctor, she had a moral duty to take action to protect life and health
A doctor, arrested and jailed for her involvement in Just Stop Oil protests, has had her medical licence suspended for five months.
Dr Sarah Benn, formerly a GP in Birmingham, was arrested after taking part in peaceful demonstrations at the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire.
Dr Benn, who had already given up practising in August 2022, said that as a doctor, she had a moral duty to take action to protect life and health.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) imposed the suspension on Tuesday after ruling last week that Dr Benn’s fitness to practise was impaired.
The high levels of dissatisfaction with the NHS are a direct result of the Conservatives deliberately running down health services and using this as grounds for privatisation. I hear all the time from people struggling to get an appointment with their GP; unable to see an NHS dentist, while overstretched wards mean people are left in corridors and staff are overwhelmed.
“Yet it is very clear that people overwhelmingly want the NHS to remain free at the point of use and available to all. They don’t share the Conservative or Labour appetite for creeping privatisation.
“The public also unequivocally backs the NHS being funded by tax, with almost half believing taxes should rise so more can be spent on health services.
“The Green Party has never had any truck with the profit motive in health care and believes in a fully publicly funded NHS. We can find the billions the NHS desperately needs to improve its services and to pay health workers properly. A tax on the super-rich billionaires and multi-millionaires can provide the funds needed to fix the NHS and so rekindle our love affair with our most cherished public service.”
