… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Tag: nhs

  • Starmer faces mass opposition against nuclear arms escalation

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-faces-mass-opposition-against-nuclear-arms-escalation

     F35 fighters on the flight deck of HMS Prince of Wales, the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, in Plymouth, Devon

    SIR KEIR STARMER’S militarism faces mass opposition after he announced today that the government is to buy 12 new fighter jets capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

    The Prime Minister used the Nato summit in The Hague to break the news, which campaigners called a breach of Britain’s obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    The new aeroplanes and nuclear weapons will be US-built but flown by RAF crews, based at RAF facilities in East Anglia and assigned to the Nato nuclear mission.

    Under the plan, Britain will buy 12 F-35A jets, which are capable of carrying conventional munitions and also the B61-12 gravity bomb, which is three times more powerful than the weapon dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

    …

    In the Commons, independent MP Jeremy Corbyn demanded that ministers explain how the decision complied with treaties “which require nuclear weapons states not to allow proliferation and take steps towards nuclear disarmament.”

    The Stop the War Coalition asked: “On what planet does buying F-35s for around £80 million each from the US company Lockheed Martin equal job creation at home while cutting welfare?”

    Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Sophie Bolt called the planned purchase a “disastrous decision by the Starmer government that makes the world more dangerous and puts the British population on the nuclear front line.” 

    She pledged mass action against the deployments.

    “The millions that will be spent on these jets, and the millions more that would be needed to upgrade RAF Marham, will be coming out of further cuts to public services, to our NHS and our social care system,” Ms Bolt said.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-faces-mass-opposition-against-nuclear-arms-escalation

  • Thousands harmed and 87 dead after NHS equipment failures in England

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    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/thousands-harmed-and-87-dead-after-nhs-equipment-failures-in-england

    Labour has pledged to double the number of scanners in English hospitals over the course of the parliament. Photograph: wilpunt/Getty Images

    ‘Shocking statistics’ prompt calls for government funding to replace broken and obsolete medical devices

    Almost 100 people have died and 4,000 have been harmed after equipment malfunctions in the NHS in the past three years, prompting calls for more government funding to upgrade broken and obsolete medical devices.

    A defibrillator advising paramedics not to administer a shock, an emergency alarm system on a neonatal ward failing, and the camera on an intubation device going dark were just three failures after which patients died.

    They are included in figures released for the first time by NHS England that show patients were harmed after 3,915 equipment malfunction incidents – with 87 being followed by a death – since 2022.

    Paul Whiteing, the chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents, said: “These are shocking statistics. Behind these numbers are real people who are needlessly harmed, the impact of which will be life-changing and traumatic.

    “The scale of the harm and loss of life that has resulted from basic equipment failures and malfunctions shows in stark relief the scale of the tragedy that has resulted from years of underfunding in the NHS.”

    …

    Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “Modern, up-to-date equipment such as scanners, defibrillators and patient monitors are absolutely essential for hospitals to run safely and more productively. But due to more than a decade of being starved of capital investment, NHS staff have been left with no option but to extend the life of obsolete equipment, which, as this research shows, is putting patients at unnecessary risk and leading to tragic avoidable harm.

    “While the additional investment the government has pledged has been a welcome start, without sufficient capital funding it will be hard for the NHS to maintain the standards patients rightly expect and to deliver the government’s ‘plan for change’ promise to cut waiting times.”

    …

    Original article is at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/thousands-harmed-and-87-dead-after-nhs-equipment-failures-in-england

  • Morning Star Editorial: Having sold out on every working-class promise, Starmer finally stoops to migrant-bashing

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    Chasing racist votes Keir Starmer says that he can be just as racist and cnuty as Nigel Farage.
    Chasing racist votes Keir Starmer says that he can be just as racist and cnuty as Nigel Farage.

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/having-sold-out-every-working-class-promise-starmer-finally-stoops-migrant-bashing

    …

    By pandering to racist representations of immigration and failing to explain it as the inevitable consequence of colonialism, empire and the neoliberal global order, Starmer now shares an ideological position with Nigel Farage.

    The plan to end licensed immigration by people contracted to work in the care sector will intensify the crisis in the NHS and make life miserable for people in care.

    Care sector employers are upset because it hits their supply of cheap labour and thus their profits.

    This illustrates a feature of 21st century immigration into capitalist countries that disrupts both Farage’s narrative and Labour’s imitation of the same.

    A migration-enlarged labour force increases precisely those profits — the unpaid wages that employers retain — that would be diminished if they were compelled to train locals and pay them enough to attract a sufficient supply of labour.

    A sensible strategy would be to attack Farage for his support for privatisation, his opposition to employment rights, his fawning over Trump and his works, his willingness to flog off the NHS to US corporations.

    The most productive approach would be to stand up for what most Reform UK voters want and which they share with most people in our country — public ownership, higher taxes on the rich and an end to the privileges of the plutocracy.

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/having-sold-out-every-working-class-promise-starmer-finally-stoops-migrant-bashing

    Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
    Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.

  • Labour delivers ‘crushing blow to Britain’s fragile care sector’

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-delivers-crushing-blow-britains-fragile-care-sector

     Home Secretary Yvette Cooper makes a speech at the Organised Immigration Crime Summit at Lancaster House in central London, March 31, 2025

    Unions and campaigners condemn Home Secretary after government confirms scrapping of care worker visas

    UNIONS and campaigners have condemned Labour’s immigration reforms after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed that the government will scrap the care worker visa for overseas recruitment.

    Announcing the policy ahead of Monday’s Immigration White Paper, Ms Cooper said the visa route would be closed to “prevent” international recruitment for care jobs, though companies may continue to employ people already in Britain on care visas whose sponsorship has subsequently been cancelled.

    The White Paper will also change skilled visa thresholds to graduate-level and includes tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.The legislation aims to bring down net migration — the number of foreign nationals who arrive in Britain, minus the number of people who leave — which stood at 728,000 in 2024.

    …

    Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The NHS and the care sector would have collapsed long ago without the thousands of workers who’ve come to the UK from overseas.

    “Migrant health and care staff already here will now be understandably anxious about what’s to happen to them. “The government must reassure these overseas workers they’ll be allowed to stay and continue with their indispensable work.”

    Ms McAnea, whose union represents NHS and care workers, said that care workers from around the world “no longer want” to come to Britain due to “hostile” policies, bans on bringing family members, and widespread exploitation by unscrupulous employers.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-delivers-crushing-blow-britains-fragile-care-sector

    dizzy: This appears a very stupid, short-sighted step but then that is this Fascist Labour party. What do they hope to achieve? To look tough on migration by stopping foreign workers willing to be paid a pittance for wiping UK asses and exploited by their UK employers in other ways? Migrant agricultural workers too?

    Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
    Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.

  • NHS plans cuts to jobs and services to avoid £6.6bn deficit

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/nhs-plans-cuts-jobs-and-services-avoid-ps66bn-deficit

    NHS emblem
    NHS emblem

    NHS trusts have been asked to make drastic cuts as the service faces a predicted shortfall of nearly £7 billion, health leaders warned today.

    In a survey for NHS Providers, 47 per cent of trust leaders warned they are rolling back services to balance the books, while another 43 per cent are considering doing so.

    Rehabilitation centres, talking therapies and diabetes services for young people are among services at risk.Eighty-six per cent of respondents said their organisation is having to cut jobs in non-clinical teams, while 37 per cent plan to cut clinical posts. A number of trusts are aiming to cut 500 jobs or more, with one planning as many as 1,000.NHS union Unison’s head of health Helga Pile said: “Ministers shouldn’t be insisting trusts balance their books while ignoring the damaging consequences for patient care and a demoralised workforce. “The NHS needs more staff — not fewer workers — if delays and waits for patients are to end.”It comes as NHS chief executive Sir Jim Mackey told a Medical Journalists Association event in London the service had “maxed out on what is affordable.” He said that the NHS was likely to have a £6.6bn deficit this year, despite a budget of around £200bn. 

    Though he has demanded unprecedented savings, he slammed the “normalisation” of poor care, saying that, 10 years ago, “we would have never accepted old ladies being on corridors next to an [A&E] department for hours on end.”We Own It founder and director Cat Hobbs said: “Back in 2012, the NHS was rated as the best healthcare service in the world. “That was before the legislation that deliberately opened up our whole NHS to profiteering. “Sir Jim Mackey is absolutely right to say that patients being treated in corridors and car parks is unacceptable. If he wants to stop this scandal while saving money, he must end privatisation as quickly as possible.

    …

    Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/nhs-plans-cuts-jobs-and-services-avoid-ps66bn-deficit

    Image of George Osborne asking where is the money to be made in the NHS
    George Osborne and NHS nurses. This image is not one of mine, I need to search again for the source. later: I searched for the author and found it attributed to one person. Unless it’s done deliberately to look amateur (which it could be), I doubt that it’s him & not signed it anyway so probably doesn’t want attribution.