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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.

There’s a warning that the illegitimate ConDem coalition government intends to lie in the coming week in an attempt to bolster support for the Health and Social Care / Destroy the NHS Bill.

Despicable ConDem scum intend to employ the lie that medical unions are using opposition to the bill to fight their seperate battle on pay and pensions.

ConDem scum also intend to push the lie that the bill will decrease health service bureaucracy.

The Standard has obtained a copy of a five-page briefing note for MPs, prepared by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and No 10, on how to sell the shake-up which is being fiercely opposed by many doctors, nurses and health professionals.

In the briefing document, ministers accused unions of using the health reforms to fight their battle against pay and pension changes.

MPs were told to stress that the reforms, which will hand GPs more control over the £60 billion budget to commission health services, scrap primary care trusts and allow the private sector to play a greater role in the NHS, would mean:

More power to doctors and patients.

Competition to get better treatment.

Slashing bureaucracy to transfer money to the front line.

The three remaining royal colleges that do not currently oppose the bill will be voting in the next fortnight over whether to oppose the bill.

Tomorrow, grassroots members of the 26,000-strong Royal ­College of ­Physicians will attend their ­extraordinary general meeting where they will urge leaders to “kill the Bill”.

On March 8 the 25,000-­member Royal ­College of Surgeons will hold its EGM. Members will ­decide ­whether to come out in opposition to the plans. On March 9 the 15,000-strong Royal College of ­Obstetricians and ­Gynaecologists will gather to ­consider whether they should do the same.

If all three vote to oppose the Bill it will mean that all the hugely ­respected royal colleges are lined up against Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans. ­Privately officials from each group say that among their rank-and-file, opposition to the ­reforms are ­growing. They say they have listened to the Government’s ­arguments but it has failed to win them over. ­Opposition to the shake-up is growing as key ­parliamentary votes on the issue loom.

Labour Leader Ed Milliband calls for support from the Libe Dems

This week the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords must join with Labour to hole David Cameron’s health plans below the water line.

The House of Lords has the chance to puncture the arrogance of an out-of-touch Prime Minister who thinks he knows better than patients, nurses and doctors and persuade him to drop this Bill.

If they do not the betrayal by the Lib Dems in allowing this Bill through will be bigger than the row over ­university tuition fees.

They will betray not only the people who rely on today’s NHS, but also generations to come.

It will strike at the heart of Britain’s proudest institution.

Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron says that the bill should have been dropped.

 

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Mr Farron said the legislation to implement Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s reforms should have been scrapped or “massively changed” at an earlier stage before it progressed this far and it would be “stupid” to ignore medics’ concerns over the proposals.

He demanded that all elements of new competition in the NHS should be stripped from the bill in order for Lib Dems to support it.

Lib Dem peers have tabled a number of amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill, which resumes its difficult passage through Parliament next week in the Lords.

Speaking on ITV Granada’s Party People Mr Farron, said: “Lots of us are guilty for allowing it to get as far as it has done now.

“Basically this should have been dealt with far earlier in the cycle.”

Asked whether that meant it should have been dropped, he said: “Dropped, massively changed.”
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British Medical Association to ballot doctors on strike action over pensions

Ballot on strike over NHS pension changes will be first time doctors have voted on industrial action since 1975

The British Medical Association has decided to ballot doctors for industrial action over the government’s reform of the NHS pension scheme.

The ballot will be the first time that doctors have voted on such action since 1975.

The decision followed an overwhelming rejection by doctors and medical students of the “final” offer on pensions.

The BMA said the changes would see younger doctors paying more than £200,000 extra over their lifetime in pension contributions and working eight years longer, to 68. The highest earning doctors’ contributions would rise to 14.5%.

Officials have urged the government to reopen talks with the health unions, but said neither the Treasury nor the Department of Health had signalled any change to their position.

The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, has said the NHS pension scheme is “amongst the best available anywhere”.

But a survey of 130,000 BMA members in January found almost two-thirds of the 46,000 who responded said they would be prepared to take some form of industrial action if the government did not change its offer.

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.

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Continue ReadingNHS news review

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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.

Andrew Lansley wins battle to keep NHS risk assessment under wraps

Labour motion demanding publication of document defeated despite growing disquiet among Tory and Lib Dem MPs

Health secretary Andrew Lansley looks more determined than ever not to reveal the findings of a risk assessment done on the government’s NHS shakeup.

Lansley won the support of MPs, who voted on Wednesday by a majority of 53 against a Labour motion that the Department of Health should make its document public. However, growing disquiet among some Conservative MPs and Liberal Democrats was voiced by Lib Dem MP John Pugh, who told the often bad-tempered debate that the bill was “toxifying the Tories” and “sadly detrimental” to his party.

Lansley suggested to MPs that he might refuse to release the risk register even if instructed to do so by a tribunal due to meet in a fortnight to judge on his dispute with the information commissioner, who has instructed him to publish.

Shameless immoral lying scumbag Lansley twice refused the opportunity to tell MPs he would accept the tribunal’s judgment. Answering deputy Lib Dem leader Simon Hughes, the health secretary instead quoted from an article in the Observer by the information commissioner, in which Christopher Graham said he was “not infallible”.

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PM accused of NHS ‘deception’

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Labour’s Easington MP Grahame Morris said Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron “has broken his promise of no top-down reorganisation by deploying WMD, weapons of mass deception, to conceal the true nature of his reforms.”

He added: “We know the danger to the future of the NHS with up to 49 per cent of work carried out in NHS hospitals done by the private sector and every service provided by the NHS put out to competitive tender, making it vulnerable to private sector takeover.”

 

Critic of NHS reforms demands health secretary apology

Speaking to Channel 4 News John Ashton, one of Cumbria’s top doctors, demands a government apology after being summoned to explain himself to local NHS chiefs for criticising planned health reforms.

Professor John Ashton, who is director of public health for Cumbria, told Channel 4 News that attempts to silence him were authoritarian and very scary, and he wants an apology from the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley after he received an official letter warning that he could be in breach of the NHS code of conduct.

According to the letter, the code made it “inappropriate for individuals to raise personal concerns about the proposed Government reforms”, and Profesor Ashton was asked to attend a meeting with the chief executive of NHS Cumbria to explain himself. The professor said he understood it didn’t come from the local Primary Care Trust – but those “higher up the food chain”.

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Angry GPs fear shake-up poses major threat to future of NHS

Middleton’s GPs have joined a chorus of condemnation against the proposed shake-up of the NHS.

The Rochdale and Bury Local Medical Committee (RBLMC), which represents GPs in the area, fear the controversial Health and Social Care Bill could threaten the future of the NHS.

The bill, which has attracted widespread criticism, proposes giving GPs control of much of the NHS budget and opening up the health service to greater competition from the private and voluntary sector. The government believes the bill will make the NHS more accountable to patients, improve public health and cut bureaucracy slashing NHS management costs by 45 per cent.

But RBLMC secretary Dr Mohammed Jiva, from Peterloo Medical Centre on Manchester Old Road, fears the move will jeopardises the future of the NHS.

He said: “The majority of GPs, including the Royal College of General Practitioners supported by many other clinicians, all concur that the proposed Bill will be detrimental to the future of the NHS.

“Already the NHS locally has stopped funding many services that were historically available but which now needs to be privately paid for by the patient if the public requires the procedure.

“This is likely to get worse as the NHS attempts to make more savings by decommissioning more and more services.

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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 reforms: medical leaders demand publication of risk assessment

Doctors’ and nurses’ chiefs call for release of government’s own analysis of dangers ahead of Commons debate

Medical leaders are urging the government to end its “astonishing” refusal to publish its own assessment of the risks its NHS shakeup poses for the service and patients.

The leaders of Britain’s doctors, GPs, nurses and midwives are among an alliance of senior figures in healthcare who are demanding the release of the Department of Health (DH) analysis of the dangers involved in the radical restructuring of the NHS in England.

It should be made available “forthwith” so that parliamentarians scrutinising the health and social care bill can be fully informed about it before they give it final approval, they say. Hamish Meldrum, leader of the British Medical Association (BMA), the chair of the Royal College of GPs, Dr Clare Gerada, and the Royal College of Nursing’s chief executive, Dr Peter Carter, are among nine signatories of an open letter to ministers on the issue.

It was published on Wednesday morning, hours before MPs were due to stage a six-and-a-half-hour-long debate in the House of Commons in the afternoon. The debate was called by Labour to highlight the government’s refusal to release the NHS risk register. The information commissioner ruled last November that it should be published. There was “a very strong public interest in disclosure of the information, given the significant change to the structure of the health service the government’s policies on the modernisation will bring”, the commissioner said.

The DH appealed against that ruling, however. It claims that releasing the document would set an unwelcome precedent that would make ministers and civil servants reluctant to discuss the risks of certain policies in full detail. But its continued secrecy has prompted rising concern among MPs, peers and medical groups that potentially vital information is being wrongly withheld which could influence the bill’s passage through parliament.

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Labour calls on Lib Dem MPs to support NHS risk register fight in Commons today

…Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, speaking ahead of Labour’s opposition day debate in the House of Commons today, is calling on Liberal Democrat MPs to support his call for the Government’s risk assessment on the Health Bill to be published.

The internal risk register drawn up by the Department of Health shows the impact of the Health and Social Care Bill.

Labour are calling on the Government to respect the ruling by the Information Commissioner and to publish the risk register associated with the Health and Social Care Bill in order to ensure that it informs public and parliamentary debate.

…

 

Why I had to confront Andrew Lansley about the NHS

The NHS doesn’t belong to whichever government is in power – it belongs to the people and we’re being bulldozed from all sides

I have been campaigning to protect the NHS from 1979 when the Conservative government started closing hospitals; in Wandsworth, where I live, they closed five. I campaigned under the Labour government, too. But this is the most frightening situation I have seen.

The NHS is so important to me because I was born outside it, so I know how difficult it is to live without it. I saw my father going to work when he was very ill, because he couldn’t afford to take time off. My mother was ill and he had to pay five shillings for the doctor, our rent was only 12 shillings, so he had to work even though he had emphysema. In those days you couldn’t afford to be ill – and that’s what’s going to happen again.

If this bill goes through it is another step towards privatisation and we will no longer have the same care for everyone. I won’t feel safe. Under the NHS I feel safe, but once it goes private who is accountable? Already it’s difficult to see a chiropodist, optician or dentist.

Lots of people want to tell Andrew Lansley what they think, but he doesn’t want to listen to them. Yesterday, for instance, only the few professional bodies who agreed with the bill were invited to a meeting in Downing Street. The majority, 98%, who oppose the bill, he wouldn’t even listen to.

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Lib Dem activists promise NHS bill trouble

Lib Dem activists are preparing an emergency motion for their spring conference urging the party to work towards defeating the NHS reform bill.

It “applauds the hard work being done by Liberal Democrat peers to remove the worst elements” of the Health and Social Care Bill.

It notes the government has “totally failed to convince either the public or NHS staff” of the need for change.

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Doctor who criticised NHS reforms is threatened with disciplinary action

Andrew Lansley is accused of bullying staff who speak out against NHS reforms after senior doctor is told to attend hearing

 

Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has been accused of “bullying” NHS staff who speak out against his NHS shakeup after a senior doctor who signed a letter criticising the proposed changes was threatened with disciplinary action.

The doctor has been told to attend a disciplinary hearing later this week by the NHS primary care trust (PCT) that employs him. It claims he breached the NHS code of conduct by airing his concerns.

In the Commons Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, asked Lansley if the trust’s action showed it was now his “policy to threaten NHS staff with disciplinary action if they speak out about his reorganisation”. He challenged the minister to reconcile his “new top-down bullying policy” with his previous strong support for NHS whistleblowers.

Prof John Ashton, county medical officer for Cumbria, received a letter from his PCT last week after he joined 22 other signatories to a letter in a national newspaper criticising Lansley’s health and social care bill. The letter read: “You are bound by the NHS code of conduct and as such it is inappropriate for individuals to raise their personal concerns about the proposed government reforms.” Ashton will have to “explain and account” for his actions at the hearing.

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[“You have mistaken my professional concerns as personal concerns. I am bound by the requirement to endevour to provide the best possible care for my patients”. Continue by explaining how proposed ‘reforms’ will adversely affect provision of care.]?

I’ve just tried to make an appointment to see my GP. I was offered one in a fortnight’s time. Looks like you need to book them before you get ill.

 

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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.

Lansley has a hard time from those opposed to his destruction of the NHS and uninvited to the meeting of supporters at 10 Downing Street.

Andrew Lansley heckled by NHS union rep June Hautot before crunch summit

Health secretary Andrew Lansley faced angry protesters outside Downing St – spearheaded by vocal former NHS union representative June Hautot, 75 – as David Cameron went ahead with a highly-criticised summit on planned reforms.

No 10 faced deep criticism for failing to release the guest list to today’s meeting on the health and social care bill, with eight royal colleges saying they were not invited and health unions almost totally excluded.

Mr Lansley, the main architect of the bill, was almost prevented from entering Downing St altogether by a group of demonstrators.

As boos and chants of ‘greedy, greedy, greedy’ rang out, former NHS union rep Ms Hautot, 75, stood in the health secretary’s way saying: ‘I’ve had enough of you and Cameron’.

Ms Hautot, from Tooting, south London, later told reporters: ‘He said, “I want to get through” and I said, “You can wait. There’s a lot of people out there waiting for treatment and if your bill goes through, they will be waiting a lot longer”.’

‘He said, “we are not privatising the NHS”. I said, “I’ve got news for you. You’ve been privatising it since 1979”.’

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[The reference to 1979 relates to the UK Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.]

 

Lansley: Traitor

“Summit of the willing” puts Cameron at centre of NHS storm by Wendy Savage

‘Codswallop! Don’t lie to me, Mr Lansley’: Fury of pensioner (who just happens to be former union firebrand) confronting Health Secretary as PM vows to press on with NHS reform

June, 75, stands up to Andrew Lansley’s NHS reforms

 

David Cameron’s NHS summit guests refuse to follow reforms script

Prime minister’s plan to discuss implementation of health bill backfires as ‘supporters’ take opportunity to outline concerns

If David Cameron was hoping for an easy ride on his controversial NHS shakeup by excluding its fiercest critics from the Downing Street gathering of carefully selected health leaders, he will have been disappointed.

While the atmosphere was polite and constructive, those invited used the opportunity to detail their concerns about how the health and social care bill could damage the NHS. They raised directly with the prime minister the same fears and uncertainties that the leaders of Britain’s nurses, doctors and other professions who want the bill scrapped would have mentioned – if they had been present.

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Same old Tories? The public turns against NHS reform

 

The health bill could spell serious trouble for the Conservatives, as a poll shows declining support.

If you were in any doubt about how damaging the continued controversy over the NHS bill could be for the Conservatives, look no further than the Guardian/ICM poll out today.

The topline figures are typical: the Tories are on 36 (despite opening up a five point lead in the Guardian‘s poll last month), Labour are up two on last month at 37, while the Liberal Democrats are at 14. These results mirror those in the Populus/Times poll, also out today, which puts the Tories on 37, Labour on 39, and the Liberal Democrats on 11.

It certainly jumps out that the Tories have lost four percentage points in a single month in the ICM poll, although it looks as if that five-point lead was an outlier. The really interesting findings are on the NHS.

An outright majority of respondents — 52 per cent — believe that the health bill should be scrapped. Just 33 per cent believe that at this stage it is better to persevere with the reform, meaning that there is a 19 point margin in favour of axing the bill. This is reasonably consistent across social classes, gender, and regions.

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Continue ReadingNHS news review

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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.

Cameron ‘has broken NHS promises’

Labour leader Ed Miliband is set to step up his attack on the Government’s NHS reforms, accusing Prime Minister David Cameron of breaking his promises on health.

During a visit to the Royal Bolton Hospital, in Greater Manchester, Mr Miliband will denounce the Government’s Health And Social Care Bill as “bad for the NHS” and repeat his call on the Prime Minister to scrap it.

More than 120,000 people have now signed an e-petition on a Government website calling for the dumping of the Bill, which has attracted opposition from health professionals and patients’ groups.

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NHS bill will damage children’s health, say paediatricians

More than 150 paediatricians have signed a damning letter calling on the government to scrap its health and social care billMore than 150 paediatricians are calling on the government to scrap its controversial health bill, saying it will have an extremely damaging effect on the health of children.

In a damning letter to The Lancet medical journal, members of the UK’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said there was “no prospect” of improving the health and social care bill, which is going through parliament.

They accused the government of “misrepresenting” the bill as being something that was necessary for the NHS.

The signatories join several royal medical colleges, including the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Radiologists, in calling for the bill to be scrapped.

The move will put increasing pressure on the government over the reforms, which have come under repeated fire from healthcare professionals.

Unions, including the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, and the Royal College of Midwives, are among those calling for the bill to be withdrawn.

Friday’s letter said that “if passed, we believe that the bill will have an extremely damaging effect on the healthcare of children and their families, and their access to high quality, effective services”.

It added: “We see no prospect for improvement to the bill sufficient to safeguard the rights of access to healthcare by children and their families.

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Market-based healthcare is the wrong prescription for the NHS

The health and social care bill proposes a system that will destroy all the advantages of the centrally planned NHS

by Andy Burnham, shadow Minister for Health

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By framing this debate in terms of competition, the prime minister is not just choosing the wrong policy prescription for the NHS; it is potentially catastrophic for his entire political project. This is the man who used the NHS to pose as a different kind of Tory. He promised to protect it and spare it from upheaval. In taking a different course, and arguing for a market, he is taking a huge gamble. There is still time to turn back. For Labour, it is to our political advantage if the PM digs in behind his health secretary and his bill – effectively guaranteeing that the NHS will be a major political issue at the next election. But, even so, I’m sure I speak for the nearly all members of the Labour party in saying that we hope the prime minister sees sense at the eleventh hour and drops the bill. In the final analysis, the NHS matters more to this party than our own electoral self-interest.

Government urged to return to NHS pension talks or face action

 

The BMA has requested an urgent meeting with the chief secretary to the Treasury in a further effort to re-start talks with the government on changes to the NHS pension scheme.

The BMA is seeking a fairer offer after 46,000 doctors and medical students responded to a survey last month, with 84% rejecting the government’s current plans which include raising the normal pension age for NHS staff.

Nearly two thirds said they would be prepared to take industrial action if the government does not improve its offer. In recent exchanges, the health secretary indicated that there would be no movement in the Department of Health’s position.

Under the government’s plans to reform the NHS pension scheme doctors’ retirement age would increase to 68; there would be a move from a final salary pension scheme to one based on career average earnings; and there would be an increase in contributions for senior doctors from 8.5% up to 14.5% by 2014.

In the letter, the BMA points out that the NHS pension is in a very different situation from other public sector schemes, having been radically overhauled less than four years ago.

“It is in good financial health, and currently provides £2billion to the Treasury every year,” it says. “In addition, the cost-sharing agreement reached at the time ensured that any increase in contributions needed in the future would be met by employees, not the taxpayer.”

The letter highlights the unfairness of NHS staff paying twice as much for the same pensions as some other public sector workers on similar salaries. It quotes the Public Accounts Committee’s warning that the government’s proposals “could destabilise the largest public sector pension scheme, increasing the burden on the state, and creating problems with retention of senior staff”

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Related: BMA may ballot over pensions

 

 

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