Conned

The Labour winter 2024 - 2025.               Source: X (Twitter)

Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Government secured a majority of 120 in the winter fuel allowance vote to cut the payment for all but the country’s poorest pensioners. A few Labour MPs rebelled with a Labour Government, yes, a Labour government, to paraphrase Neil Kinnock's 1985 conference speech, winning by 348 to 228. 

As Leader of the  Opposition Starmer criticised the Tory Government for even considering moves to cut back the winter fuel allowance. Now in government his excuse for changing his mind was blamed on an 'inherited black hole', much of which results from paying off the Unions which allows engine drivers to manage on £70,000 a year - until they demand their next cost of living increase.

Ah! says Starmer, but pensioners will receive £460 a year extra next April when the triple lock increase is due to be paid, ignoring the fact that April 2025 is after Winter 2024 when pensioners need the money to heat their homes and conveniently forgetting that the pension increase in April is to help pensioners keep up with the cost of living.

Agreed, there are State pensioners with private pensions but many will need to have saved their well earned pension to ease their pain because of long NHS waiting lists. That could mean £20,000 for hip surgery (£13,500) - double for some - and £6,000 for cataracts followed by the prospect of having to pay for one's end of life care.

These are often pensioners who have 'done their bit', serving their country in the armed force on National Service before working hard all their lives to make better lives for their children and grandchildren, only to see their inheritance being squandered. 

They will deservedly feel conned as well as feeling the cold as they shiver this winter.

Source: X (Twitter)

Fresh start

First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan           Source: Pembrokeshire Herald

 Today is the feast of The Transfiguration, the same day that Eluned Morgan has been voted in as Wales’ first female First Minister following the resignation of Vaughan Gething after four months of turmoil.

After the eccentricities of Mark Drakeford and the poor judgement of his successor the people of Wales will be hoping for a Welsh government transfiguration.

Despite devolution the Health Service in Wales has crumbled.

Paying into the NHS throughout their working lives, long waiting lists for hospital treatment are forcing the elderly, particularly, to spend their savings on private treatment to avoid living out their retirement in pain.

The First Minister will need a miracle worker to sort out the mess. We wish her well. The task is not an enviable one.

Wales, Wales!

First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford                                                                   Source: Guido Fawkes, order_order.com

Nation Cymru reports:  "The Welsh Government is setting itself on a potential collision course with the UK Government after deciding to allow people to self-identify their gender when standing as candidates for the Senedd - much to the chagrin of Wales-Women’s Rights Network

Little surprise there  given this earlier report from order-order.com: 

"The Welsh government is paying out £9 million in taxpayer cash annually for woke jobs. The Taxpayers’ Alliance have uncovered data revealing that in 2022, a total of 138 posts in the Welsh Government featured words ranging from “diversity” and “inclusion” to “climate“, “wellbeing“, and “race“. A whopping 25 staff are employed in roles mentioning “equality“. The total cost of these, including salary and pension contributions, was £8,879,479."

Meanwhile, in NHS Wales, the health minister has warned that there may be fewer hospital beds in Wales, after asking health boards to make a further £64m in savings.

The Welsh Government has an action plan to make Wales  'A Nation of Sanctuary for asylum seekers and refugees' in which it has a 'vision' for Wales to become "the world’s first ‘Nation of Sanctuary’, celebrating Welsh hospitality and our history of migration and safety. " 

No matter what the cost in a cash-strapped Welsh economy it appears! 

Another government minister said that vulnerable people will "inevitably" feel the impact of spending cuts as she prepared to announce how the Welsh government will fill a black hole in its budget.

Nation Cymru also reports that the Welsh government is working on a plan to introduce a Bill "to make our parliament more representative of the people it serves", which includes provisions to introduce candidate quotas for people seeking election to the Senedd: “Our proposed model for quotas is designed to maximise the chances of achieving a Senedd comprised of at least 50% women."

With plans to increase the number of Senedd Members from 60 to 96, and change the electoral system to one that is "wholly proportional" no doubt the Diversity, Inclusivity and Equality (DIE) campaigners will will be keen to ensure that the real needs of the people of Wales do not come before the wishes of the Welsh DIEhards. First they need to know what a woman is.

Postscript [12.11.2023]

Fresh challenge for Welsh Government’s gender-balanced Senedd plan - Martin Shipton writes in Nation Cymru: "The introduction of a Bill to the Scottish Parliament that will end the rights of transgender women to identify as female when applying for public appointments should prompt the Welsh Government to ditch a similar plan relating to membership of the Senedd, according to a campaign group."

A First Minister's strange little world

First Minister Mark Drakeford with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Barry, in 2019
Source: Mail Online

Described in the Mail Online as someone who promised to follow 'radical socialist traditions' upon his election, First Minister Mark Drakeford backed Jeremy Corbyn's bid for Labour leadership in 2015. 

More recently Mr Drakeford has been bragging in the Senedd about his industrial relations record of bringing people together compared with the 'entirely absent' UK Government who, he claimed:

 "abandoned their responsibilities and mean that thousands of people are unable to travel due to the dereliction of duty, which is so apparent in their approach to industrial relations. 

"It is a remarkable triple whammy, isn't to have brought the railways to a standstill, to have brought the airports to a standstill, and, finally after about eight weeks, I think, to have woken up to the fact that the 5p that was taken off the price of petrol hadn't been passed on to people in that part of the transport sector as well. It is a remarkable record of failure, and I'm afraid it's people, not just in Wales but across the United Kingdom who are paying the cost of that failure today. "

Despite his claims to have superior skills over UK Government ministers, actually "fewer than 10% of normal rail services were running" in Wales with most of the country having no services at all.

Road traffic is often at a standstill at the M4's gateway to Wales yet the First Minister used his devolved powers to veto the M4 relief road, thus retaining a permanent bottleneck to provide a better environment for wildlife than for the long suffering people who live alongside congested areas of the M4 and are subjected to increased levels of pollution in the atmosphere.

Drakeford's suggested alternative was that people should be encouraged to travel by rail but at the first whiff of heavy traffic as a result of major events in Cardiff, people are urged not to use the railways. 

Train operators asks people not to use its services as fears grew of travel chaos for the recent Tom Jones and Stereophonics stadium shows in Cardiff.

Before the Ed Sheeran show on Friday, May 27, there were 13 miles of queues on the M4 westbound, from the Prince of Wales Bridge to the Brynglas Tunnels in Newport. WalesOnline summed up the situation thus: "Fifteen mile jams, seven-hour trips and massive queues for trains: What people remember most about Ed Sheeran's visit to Cardiff."

When the First Minister was challenged on his decision to scrap plans in 2019 for a new stretch of motorway around Newport, he dismissed claims the road would have helped cut congestion using the bizarre reason that "Even if a decision had been made to go ahead with an M4 relief road, it would have made absolutely no difference at all over the last weekend, because it would, even from today, be another five years before such a road could be opened".

M4 chaos prompts Cardiff event questions. Motorway tailbacks, parking pandemonium and railway station queues. It took one family three hours to get across the Severn Bridge. By the time they got to the out-of-city parking, the shuttle buses had stopped running. They were left about £350 out of pocket.

The First Minister's excuse sounds like a recipe for doing nothing, much like the fate of social care which so desperately needs fixing.

According to the Nuffield Trust, Health and social care account for almost half of the devolved government’s budget but record-breaking NHS waiting lists and the deteriorating performance of the ambulance service and A&E departments are the consequence of a "broken" health service in Wales.

"Vulnerable and elderly patients medically fit to be discharged remain in hospital for longer than necessary because social care support is scarce." 

Another example of Mr Drakeford's weird way of thinking? The problem has not been tackled in the past and it would take too long to resolve so continue to ignore it. 

It may make sense to the First Minister in his strange little world but not to those on NHS waiting lists or in need of social care.  

Latest figures show that there are over 700,000 people across Wales waiting to start NHS treatment. The numbers waiting longer than 36 weeks reached the highest on record - at just over a quarter of a million (258,189) while social care is underfunded and carers undervalued.

'Abandoned responsibilities' or 'radical socialist traditions' First Minister?

Own goal

Post-goal celebrations are coming under scrutiny by English medical officials, with some calling for yellow cards to be shown to players who violate Premier
 League protocols. | POOL / VIA REUTERS  (Source: The Japan Times)

Back in the Summer the Premier League issued official guidelines on how soccer games should be staged, played and broadcast amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Players were told not to spit, clear their nose or surround match officials when the season restarted.

Some sports, such as basketball and tennis, penalise players for spitting, but football and rugby do not, so the players are free to expectorate.

Also, from the Japan Times on hugging:

"Chelsea manager Frank Lampard defended his players on Thursday amid a growing debate about teams celebrating goals with hugs and high-fives while the country is battling the COVID-19 pandemic.  

"The Premier League was holding virtual meetings to reinforce the message that protocols must be respected, but Lampard echoed other top-flight managers in suggesting that was easier said than done. 

"'Football has and always will be a game of instinct. If we want to take the instinct out of the game then it is not that simple'."

It is simple. 

The NHS is being overwhelmed because some people will not change their habits. 

People are dying, jobs are being lost, businesses are closing. Families are having to survive on food parcels while the next generation misses out on their education.

The average salary for a Premier League footballer exceeds £3m a year. Instead of being a law unto themselves some sense of responsibility would be welcome .

Yellow cards needed?                            Source: The Indian Express (Photo AP)

Super Saturday!

Pubs open in Soho                                                                                                    Source: BBC/EPA

Lifting Covid-19 restrictions has been the long awaited green light for citizens who are not particularly bothered about social distancing for the benefit of all.

"Good solid British common sense" gets left behind.

Having packed English beaches, roads outside pubs have become the latest places to congregate with no regard for social distancing.

Easing of the lock-down brings new perils for vulnerable people among us. 

Shielding since March, the thought of venturing out after the lock-down fills them with trepidation. 

Re-uniting families within the rules is being allowed but dangers for vulnerable people are multiplied unnecessarily by the thoughtless behaviour of mainly younger people who ignore the rules.

They make a second wave of Covid-19 infection more likely, risking the lives of others while adding to the burden of the NHS whose 72nd birthday we celebrate today.

Lives matter

Source: Twitter

Of course black lives matter, all lives matter. Not that one would think so after Thousands join Black Lives Matter protests around the UK, ignoring restrictions on gatherings and warnings about social distancing to avoid spreading the Covid-19 virus. 

Demonstrations have spread like a rash, invaded by various groups regardless of the facts as articulated by this courageous lady.

On the 80th Anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk, Winston Churchill's statue in Parliament Square was defaced as thousands took part in a Black Lives Matter rally. Police and police horses were attacked. The Cenotaph was vandalised.

This has nothing to do with the death of George Floyd, just one of many appalling incidents throughout the world, most of which go unreported.

Protect the NHS has been a Government cry from the start of the pandemic. Their strategy avoided the NHS being overwhelmed but tragically many lives have been lost among NHS staff and carers. There has been growing concern about the disproportionate deaths among BAME people.

If the demonstrations results in another spike in Covid-19 cases, the NHS will have to pick up the pieces with many more Black, Asian, and minority ethnic people in the front line.

For the demonstrators it seems that black lives do not matter.   

Postscript

Tweet from Toby Young: "I was in Minneapolis last year. Loved it. Such a beautiful city. It now looks like Aleppo." Footage here.

From Jack Montgomery: "Lincoln's statue vandalised even worse than Churchill's at the #BlackLivesMatter protest in London. Lincoln, of course, is the President who freed the slaves – and got an assassin's bullet in the back of the head for doing it. That still wasn't enough?" Image here.

Utter madness.

Postscript [08.06.2020]

London police 'on the run' from 'peaceful' protestors here.

The ultimate disgrace, police officers having to move in with riot gear to defend the Cenotaph as rioters attempt to set fire to our flag. The day after we commemorated D-Day, when our troops, those the Cenotaph honours, liberated Europe from *actual* fascists. Scumbags. Here.

No doubt these demonstrators will be first in the queue for treatment by the NHS if they become infected with Covid-19, demanding their rights as victims.

Postscript [15.06.2020]

Channel 4 News: "It turns out that the Leader of the Independent Police Advisory Group, who we must assume has a degree, doesn't know that Winston Churchill is dead. Why interview someone without knowledge? What do universities teach?"

Somewhere over the rainbow

A consequence of the coronavirus pandemic has seen the rainbow, the sign of God's covenant with every living creature on earth, rescued from LGBT propagandists.

Instead of being used as innocent flag-waving partakers in LGBT propaganda children have been using their own instincts to make rainbow drawings in support of NHS and care workers.

But the brass neck of it! The Christian Institute reports that LGBT activists are complaining that the rainbow is being appropriated by others to be used as a sign of support for the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They claim that the LGBT community is being “belittled by the meaning of the rainbow being changed in the current climate” presumably unaware that it is a sign of God's covenant with all His people.

It is heartening to see that even the LGBT/same sex marriage obsessed Church in Wales has adopted the NHS rainbow in an apparent return to faith.

"Somewhere over the rainbow

Bluebirds fly

And the dreams that you dream of

Dreams really do come true" 

Bishop of London undermines Archbishop's authority

The Bishop of London has written to her clergy telling them they can ignore guidelines banning them from conducting services in their own churches thus contradicting advice from the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

By her actions the former Chief Nurse gives support to those people who think they know better than the government and the Church, ignoring Covid-19 guidelines designed to protect our NHS and save lives. 

Shame on her.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall....

The Church of England's House of Bishops voted Tuesday to block the creation of a new liturgy
to celebrate  gender transition but urged bishops to use the existing baptism rite as a way
 to mark the passage. (Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images)/theblaze

...who’s the fairest of them all? - Neither Church nor State that's for sure. Both are engaging in absurd distortions of reality.

General Synod paper GS Misc 1178 provides an "update" on ‘Welcoming Transgender People’, as if they are not welcome already, using the now familiar propaganda techniques of exploiting the 'victim' status - see earlier entry - just as the LGBT lobby has done to secure a dedicated chaplaincy and "a safe, sacred space for our LGBTI+ friends to share their stories, explore their faith and enjoy time together with no fear of judgement" -  [click here and scroll down to "Open Table come as you are"].

In July 2017 the General Synod carried, "with strong support in all three Houses, a motion brought forward by the Blackburn Diocesan Synod, that this Synod, recognising the need for transgender people to be welcomed and affirmed in their parish church, call on the House of Bishops to consider whether some nationally commended liturgical materials might be prepared to mark a person’s gender transition."

'Theblaze' summerises how the Church of England’s House of Bishops voted on Tuesday to block the creation of a new liturgy to celebrate gender transition. Bishops were urged instead to use the existing baptism rite as a way to mark the passage. Dodging the concept of second baptisms the Church of England has instead given the green light to using existing liturgies similar to the way gay unions are being blessed with all the outward appearances of church marriages.

The State, as in NHS England, is also pandering to fashion as if money were no object in offering biological males a smear test for cervical cancer if they identify as females, even though they do not have female organs, while women who could be at risk but identify as men are not being routinely offered potentially life saving NHS screening for breast and cervical cancer amid fears it might offend them.

If people want to ignore their biological sex they are free to do so but they should not expect others to engage in their fantasies. Cervical Cancer Prevention Week from 22-28 January.

Dental extraction

An unusually expensive extraction!

Dental extraction has become the cheaper option for many UK citizens unable to obtain NHS treatment despite paying their NHS contributions.

 Private treatment including root fillings and crowns quickly adds up to bills for many hundreds of pounds. It is hardly surprising that extraction, often not the preferred option, is necessitated by cost.

 A report last year claimed that patients were having to pull out their own teeth because NHS dental practices are refusing to register new patients. The figures have prompted concerns of an “emerging crisis” in dental care in England, with the British Dental Association (BDA) accusing the Government of commissioning only enough dentistry to treat about half the adult population.

News broke in 2008 that the Government's contract with NHS dentists, introduced in 2006, had been such a failure that nearly a million fewer patients were visiting the dentist, and the number of crowns, bridges and dentures being fitted had fallen by more than half, while the number of extractions had risen. An estimated 7.4 million people cannot find an NHS dentist to do elementary dental work such as fillings.

Recent findings show that "Tooth decay is the number one reason for child hospital admissions, but communities across England have been "left hamstrung without resources or leadership". There have been calls for a crackdown on unhealthy foods and soft drinks to combat "spiralling cases of tooth decay" with an "urgent need" to introduce measures to curb our sugar addiction which is causing children's teeth to rot.

The food and drinks industry is of course motivated by profit. That sounds familiar. In many areas it is not difficult to find a dentist but it is very difficult if you want NHS treatment.

A debate on children's dental examinations and treatment is due to take place in the House of Lords on January 18. It shouldn't be too difficult for their Lordships to come to a conclusion.

Social care crisis

Source: ASCC

 Funding social care was the subject of Key Issues for the New Parliament 2010. It read:

In 1997 Tony Blair told the Labour Party conference “I don’t want [our children] brought up in a country where the only way pensioners can get long-term care is by selling their home.” Local authorities have been able to require people to sell their homes to pay for residential care since 1948. Thirteen years after Tony Blair’s speech, local authorities continue to do so. 

The system was seen as inherently unfair, penalising those who have saved for their old age, whilst those who have been less prudent are eligible for state-funded care.

The Money Advice Service web page includes a  table: Local authority funding for care costs – do you qualify?

Source: money Advice Service

 Age UK has a useful explanation of the means test when paying for care. The NHS also has a guide to care and support. Health and social services in Wales are explained here and here.

No comfort there for the frugal. Anyone who has saved for their old-age hoping to pass on their property to their children, especially now that it is so difficult to get onto the property ladder, is likely to regret the fact when the profligate are rewarded.

The Commission on the Future of Health and Social Care in England (also known as the Barker Commission) was asked whether the post-war settlement, which established separate systems for health and social care, remains fit for purpose. Three problems were identified:

Problem 1: the system is unfair  Most health care (major and minor) is free at the point of use. Social care is heavily rationed and means tested. This leads to situations where people with dementia have to pay for their own care while people with cancer don’t. Both cases involve significant care needs but they get very different levels of assistance from the state. There is not equal treatment of equal needs.

Problem 2: the funding is separate  The NHS budget is ring-fenced, comes mostly from national taxation and must be spent on health. Publicly funded social care is paid for by local authorities through a mixture of central government grant, council tax and user charges. Levels of spending vary across the country. Deciding who pays for what is a constant source of friction which can impact on people who are caught between the two systems.

Problem 3: the system is not co-ordinated  The organisations that commission health and social care - 211 clinical commissioning groups for hospital care, emergency care, community care and mental health; 152 local authorities for social care; and NHS England for primary and specialist care - are not aligned. This creates inefficiencies with financial and human costs. For example, 3,000 beds a day are occupied by people who are fit to leave but are stuck in hospital while funding or assessment is resolved.

The current system is unfair, unjust and unsustainable. Bed-blocking up by 52 per cent in three years, NHS figures show. For example, Patients in England experienced some 177,000 days-worth of delays paffecting more than 5,900 beds a day in April 2027. "The problem was projected to cost the NHS £169m directly for the 2016-17 financial year, but the National Audit Office believes the overall related cost may reach some £820m annually, according to David Hare, the chief executive of NHS Partners Network."

Last January, YouGov research showed 53 per cent of people supported the idea of a 1p-in-the-pound rise in National Insurance, from 12 to 13 per cent, if it was used to fund healthcare, while 26 per cent opposed it—down from 37 per cent in 2014.

The Illustrated summary of the Barker Commission's final report posed the question 'How can we afford it?' giving examples of how almost £6 billion could be saved and suggesting a review of taxes on wealth and consider reforms to inheritance tax, wealth transfer tax, capital gains, property tax, etc.

They conclude, "Overall, the government should assume that public spending on health and social care will increase from 9.6% to 11–12% by 2025. The commission believes that in the long run this is affordable and sustainable" pointing out that it "sounds like a lot of extra money but it’s still less than other similar countries spend on health care alone."

Source: King's Fund

A report in the Telegraph shows that "the growing NHS crisis has been fuelled by the closure of almost 1,000 care homes housing more than 30,000 pensioners."

It comes as NHS figures show the worst Accident & Emergency crisis on record, amid a 37 per cent rise in the numbers stuck in hospital for want of social care, since 2010. Experts said hospitals were being overwhelmed by the spread of flu because they had almost no spare capacity to cope with surges in demand.

The report by industry analysts shows that in the last decade, 929 care homes housing 31,201 pensioners have closed, at a time when the population is ageing rapidly. The research from LaingBuisson show care homes going out of business at an ever increasing rate, with 224 care homes closed between March 2016 and March 2017, amounting to more than 2,000 beds."

For far too long Local Authorities have regarded care providers as charities resulting in business closures or demeaning 15 Min home care visits.

It is over twenty years since Tony Blair told the Labour Party conference in 1997 “I don’t want [our children] brought up in a country where the only way pensioners can get long-term care is by selling their home".

We can't wait another twenty years. Action to integrate health and social care is needed urgently, free at the point of delivery, raising revenue as necessary to assure equity. It could even be a vote winner.

Postscript [16.01.2018]

Revolution in health and social care urged in Wales

Nine leading international experts, chaired by the former chief medical officer for Wales Dr Ruth Hussey, have been looking at ways to try to put the health and social care system on a stronger footing. Ministers say a new plan will take into account the review's recommendations.

Without "significantly accelerated" change, services which are already not fit for the future, will further decline, the expert panel warns.

The NHS and social care will be expected to work "seamlessly" together to respond to a person's needs and to deliver care closer to home.

Hunt hunting

Jeremy Hunt stays as health secretary with added responsibilities for social care. Source: Guardian
Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

It has been reported that Prime Minister Theresa May has "dropped a manifesto pledge" to hold a vote on the fox-hunting ban during this parliament.

It is a peculiarity of the British people that many appear to care more for animals than they do for people. Large legacies left to animal charities emphasise the point.

Some readers may recall Brumas, a baby Polar bear from the 1950s. An endearing ball of fluff to be hugged and cuddled. All changes when Polar bears mature into adulthood. Then a hug is likely to prove fatal. The 'Brumas complex' was applied to opponents of fox hunting who could identify only with the little balls of fluff, apparently oblivious to a carnivorous adulthood. Little has changed as 'pro' and 'anti' continue to square up over the issue.

There is no such contention over social care, only that HM government gets on with it. Jeremy Hunt has, according to reports, convinced the Prime Minister that he should remain in post as Secretary of State for Health with added responsibility for Social Care. The Sun says "Jeremy Hunt’s refusal to leave Health Secretary shows his dedication to NHS. Jeremy Hunt has shown he is hell-bent on improving the NHS despite the endless flak and financial woes,"

The Telegraph takes a different view: "Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, successfully faced down the Prime Minister when she asked him to become business secretary, forcing Mrs May to tear up her plans to promote or move other ministers who were already penciled in."

Whatever one's views, despite the endless flak and financial woes as the Sun puts, Hunt appears to want to do something about it rather then take the easy option and move.

That the two areas of responsibility, health and social care, should be joined up has been obvious to most for some time. In the current system each service is fouling the other creating blockages which cause misery and waste. Simplistically, the health system needs to get more patients out and fewer in.

Some of us have been through the hoop already, trying to arrive at a sustainable solution for parents, relatives and friends who are no longer able to care for themselves. Often they have been admitted to hospital out of medical necessity but when that has been dealt with they remain in hospital, bed blocking because of administrative procedures such as a social worker has not reviewed the case.

Even when appropriate care arrangements have been made because there is no alternative, the official stamp of approval is needed from someone who seems to work according to their own timescale even if it takes weeks.

That is not to say that the solution is always easy. Some patients will be able to return home only if appropriate domiciliary care is available. Others will prefer to move into a care home while others will need the more specialised care provided in nursing homes. Many people who could be cared for at home do not have sufficient private means to pay for their care. Inadequate Local Authority funding forces them to remain in hospital for no valid medical reason while they await suitable accommodation in care homes causing further blockages.

Carers do amazing work for little financial reward. Without their dedicated hard work the system would be in an even worse mess but local Authorities continue to undervalue carers. Last year it was reported that thousands of disabled and older people were receiving 15 minute homecare visits in England because almost a quarter of councils (22 per cent) – 34 - were ignoring Care Act guidance to stop the practice. That is unfair to both. If animals were treated the same there would be an outcry.

At the opposite end of the system too many people are using hospital Accident and Emergency units as primary care facilities. Millions of patients have been putting unnecessary strain on the NHS by seeking medical help for minor complaints such as colds, insect bites and dandruff, according to a report.

The crisis in general practice is said to be unprecedented: "Anyone who has visited their GP recently will be aware of the pressures: the struggle to get an appointment, the difficulty of seeing the same GP more than once, the rush to get you out of the door for the next patient."

The system is not working as it should. While there are individual pockets of excellence there are constant crises. Jeremy Hunt must not be tempted to kick the problem into the long grass with another inquiry. It is identified in his new title, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care - a joined up system with proper funding.

His smooth talk will not get Hunt out of this one. Delivery will prove Mrs May right. Failure will make them both the quarry.

It's not a game

A view from the US

Not content with changing the rules which protect the sanctity of marriage the gay lobby now expects the State to pay for unprotected sex via the NHS to help prevent them contracting HIV: "Aids campaigners are celebrating a watershed victory after the high court ruled that NHS England can pay for 'game-changer' drugs that prevent people being infected with HIV by their partners".

While it may be cheaper in the long run to prevent rather than treat Aids, there has to be added to the cost of the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drug the cost of treating any side effects plus treating the added risk of STDs which is rising among gay and bisexual men. But there is more to this than the money. There is a moral dimension.

With limited resources to provide essential treatment there are, for example, needy children with cystic fibrosis, people with cancer who have to apply for funding to just give them some hope through no fault of their own. Twenty-five vital cancer drugs have been deemed 'too expensive' for the NHS.

With so many pressing health needs the tax payer should not be asked to fund a life-style choice at the expense of the needy.

Postscript [08.08.2016]

Transgender ‘men’ given IVF treatment by the NHS. Women who have undertaken sex reassignment surgery to become 'men' are being given IVF treatment on the NHS.

Conservative MP Peter Bone questioned why the NHS is choosing to fund this, especially considering its limited resources for more necessary medical services:

 "The NHS is does not have endless pots of cash and, with accident and emergency departments and hospitals bursting at the seams, we should stop pretending that it does," he said. 
"When you go into realms like this, I am not sure why the taxpayer should be funding it. It’s something that people could surely fund privately if they want to. We’ve had changes in the Cancer Drugs Fund which will stop some cancer drugs being available to people on cost grounds.
"I just sometimes ask if the NHS is getting its priorities right."

A sorry tale

Muslim women in east London                                                                              Source: Telegraph

Perhaps I blinked and missed it but I have seen no outcry over last week's news that Oxford University is deviating from its 800-year-old tradition to remain relevant to "the dramatic change" in the U.K., by allowing its undergraduate theology students to skip studying Christianity after the first year of their degree, and choose instead subjects like "Feminist Approaches to Theology and Religion" and "Buddhism in Space and Time".

There was more coverage of the news that Air France company chiefs had sent staff a memo informing them that female staff on flights to Tehran would be required "to wear trousers during the flight with a loose fitting jacket and a scarf covering their hair on leaving the plane". Air France said that all air crew were "obliged like other foreign visitors to respect the laws of the countries to which they travelled. Iranian law requires that a veil covering the hair be worn in public places by all women on its territory." Outraged female employees of Air France have since been allowed to opt out of working on flights to Iran so that they can avoid having to wear a headscarf.

Compare Islamic requirements when passing through Muslim countries with the treatment meted out to a Christian NHS worker who lost her appeal over freedom to talk to a Muslim colleague about her faith. Also, a Sheffield University student who was expelled from his course after expressing support for biblical teaching on marriage on his own Facebook page. In a Swiss secondary school two Muslim boys were allowed not to shake hands with women teachers - a common greeting in Swiss schools - because it was "against their faith to touch a woman outside their family". Try telling that to the abused children of Rochdale.

By contrast Muslims are allowed to wear what they like because of their religion and mostly behave as they like, even preaching jihad. Intentionally or unintentionally the perception is that Islam is holy and must be respected even if conversion is by the sword while Christianity is to be avoided because a pen has been used to spread salvation according to biblical teaching.

The consequences are already with us:
"British Muslims are becoming a nation within a nation, the former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned". Commenting on "a ground-breaking survey", Trevor Phillips said we are "in danger of sacrificing a generation of young British people to values that are antithetical to the beliefs of most of us, including many Muslims". He called for the abandonment of "the failed policy of multiculturalism". [Channel 4 programme here.]

His comments came as the ICM survey for Channel 4, which surveyed 1,000 Muslims face-to-face, found that:

• One in 25 Muslims (four per cent) said they felt at least some sympathy with people who took part in suicide bombings, while a similar proportion said they had some sympathy with “people who commit terrorist actions as a form of political protest”.
• A quarter – 25 per cent – said they could understand why British school girls could be attracted to become “jihadi brides” overseas.
• Less than half (47 per cent) agreed that Muslims should do more to tackle the causes of extremism in the Muslim community.
• 52 per cent believed homosexuality should not be legal in Britain, 39 per cent agreed “wives should always obey their husbands”, and 31 per cent said it was acceptable for a man to have more than one wife.

See also What British Muslims think.

Under Human Rights legislation, Article 9: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching practice and observance.

2. Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Sadly some are more equal than others. A sorry tale indeed and not a murmur from LGBTQI obsessed Church leaders as the "invasion" continues.

Conman rides again

Conman and his faithful companion Dobin

The cost of the NHS in England for 2012/13 it is around £108.9 billion. An additional £500m bailout over two years has been announced to help struggling A&E departments through the winter months providing a sticking plaster for the period up to the general election. To put these numbers into proportion: "Out of every £100 of national wealth (GDP) we spend £8.70, compared to the US £16 and are well below the Western average. Greece and Portugal spend proportionately more on health than the UK. The public need to understand that this is a major reason for some of the NHS problems."

This morning BBC Breakfast TV was targetted by Conman following his whirlwind visit to an A&E Dept leaving them in a whirl while saving his wind for the TV audience. I have rarely heard such distortions from a communications man determined to hoodwink the public. His message was that if people know where to go there is no problem with A&E services quoting the failing '111' service, inadequate 'out-of-hours' services and yet to come integrated 'care in the community' provision which is why people go to A&E. Amongst all the NHS upheavals, A&E Depts have become the ultimate points of delivery where other services fail. Louise Minchin didn't sound convinced. Neither was I.

Physician heal thyself!

Whatever happened to observation?

Photo: The National Archives

Anyone who has witnessed the problems highlighted in the Keogh Report first hand will have been appalled by the mud slinging in the Commons when the Health Secretary made his statement. The findings of "poor care, inadequate staffing and bad management" come as no surprise. See "Death by care" here and "NHS: Here we go again" here. This has been going on for decades.

That there is something wrong in the NHS has been obvious for years but being the sacred cow that it has become, criticism has been unacceptable even when watching a member of your own family die from an infection picked up in hospital where infection control was so lax that doctors and nurses had to be reminded to wash their hands.

Long gone are the days when the Ward Sister knew every patient, their diagnosis and recovery regime, when meals were supervised so it was obvious if a patient was not being properly nourished. When backs were rubbed to avoid bed sores, mouths kept clean and, of paramount importance, patients were observed by nurses training on the wards to care for patients. Nowadays it is not the ward but the nursing station that is the hive of activity. Is it any wonder that 'observation' has become a lost art?

He who dares...

Privatisation is a wonderful thing - for some. Perhaps not if you cannot afford to buy the shares or for example if you are a regular rail traveller sweltering in the heat while facing further delays, or even if you are an occasional traveller trying to negotiate your way around the fares/timetable jungle. Maybe not when being ripped-off by utilities with their many tariff traps, a matter of considerable pain particularly for the elderly but privatisation marches on regardless as if all were bliss.

Of course not all private contracting goes according to plan. In the news yet again is G4S for 'overcharging millions on government contracts' adding to their Olympics security debacle and the more recent unlawful killing inquest verdict but that will not deter the Government from its policy of private gain so there is soon to be another opportunity for the few to benefit at the expense of the many.

People with spare cash and not having to struggle to make ends meet will be looking forward to the Royal Mail sell-off now that the debts have been loaded onto the taxpayer to leave a profitable company ripe for plucking. There will be the inevitable questions about profit versus service, particularly in remote areas but assurances will be given about regular deliveries - just as 'regular' church goers turn up regularly once or twice a year at Easter and at midnight Mass every Christmas, weather permitting! 

Earlier in the week I was dumbstruck by the usual self-confident sales pitch on BBC Breakfast time TV of Michael Fallon, the Minister of State for Business and Enterprise. He posed the rhetorical question. - Would anyone waiting for a telephone connection want to return to the days before BT was privatized? Obviously he hasn't a clue how difficult it is to get connected by this favoured organisation. Recently I have heard of three 'customers', all in utter despair of BT. One, a new business hoping to employ 40 people; it has taken two months to make telephone and broadband connections in an existing serviced building followed by a further two weeks delay before an engineer makes the 'switch'. Another customer has had an important number reallocated while awaiting re-connection, no doubt resulting in the new customer receiving unwanted calls day and night. The third is still awaiting resolution after BT has failed to turn up when promised on at least two occasions causing considerable disruption. Many more frustrations can be found on-line. Not the best recommendation for privatisation Mr Fallon.

Also I see in the news that the NHS is about to run out of cash facing a £30 billion funding gap by 2020, a problem exacerbated, according to the Express, by the NHS 'forking out £435m on redundancies only to re-employ 2,200 staff that it let go'. Remember the message: "NHS safe in my hands says Cameron"? And what about the patients? It has been revealed that patients are increasingly reliant on unsupervised, often inadequately trained assistants to care for their needs. Of course there are centres of excellence in the NHS as I know only too well but I also know of wards where some of the patients could have performed services better than the care assistants on duty. The reason is now clear. 'Nursing' as we knew it is performed by unregulated staff with a minimum of training, often unsupervised. I don't blame those put in the unenviable position they have found themselves but I do blame the politicians and managers who have tinkered endlessly with the NHS resulting in the absence of traditional nursing care and the need to train another layer of staff to provide the services previous trainee nurses provided instead of sitting in universities.

In the meantime politicians are busying themselves redefining marriage and considering how to respond to the awkwardly timed award of a huge pay rise, upped to £74,000 pa. - Perhaps they are worth it but many MPs had their fingers caught in the till while supplementing their pay with imaginatively crafted expenses claims. Perhaps if we threw money at pickpockets they would become law abiding citizens! That everyone else, excluding bankers and senior managers, has seen their standard of living fall must be a terrible inconvenience for honourable members at this time. No matter that over the years they have messed up just about everything from the economy, the NHS, education, human rights, immigration, the list goes on. MPs have dared and won often ignoring public opinion as illustrated by the same-sex marriage farce about to complete its passage through parliament without protection for teachers and other vulnerable workers. Voters will remember that we have been the losers in these political games.

'He who dares, wins' is of course the motto of the SAS, among the bravest of the brave who undertake dangerous missions in defence of our country. A country where pistols and other deadly weapons are brandished by street gangs in furtherance of their criminal activity. By contrast Sgt Danny Nightingale, who has been putting his own life at risk protecting his fellow countrymen has had the full weight of the law thrown at him. As his solicitor said, "There is no public interest in prosecuting Danny Nightingale. It's deeply worrying." Regardless of the technicalities of any offence, he deserves better than to be treated as a common criminal.  He has been found guilty even though he is to be medically discharged from the Army because of his mental health. It is to be hoped that when he is sentenced the court will decide that he and his family have suffered enough, demonstrating that there is still some semblance of decency left in this country.

NHS privatisation plot (2)

From 38 Degrees:

It’s being called backdoor NHS privatisation. And if we want to stop it, what happens in Parliament this week is crucial. Some Labour, Lib Dem and Green MPs have tabled a motion demanding the NHS privatisation plan be immediately withdrawn. [1] So far only 72 MPs have signed up. [2] We need to make that number grow, and quickly.

In the last few hours, the legal advice paid for by thousands of 38 Degrees members’ donations has come in. The verdict seems clear. If the government forces through these new NHS privatisation rules, it will mean ministers breaking promises they made last year when they said doctors wouldn't be forced to privatise everything. [3]

We’ve got the proof we need to show MPs that the government is breaking the promises made when the NHS law was forced through. Now we need to make sure every MP reads it, to convince them to sign the motion demanding these new privatisation rules are stopped.

If MPs hear from thousands of us we can make sure that they sign up to block backdoor privatisation. Can you click here to send an email asking them read our legal advice and oppose the plans?
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-broken-promises

The government says their ‘modernised’ NHS is supposed to be about giving more control to local doctors and communities. But under Jeremy Hunt’s new regulations, the government will force GPs to open up every part of local health services to private companies – whether or not it’s what they or local people want.

And it’s not just us saying this. On Sunday, the Observer newspaper reported an explosive letter from the head of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges to the health minister, outlining concerns that “healthcare will be disrupted and hospital services damaged as a result of time-consuming, disruptive and unnecessary tendering processes,” and that these new regulations are “at odds” with reassurances previously given to doctors. [6]

These are hardly the voices of radicals or political opportunists – so what’s it going to take for MPs to sit up, take notice and admit that something’s not right here? Let’s seize this moment and ask our MPs to listen to doctors, patients, legal experts and concerned constituents, before they make a big mistake:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-broken-promises

We can stop this now, if we try. In the past week we've grown our rapid-response petition to over 230,000 signatures. We’ve chipped in to pay for expert legal advice. Now let’s make the talk in the halls of Parliament on Monday be about how many voters are getting in touch about these broken promises. Together, we can help those wavering MPs to find some backbone, and help even the diehard supporters of privatisation to realise the game is up.
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-broken-promises


Thanks for using your voice,

David, James, Hannah and the 38 Degrees team


NOTES
[1] The motion was originally tabled by Green MP Caroline Lucas, but then re-tabled co-sponsored by Lib Dem Andrew George and Labour leader Ed Miliband.
[2] You can see the motion, and the latest signatures, here: http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/1104
[3] For example, Andrew Lansley sent a letter to prospective CCGs on 16th February 2012, during the height of the battle to get the Bill through parliament, in which he assured them, “I know many of you may have read that you will be forced to fragment services, or to put services out to tender. This is absolutely not the case." See http://www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/nicola-cutcher-lucy-reynolds/nhs-as-we-know-it-needs-prayer
[4] https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-section75-legal-advice
[5] Telegraph: Scrap NHS competition rules say 1000 in letter to Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9901194/Scrap-NHS-competition-rules-say-1000-in-letter-to-Telegraph.html
[6] Guardian: Doctors bemoan NHS privatisation by stealth http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/02/doctors-bemoan-nhs-privatisation-by-stealth

Postscript [05/03/13]
NHS private sector climbdown. Read about it here.

Jeremy Hunt’s new privatisation plot

From Becky Jarvis of 38 Degrees

A new fight over NHS privatisation has just begun. Jeremy Hunt is trying to use new powers, hidden within last year’s controversial NHS laws, to force local GPs to privatise more health services. This is one of the things we were afraid might happen – and now our worst fears are being confirmed. We need to do all we can to stop it.

Jeremy Hunt’s new privatisation plot is contained within “NHS competition regulations”. Usually these kinds of rules get quickly rubber-stamped by Parliament. This time, we need to get MPs and Lords to stand up to Hunt and block his plans.

It’s a long shot, but we have a chance of stopping these changes because Hunt is breaking promises made to MPs when NHS laws were voted through last year. If we generate a huge, public outcry to put pressure on the politicians who clung on to those promises last time the government attacked our NHS, we can convince them to stop these new laws.

Sign the petition against Jeremy Hunt’s new NHS privatisation plan here – we’ve got just a couple of days before we’ll need to deliver it.

Read here.

Update [27/02/2013]

The Telegraph is reporting that “an outcry from medical groups, MPs and campaigners against privatisation in the NHS has forced a re-think”. In just 24 hours 130,000 people signed the petition against the changes. Over the next few hours, Hunt will be deciding whether or not he can hold out in the face of the public outcry. There is still time to sign the petition.