An excellent posting here on the “lawmakers” who stand to make money out of turning over the NHS to private profit.
Is it fair to call this privatisation? The NHS will continue to be funded by taxpayers, but the primary motivation of those supplying the medical services will no longer be care or public service but private shareholder or partner profit, and the percentage of the taxpayers’ money paid for the NHS which ends up as shareholder or partner profit will exponentially increase. NHS hospitals will be allowed to give 49% of their beds over to private patients. I think it is fair to call this privatisation.
But it is also worth remembering that this process of the “marketisation” of the NHS was given a massive boost by New Labour in the 2006 Health Act under Blair and Milburn. As the research I linked to above makes plain, as usual all three neo-con parties are absolutely in it together. Maybe that’s what “We’re all in this together” really means.
What they are all in is the trough.
Unlike the local builder on a parish council, these unelected individuals do not declare their interests in their meeting place.
Yes and looky looky who already has his foot in the door…
http://therighttodieathomewiththoseilove.blogspot.com/2012/01/camerons-pal-matthew-freud.html
whatever we write into the CO2 sky, fuming, the NHS will be privatised by all three parties, nough said, we wil not do anything about it here, we can’t be bothered.
Years ago the “moribund” public sector was identified by private financial actors as a prime “frontier” for investment, there were, opportunities here to make the mouth water. Not least the size of the public sector, its “semi-monopoly” strucure, and “access” to public financed subsidies and taxpayer bailouts.
This is definitely privatisation, but of a special kind. The state will provide the funding and the profits will be more-or-less built into the structure of the contracts, like with the PFIs, only on a gigantic scale. What this means is a worse and more restricted system of healthcare, that’ll be much more expensive for the taxpayer. In other words, another massive transfer of societies wealth into the pockets of the financial sector.
It’s a form of robbery, with Robin “lib-dem” Hood, having changed sides, and he’s now working for the Sheriff, Prince John, and the Barons.
After the NHS, expect the education sector, schools, both primary and secondary, to come into focus for pretty much the same treatment and “reforms.” There’s huge ammounts of money to be made here too. The fast that Murdoch’s empire is interested in running schools and colleges in the UK should send shivers up people’s spines.
We are witnessing the dismantling of the Welfare State’s core structures; healthcare and education, replaced by a system Dickens would have recognised and deplored.
The people/sheeple will not realize that the NHS has disappeared until the point at which they need it. When I tell friends that it is now going to go within three to five years, I receive either an uncomprehending look or one of pity as if I have fallen off my trolley.
Mary – I know exactly what you mean. I’ve tried to alert people (on the bus, and in my local U3A) to what the consequences of this legislation will be, and received, at most, ‘oh, but Mr Cameron promised no top-down re-organisation of the NHS – I’m sure he’ll keep his word!’
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The only person who agreed with me was the bus-driver – who happened to be the last Labour Mayor of Havant. And I had to point out to him what had been the policy of the last ‘Labour’ government, at which point his face went rather more red than the Labour Party’s current flag – and he admitted that I was correct, but he’d voted against the policy several times, which was all he could do.
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The constituency in which I live is ‘solid Tory,’ and so are almost all its neighbours, yet maps in the ‘Guardian’ a few days ago showed these constituencies (Havant and Waterlooville, Gosport, Portsmouth North) as being areas of well-above average poverty, both current and projected.
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‘There are none so blind as those who will not see.’
I just found this joke (apparently current in NHS circles) on another blog. For me, just about sums up what I feel about the NHS legislation.
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‘A visitor to a hospital is stopped by a member of staff in the car park:
“Sorry to bother you but during a visit to the hospital some demonstrators have taken Andrew Lansley hostage and are threatening to drain all his blood, fill him up with petrol and set him on fire unless he drops his NHS reform bill. So we’re asking around for donors in case the worst comes to the worst and he needs a transfusion. Would you be willing to donate?“
“Sure. But I’m not sure of my type.”
“Don’t worry, any type will do, unleaded, 4-star, diesel……”’
The mantra of our times: public debt for private profit. One thing’s for sure, neither the democratic system nor informed medical opinion has any weight in this process.
A Chinese friend recently had to have a minor operation under the NHS. The complexity, inefficiency and slowness of the process appalled her: in China, apparently, everything works much better.
I note the research list Craig sights begins with the statement, “the dire state of our democracy” in other words our democracy is dangerously close to collapse.
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Britain leads the pack (behind China) in removing internet content deemed as violating national security according to a Google transparency report, while MP’s insist internet service providers should be judge, jury and executioner on internet content, conveniently distancing themselves from ‘big brother’ allegations and threatening ISP’s with seizure under the 2006 Terrorism Act. Since the ‘leak’ that disclosed the training of foreign fighters in Syria British security firms are demanding extensive monitoring of blogs and social networking sites by GCHQ.
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https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/members-uk-parliament-recommend-censoring-online-extremism
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{http://rt.com/news/uk-online-surveillance-plan-733/}
Komodo
“A Chinese friend recently had to have a minor operation under the NHS. The complexity, inefficiency and slowness of the process appalled her: in China, apparently, everything works much better.”
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True not only with regards to China but also to Uzbekistan. But only one small issue is (I am not sure about China) in Uzbekistan patients need to pay (or better say reward) doctors for the treatment.
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Having said this, I still think that privatisation of NHS will be the biggest single mistake UK government have even done with regards to internal policy. It might improve quality slightly but at the same time cast out many millions who unable to afford healthcare. I see increased popularity of US type private health insurance that will be as insufficient and as scamish if not more as car insurance.
The reason the Attlee government, in the shape of Nye Bevan, created an NHS from which the private sector was excluded is pretty straightforward. 1st, as Craig notes, the core function of a private sector company/corporation is maximise profit/minimise loss, whereas the core function of the NHS is the wellbeing of the public. 2nd, the intrinsic nature of private sector companies is to chase profits and expand market share, all with the aim of increasing share prices and dividends to shareholders. To that end, private sector entities will always be pushing for more, for a bigger share of the budget, for greater operational remits, for a diminishing of the regulatory burden via lobbying firms or via any NHS/government officials/ministers they can get on board. That is their nature and their plan, which has already succeeded admirably – in the USA.
Uzbek – you’re missing one crucial cosmetic point. The Cameron/Lansley plans will always include the ‘free at the point of use’ conditionality. Trouble is, as time goes by the NHS will also become crap at the point of use.
@Mike Cobley
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Well, if hospitals are allowed to give 49% of beds to private patients and considering that even now waiting times for operations is around 6 months I see that those who can afford it jump to private healthcare by either paying themselves or buying private medical insurance.
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And what about those who cannot afford 49% of private beds, would they rely on only 51%? Considering ageing population I see increased demands of healthcare which is combined with reduced amount of available beds will lead to serious complications.
Welfare for the rich, unfair for the poor. That’s what ‘austerity’ is all about. Claw back a few million from the poorest and most disadvantaged and give it to the most wealthy.
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The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh just took £13 million quid of public money from Europe. Where’s the justice in that when the citizens in Europe are rioting on the streets and are being sold by politicians into a lifetime of bankster debt slavery?
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Plans for £4m Jubilee Square in Leicester, and guess who’s paying?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-17273609
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Diamond jubilee? Do these people even know what the word ‘jubilee’ means? She has shares in the Bank of England for crying out loud.
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About time the UK elected it’s head of state, like normal countries instead of supporting these parasites, leeches and cuckoos – shouldn’t James Hewitt be paying for Prince Harry? He is the father after all.
One other small point to add here, is that when sh.t hits the fan government will be removed from any type of responsibility. Word Private in the UK means Untouchable and all government will do, is using media propaganda, encourage people to buy private medical insurance.
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Years ago I read one good book by Russian writers. The book is called Colden Calf and was about hustlers. One interesting point was made by experienced hustler who was giving tutorials for less experienced. The experienced said that if you push your hand in someone’s pocket then it is pick-pocketing and it is a crime that it is prosecuted. But then if you make someone to give you all the money they have in their pocket voluntary by using some of hustling techniques then it is no crime. So, summarised experienced hustler, you need to create conditions under which you get hold of the money and will remain unprosecuted.
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It seems to me that some Tories have certainly learnt one or two of hustling techniques from Ostap Bender (experienced hustler from the book).
Uzbek – I’m relying one one person’s report, so please don’t think I’m glorifying the Chinese system. Which is rapidly improving and embraces public hospitals to which access is possible without referral. Some medics here seem to have begun to take notice of this:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60327-4/fulltext
I would guess that patients’ incentives to doctors are (at least, officially) frowned on in China, and the cost is limited; though they do seem to be going down the private insurance route, to be sure.
What surprised me was that my friend’s experience of the NHS was so much worse than she would have encountered at home that she even mentioned it and asked my opinion. Her innate courtesy would have prevented her from raising the matter simply to make conversation.
Is it fair to call this privatisation?
Yes
The NHS will continue to be funded by taxpayers
To start with, it will. But when the state no longer provides the care, when all the hospitals, clinics and other services are all in private hands, the funding will gradually dry up. Certain treatments won’t be paid for, patients will be expected to pay for some or all of their treatment and eventually it will be all private. Corporations will have no qualms about turning people away who can’t pay. Bankruptcies will be common.
Yoav – I think that’s bang on target.
mike cobley
‘free at the point of use’ conditionality.
Since when the words of the duplicitous bastards who are renowned for being liars and psychopaths has held true?
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Example of Free at the point of delivery; MR. Smith you need a heart bypass, or you will die. Thank you for calling now, you can go, good bye. That was the Free bit, and poor Mr. smith was kicked out of the consulting room.
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Back in the waiting room, Mr. smith then asks: when can he have his heart operation? This he is told: depends on when he deposits the thirty thousand pounds in an account No. that is given in the leaflet that the surgeon had prescribed. There you go, a Free consultation, and a Free prescription; ie the mail-shot for the account number and the price list of the operation, with a menu attached for him to choose his meals. That you can call a five star service!
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These fucking money junkies will not rest until all the money that is in UK is in their accounts. The shameless bastards have sold the country from the underneath the arses of we the people, and have come back for the flesh of our arses too.
No mention of the state’s cost of training the professionals who work in the NHS and who are poached by the privateers. The training will go by the board when the private sector has taken over.
E-mail just in
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Thank you very much for taking part in the Rally to Save Our NHS on Wednesday night. It was an inspiring event, with speaker after speaker lining up to give their expert views and personal stories about the damage the proposed changes could wreak on our health service.
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We’ve now got most of the speakers’ videos uploaded, and you can watch them on YouTube. Please help share them with friends and colleagues – together they represent a really powerful testimony, enabled by all of the thousands of people who came together in London and online to stage the event.
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Things are moving very quickly on this now. The government have announced the third reading and final Lords vote on the Bill for 19 March. This gives us only ten days before the Bill could be back in the Commons and on to Royal Assent.
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Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham used the Rally to announce that he will be holding an Opposition Day debate on the Bill next Tuesday, which will be a chance for all MPs to vote on the Bill as a whole, rather than just accepting Lords amendments.
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He has done this because the government have to date refused a Commons debate on Dr Kailash Chand’s e-petition, despite it getting well over the 100,000 signatures that are needed to trigger a debate. The Government has also still not published the risk register for the Bill – despite losing their appeal today against the Information Commissioner’s ruling that they should make the document public.
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Ahead of the debate in the Commons, we need to be working with our MPs, particularly Liberal Democrat MPs.
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We’ve built a quick tool to help you lobby your MP here.
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Please tell them how strongly you feel about these drastic and dangerous changes to the NHS, and ask them to represent you as a constituent by voting against the Bill.
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But we also need to keep sight of the final vote in the Lords.
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All major amendments to date have been defeated, but the margin of the vote has fallen a bit over time. If we are able to convince 30 more Liberal Democrat or cross-bench Peers to change their vote, it could swing the numbersin favour of amendments it will be difficult for the Government to accept, or even against the Bill as a whole.
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You can use our “Adopt a Peer” tool to identify and write to a member of the House of Lords. They don’t have constituency duties like MPs, but are less used to direct lobbying than MPs, so could be more influenced by personal testimony or commentary from other experience and perspectives.
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So that’s two milestones in the next ten days – 13 March in the Commons and 19 March in the Lords. Let’s get busy and try to change as many minds as possible before those votes.
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At the Rally, there was no shortage of people to repeat Nye Bevan’s famous quote that “the NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it.”
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The NHS needs your faith over the next ten days.
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Live links within this e-mail are on
http://action.goingtowork.org.uk/page/m/1f11b304/3ab82785/54452d46/540759dc/2957503580/VEsO/
9 March 2012 Last updated at 15:59
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NHS risk register: Ministers lose Freedom of Information appeal
The risk register was compiled ahead of the introduction of the Health and Social Care Bill
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Related Stories
Whitehall’s worries about FOI case
‘No evidence’ for NHS risks fear
NHS risks publication ‘insidious’
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Ministers have been ordered to publish a risk assessment of the NHS shake-up under Freedom of Information laws.
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The Department of Health had appealed against an FOI ruling that the transition risk register, requested by Labour MP John Healey, be published.
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But it lost, despite civil servants’ warnings that to publish confidential advice could have a “chilling effect”.
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Mr Healey said the ruling gave “strong legal support to a full and open debate” about NHS plans for England.
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“The judgement backs the public’s right to know about the risks the government is taking with its NHS plans,” he said – accusing the government of having “dragged out” the process for 15 months.
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Section 35 defence
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The government still has the option of a further appeal to the “upper tribunal”.
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Meanwhile the controversial Health and Social Care Bill, which introduces an overhaul of the way the NHS is run in England, is in the final stages of its passage through Parliament.
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The government had used the “section 35” defence under the Freedom of Information Act, which exempts information used in policy formulation and development from having to be released.
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But it must be weighed against the balance of public interest – and in an earlier ruling the information commissioner had said in this case, that was “very strong”.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17312611
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Read on and see that O’Donnell was involved in this evasion.
“About time the UK elected it’s head of state, like normal countries instead of supporting these parasites, leeches and cuckoos..”
Nothing is as irrelevant as the monarchy. Except for this sort of C18th republicanism: “normal countries” indeed.
You mean like the USA where the President has powers James II would have envied, and he is elected by the heads of six banks, with a veto being given to the Secret Police?
http://therighttodieathomewiththoseilove.blogspot.com/2012/03/john-healey-mp-challenge-to-cameron.html
MP John Healy on Risk Register…challenge to Cameron
Mary: thanks for that summary. It is exactly how Labour tried to push through the LLRB – obfustication and speed.
In that case, the Bill was butchered by the Lords, after being heavily attacked by lawyers (commercial lawyers like Clifford Chance among them). So:
1. Does anyone know if there is a legal stance on this Bill?
2. People should be writing to, and informing, members of the House of Lords too.
massice air activities al day long here, these Condems rweally know how to defend the NHS, by privatising it whilst attacking Iran, full our war coverage the olympics and thje jubilee will be prime diversion time to monger and pass laws and repress us some more.
Unless these fighter pilots are as addicted to flying, just as some of the more worldy like humpty dumpties.
Chris2 Nothing is as irrelevant as the monarchy. Except for this sort of C18th republicanism: “normal countries” indeed.
You mean like the USA…
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No, I was thinking of Iceland actually.
Chris2,
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“Except for this sort of C18th republicanism”
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What, as opposed to your 14th Century regalism?
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Is it not the fact that we have an unelected and ceremonial head of state which allows the Prime Minister of the UK to behave *exactly* like the President of a republic?
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In effect we get the worst of both worlds thanks to the archaic anachronism of having an unelected billionaire as the head of state of a ‘democratic’ country.
O/T but still privatisation.
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Britain as a private security state: first they came for the asylum seeker …
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John Grayson
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Private security firms are in the news – a national contract worth £3.5 billion is being rolled out to privatise police functions. Eight public prisons are being market tested with future private contracts worth £2.5 billion. The largest security company in the world, G4S, figures in all these developments. G4S and two other security companies are also set to take over asylum-seeker housing, privatising the last ‘humanitarian’ public housing for those fleeing persecution. But this is only the latest evidence of asylum seekers being used as ‘guinea pigs’ to test unsavoury policies in such areas as welfare reform, legal aid and now housing.
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The growing and now endemic ‘common sense racism’ of political and media discourses with regard to asylum seekers and foreigners has meant that a fundamental erosion in the legal rights and status of social citizenship in the UK has over fifteen or so years been piloted by governments in ‘the Orwellian world of immigration controls’.[1] As Judith Shklar describes it, a world where there is ‘a symbolic glass floor – citizens exist above the floor and can look down on those beneath who are excluded from citizenship and are thus the most deprived in society’.
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http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/john-grayson/britain-as-private-security-state-first-they-came-for-asylum-seeker