One of my oldest and dearest friends has gone public on his support for Scottish Independence. I am greatly cheered by this. More thoughts later.
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“…intrusion programs are discounted……”
The Mail piece on the NHS is yet another example of the destabilizing by the corporate media of a fine institution of which the majority of us are proud.
Remember. It’s destabilize, dismantle, destroy.
I called into the surgery this morning having been advised on a voicemail that some test results had come through. I was given an appointment for this Wednesday morning.
Two years ago when I broke my wrist, I was hospitalized for a week. The care and kindness I received was overwhelming. The workload for the staff was immense but they stayed cheerful throughout in spite of some who moaned about nothing. Now morale is so low a large percentage of nurses want to leave their profession as staff numbers are reduced and the workload increases. The destabilizing is taking effect.
My GP who I remember coming to the practice as a new member of staff has just retired. On his last day, some patients were seen leaving in tears as the practice nurse told me. That is a demonstration of the closeness of the bond between patients and doctors. Sadly he is retiring as a widower. His attractive wife died of breast cancer a couple of years back. I used to see her when she came in for bone scans when she was in remission following surgery, chemo and radiotherapy. Secondaries returned and the disease had metastasized. It is very sad for him.
“Anon,
“Except that the anonymous source gave the story to the Telegraph and RT is merely reporting on it.
Please point me to the place in the Telegraph article which RT copied to make reference to our blog leader.”
Thought not!
This MP Michael Meacher knows what he is talking about.
The cat is finally out of the bag
Saturday 5th April 2014
Tory-in-disguise Lord Warner has confirmed what campaigners knew all along – the plan to end our NHS as a service free at the point of use
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-ff0b-The-cat-is-finally-out-of-the-bag
~~~~~
Next time you are voting, remember these names who voted for a war on Syria.
Syria: How did your MP vote in the Commons over military action?
Aug 30, 2013
By Jason Beattie
David Cameron asked MPs to back military action in principle but dozens of Tories joined Labour to vote against him
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/syria-how-your-mp-vote-2238483
How about the weedy LDs who joined with the Ayes? As for those who didn’t vote, what cowards.
Many of those who voted in favour would have voted for the Health and Social Care Act 2012 which set the dismantling of the NHS in process.
“”Please point me to the place in the Telegraph article which RT copied to make reference to our blog leader.”
Thought not!”
What on earth are you drivelling on about, John? You claimed the ‘MSM’ was slow on the uptake on a story reported by RT. I showed you that the story was broken by the Telegraph and followed up by RT. Whether or not Craig Murray of the Guardian, BBC and Mail gets a mention is entirely irrelevant to the fact that you appear not to even bother to read the articles you link to.
Today Norfolks ten year saga with incineration has ended, the council has ditched the contract and will be fleeced by Cory Wheelabrators generous contarctual breakage clause to the tune of 30.5 million.
I NCC would not have cancelled the contract today, as Mr. Pickles could not see fit to give them any idea of whether he would back up the planning permission after cal;ling it in last September, they would have occured another 5 million debt by May 1st.
Excellent news which will hopefully result in methods being approved that actually reduce residual landfill and household waste.
Ten years of campaigning has paid off, a US company with a record for ‘gross pollution’ as long as your arm, has fleeced a local council by doing absolutely nothing except propose a project, get a contract signed that is tight and preferentual to them and then wait until the council cancels the project, what a scam.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/video_it_s_all_over_norfolk_county_council_votes_to_ditch_king_s_lynn_incinerator_1_3528254
Julie Bailey, who blew the whistle on the appalling state of care at Mid-Staffs, with patients drinking water from flower vases and lying in their own urine, where up to 1,200 patients died unnecessarily over a three year period, was actually hounded from the town she lived in. She had excrement posted through her letterbox, the tyres of her cars slashed and her mother’s grave vandalized.
What you are dealing with here is a sort of cult, critics of which are treated as heretics. It’s going to take a brave person to push through much needed reforms.
“Today Norfolks ten year saga with incineration has ended”
Thank God for that.
Take note you tr—s.
Survey: Nurses question impact of Francis report at frontline
5 February, 2014
More than half of nurses believe their ward or unit remains dangerously understaffed one year after a seminal report drew attention to the dangers of staff shortages, according to our latest survey, which suggests little has changed at the NHS frontline.
http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice/clinical-zones/patient-safety/exclusive-staff-levels-still-dangerous-a-year-after-mid-staffs-report/5067631.article
+++++
06 Feb 2014
‘Today, in a foreword to a report by the Nuffield Trust, Mr Francis also pays tribute to NHS staff.
He says: “The vast majority of front-line staff, who are consistently hard-working, conscientious and compassionate, have to understand that criticism of poor and unacceptable practice is not aimed at them but is part of a struggle to support everything they stand for.”
It was something that quite patently needed to be said.
Over the past year, NHS staff I have spoken to have often been in despair at the fall out from Mid-Staffs. They have felt that the rhetoric from ministers and, yes, the media has been relentlessly negative, as if what happened on those wards at that trust was happening on all wards at every trust.’
http://blogs.channel4.com/victoria-macdonald-on-health-and-social-care/nhs-reform-year-francis-report-midstaffs-changed/1857
++++++
MSM is catching up. Here Seymour M. Hersh contradicts, partly from a leak at Porton Down, the former MSM global accusation that Syria’s Assad had used sarin in a chemical attack on his own people. Thanks to the Russians brokering a deal to dismantle chemical weapons another Cameron/Obama planned war was averted. Don’t expect the dissenters will apologise but the blame for the sarin attack was Erdogan’s Turkey (possibly at the behest of NATO).
http://www.lrb.co.uk/2014/04/06/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line
“There has not been one single piece of additional evidence of Syrian involvement in the sarin attack produced by the White House since the bombing raid was called off. My government can’t say anything because we have acted so irresponsibly. And since we blamed Assad, we can’t go back and blame Erdoğan.’”
Anon
While I can agree with you that there is a lot wrong with the management of the NHS and in particular it is often run more for the benefit of doctors and senior management than its employees, I’m sorry but I don’t see how increasing the use of the market mechanism/asking for monetary contributions other than taxes will do much to address those problems, with the possible exception of some form of charging for hypochondriacs and others who abuse the service. The basic concept of the Health Service is that it should be there for those in genuine need regardless of their means – largely because when we did have access to Health rationed by price then the health of the less well off was demonstrably worse than the rest. Yes there are inefficiencies and poor service but I don’t believe that they are beyond the wit of man to fix by means other than the price mechanism – talking and listening to users and acting on what they say, and training and employing professional managers rather than relying on over paid consultants (just look at the rates they charge and the overheads they support before making any efficiency claims)might have something to contribute.
There has been an increasing trend for many of services to become increasingly driven by the price mechanism e.g. water metering and school buses are two that I have seen in recent years – I am well enough off to pay, but I suspect that less well off families have to make real sacrifices to do so. We just need to recognise that some things are cheaper and more efficient when they are collectively funded through our taxes (school, health, public transport, TV (just compare the cost and quality of the BBC with Sky) rather than using the price mechanism – just are there other goods and services where the opposite is the case.
You are right that we don’t want the soviet style workers committees that many here would want to see (I have seen former Soviet health services and they are not a pretty sight) but there is something between that and creping privatisation.
What on earth are you drivelling on about, John?
Go back and read the comment you took issue with. You misunderstood. I was praising the Telegraph in saying that MSM was catching up in reporting the truth. I never said RT broke the story. In fact RT credits the Telegraph and all those MSM links came before. I included the RT link because it was the only one that mentioned Craig Murray. Now do you understand. If not read the previous comment of mine about how the MSM is catching up with an honest report about what happened in Syria rather than the shit it had been asking us to believe before. Peace.
Nevermind,
Well done, glad you realised your efforts with successful outcome.
Are you totally against incineration, is the Finnish model of waste management one to replicate, I believe that I am right in thinking the Scandinavians have better principals regarding material consumption and waste. A new regime on consumption will welcomed by the majority if correctly applied.
http://www.asrm.ro/evenimente/evak/WasteManagement_final.pdf
Putin’s puppets will obviously see the Hersh article as definitive proof that Turkey did the gassing – just as previously they blamed the Qatari’s/US anyone else other than their fellow puppet the slobbering Dauphin. I’m afraid the argument that Assad wouldn’t do it because he was winning the war anywhere doesn’t really cut it with me – bad guys can just be bad for the sake of it, don’t belive me look up the Hama massacre.
There are times when I wish Hersh and his fellow conspiracy theorists might just try to acquaint themselves with Occam’s razor.
It’s a bit disconcerting when you address the ventriloquist and the dummy answers.
Hurby
“No, habby. A sharper western management wouldn’t involve itself in these zero sum games, especially with the sun in their eyes and the wind at their opponents back.”
_______________
Which, when translated, means for example that if the Rooskies moved to “protect” the Rooskie minorities in the Baltic States the West would simply rill over without protest?
You really are the useful idiot as described by Resident Dissident, Anon and others.
“roll over”
Clark
“Habbabkuk, since you seem incapable of understanding context,
if the funding method ain’t broken, don’t spend money on fixing it.”
__________________
I think that the general implication of your posts (and those of others) is that only the UK has hit on the right funding model and all the other western European countries have got it wrong. Do you really believe that?
************
And I’d very much agree with Anon when he says
“What you are dealing with here is a sort of cult, critics of which are treated as heretics. It’s going to take a brave person to push through much needed reforms.”
The UK version of healthcare is indeed a cult and is, in a way, an example of the sort of British hubris (“we do it better” / “only we can do it properly”) which has done the country a disservice in many areas since the war.
***************
ad Resident Dissident : every western European healthcare service makes special provision, in different ways, for low income, disadvantaged groups: so your comment that “the basic concept of the Health Service is that it should be there for those in genuine need regardless of their means”, while correct, is not a convincing argument against Continental “pay something at the point of service” models.
Clark, Technicolour (or anyone else):
I hear from acquaintances who have had recourse to the NHS over the last years that – apart from the quasi-impossibility of getting a GP’s appointment speedily – when you do finally get to see one, you are rationed to 10 minutes. I also hear that waiting times in A and E are very long.
What is your explanation for why this should be so, given that you appear to think that the NHS and/or its financing model don’t need any fixing?
Resident Dissident
“While I can agree with you that there is a lot wrong with the management of the NHS and in particular it is often run more for the benefit of doctors and senior management than its employees,…”
_______________
I think you’ve let the real cat out of the bag with that one.
Surely the point is precisely that the NHS should be run NEITHER for the benefit of doctors and senior management, NOR for its employees BUT for the benefit of its users the public.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What you wrote illustrates the truth of those who claim that in the end, every large corporation (whether private or public) ends up serving the interest of its members rather than those of the people it is meant to serve.
Monsieur Goss, although old enough to remember Peter Brough and “Educating Archie”, has obviously still not learnt that you’re meant to address the dummy and not the ventriloquist.
Pay attention, there!
On topic (apologies)
Is Fred about? No? OK, keep your voices down, something’s just occurred to me.
I was writing my address and I wondered ….
If we get an Independent Scotland, will the last line of my address still be United Kingdom? Presumably not.
But what about the rest of the UK? Retaining the country name of UK would be illogical but what’s the alternative? Britain, no. Great Britain, no. British Isles, no. Looks like it would have to be England, Wales and N. Ireland bit of a mouthful, or just carry on with UK and hope nobody notices.
And now that I think about it, what about the Union Jack. Well the name’s going to have to go for a start. Och, it’s all getting too complicated, just keep our bits of the flag, your welcome.
Now that Fred’s been mention;
Fred; “I honestly do not understand why that woman is not in prison where she belongs”
Possible answer via the BBC;
“But she is slavishly loyal to Dave”
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-26919839
Things hotting up in the Ukraine;
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26930998
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/06/us-ukraine-crisis-storm-idUSBREA350B420140406
Meanwhile in Syria, the locals are fighting back against the Western backed “Rebels”;
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-04/05/c_133241007.htm
Macky…
You have been Productive recently..
Thank you for Syria Gassing… stuff… And Ukraine…
A wise one Speaks –
Is There Anyone Out There Who Still Believes in Barack Obama’s Lies? by William Blum
Does anyone recall what NATO said in 2003 when the United States bombed and invaded Iraq with “shock and awe”, compared to the Russians now not firing a single known shot at anyone? And neither Russia nor Ukraine is even a member of NATO. Does NATO have a word to say about the right-wing coup in Ukraine, openly supported by the United States, overthrowing the elected government? Did the hypocrisy get any worse during the Cold War? Imagine that NATO had not been created in 1949. Imagine that it has never existed. What reason could one give today for its creation? Other than to provide a multi-national cover for Washington’s interventions.
One of the main differences between now and the Cold War period is that Americans at home are (not yet) persecuted or prosecuted for supporting Russia or things Russian.
But don’t worry, folks, there won’t be a big US-Russian war. For the same reason there wasn’t one during the Cold War. The United States doesn’t pick on any country which can defend itself.
Cuba … Again … Still … Forever
Is there actually a limit? Will the United States ever stop trying to overthrow the Cuban government? Entire books have been written documenting the unrelenting ways Washington has tried to get rid of tiny Cuba’s horrid socialism – from military invasion to repeated assassination attempts to an embargo that President Clinton’s National Security Advisor called “the most pervasive sanctions ever imposed on a nation in the history of mankind”.(5) But nothing has ever come even close to succeeding. The horrid socialism keeps on inspiring people all over the world. It’s the darnedest thing. Can providing people free or remarkably affordable health care, education, housing, food and culture be all that important?
Full Copy @
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/is-there-anyone-out-there-who-still-believes-in-barack-obamas-lies/#more-160648
Habbabkuk, 7 Apr, 11:33 pm; no, you’re the one who keeps saying that there should be some payment at the point of treatment, so the onus is upon you to prevent evidence that your proposition would lead to improvement. We don’t need any “convincing argument against Continental “pay something at the point of service” models”, because we don’t have such a model. Rather, those who would introduce such a model need to present an argument for it.
To me, the revenue collection method looks irrelevant to patient care and health treatment, and quite honestly, I suspect ulterior motives that will make things worse, like diverting money to investors and shareholders.
7 Apr, 11:21 pm
So in addition to instigating additional methods of raising revenue, various “special provisions” will have to be implemented and maintained as well. Habbabkuk, this all costs money, and it does nothing to improve patient care or treatment.
Resident Dissident, please talk some more sense to Habbabkuk; he might just take some notice of you.
Ben,
Sorry but can’t trust you,after many months of posts.
You seem way too conveniently locked in against Habba et al as a good cop/bad cop makeweight.Faaaaar too comfortably offset.
Sincere apologies if i’m wrong,Ben.
“Sorry but can’t trust you,after many months of posts.”
No worries. I don’t really visit or comment to overcome trust issues. I’ve learned a lot.
That’s why I’m here.
“While I can agree with you that there is a lot wrong with the management of the NHS and in particular it is often run more for the benefit of doctors and senior management than its employees,…”
Habba – I meant its patients and users – not employees. I just got that bit wrong – but not the rest.
Habba
There have been various attempts to introduce pricing/internal market into the NHS over a number of years – do you really think that they have contributed to an improvement in its performance? If not – why do you think more of such measures will help?