On the NHS, Had quite serious back issues. Saw my GP who sent me for an MRI scan, which identified the problem. Was referred for surgery which was fully successful. All of the above was paid for by the NHS, all of it was carried out by privatised providers. My GP, the scan and the surgery, all privatised, all excellent and all carried out within six weeks. More privatization of none emergency care would suit me down to the ground.
For the past 2 months I’ve been acting as chauffeur to an elderly neighbour while he underwent cataract surgery on both eyes. Despite being on the NHS, all of the consultancy, op and post op treatment was successfully carried out by a local private Hospital.
As long as the treatment remains free at the point of use, I really don’t see what the problem is with outsourcing to the private sector.
Cateracts are the number 1 cherry picked service.
Try getting a hip operation carried out on someone with complex comorbidities at the local private hospital
Especially if you don't like them
And that's absolutely fine.
The private sector is better at sweating assets (increasing throughput) than the NHS. (I remember someone telling me how they had massively improved the throughout in a screening facility by taking away the free coffee and biscuits for patients).
So if they do the easy stuff, and they do them quickly and efficiently, then that frees up capacity in the NHS for the more complex operations.
Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party. Is that not just buying the contracts? (MODS, I haven't mentioned who or which party, surely you wont pull the post again).
Setting aside the fact that campaign finance as a whole needs to be reformed, under the present rules, yes. Provided, of course, that the contract tenders are completely uninfluenced by any donations with companies may or may not have met.
Do you think it is right that the unions pump millions into a political party while explicitly demanding a say over policy. Is that not just buying the likely next government?
" that the contract tenders are completely uninfluenced by any donations with companies may or may not have met." So you think it is a total coincidence then?
On the NHS, Had quite serious back issues. Saw my GP who sent me for an MRI scan, which identified the problem. Was referred for surgery which was fully successful. All of the above was paid for by the NHS, all of it was carried out by privatised providers. My GP, the scan and the surgery, all privatised, all excellent and all carried out within six weeks. More privatization of none emergency care would suit me down to the ground.
For the past 2 months I’ve been acting as chauffeur to an elderly neighbour while he underwent cataract surgery on both eyes. Despite being on the NHS, all of the consultancy, op and post op treatment was successfully carried out by a local private Hospital.
As long as the treatment remains free at the point of use, I really don’t see what the problem is with outsourcing to the private sector.
Cateracts are the number 1 cherry picked service.
Try getting a hip operation carried out on someone with complex comorbidities at the local private hospital
Especially if you don't like them
And that's absolutely fine.
The private sector is better at sweating assets (increasing throughput) than the NHS. (I remember someone telling me how they had massively improved the throughout in a screening facility by taking away the free coffee and biscuits for patients).
So if they do the easy stuff, and they do them quickly and efficiently, then that frees up capacity in the NHS for the more complex operations.
Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party. Is that not just buying the contracts? (MODS, I haven't mentioned who or which party, surely you wont pull the post again).
Do you think it's right unions should fund Labour?
If in power the government were giving out multi-million pound contracts to the unions to run hospitals, which in turn would mean a huge profit on the unions initial outlay, no.
So all the cash from the public service unions given to Labour during their last term of office should be refunded?
If there is a hospital run for profit by a union that donated money to the Labour Party, then yes.
" that the contract tenders are completely uninfluenced by any donations with companies may or may not have met." So you think it is a total coincidence then?
Before the last election when I was teaching we had several weeks notice of each Ofsted inspection and which of our lessons they would sit in. So I knew at least two weeks in advance when I was teaching calculus in the morning and remedial numeracy in the evening in both lessons an Ofsted Inspector would be sitting at the back of the class, I was even told the inspector's name.
Ofsted never did snap, no-notice inspections. They should have done but each time it was proposed the teaching unions screamed blue bloody murder.
On the NHS, Had quite serious back issues. Saw my GP who sent me for an MRI scan, which identified the problem. Was referred for surgery which was fully successful. All of the above was paid for by the NHS, all of it was carried out by privatised providers. My GP, the scan and the surgery, all privatised, all excellent and all carried out within six weeks. More privatization of none emergency care would suit me down to the ground.
For the past 2 months I’ve been acting as chauffeur to an elderly neighbour while he underwent cataract surgery on both eyes. Despite being on the NHS, all of the consultancy, op and post op treatment was successfully carried out by a local private Hospital.
As long as the treatment remains free at the point of use, I really don’t see what the problem is with outsourcing to the private sector.
Cateracts are the number 1 cherry picked service.
Try getting a hip operation carried out on someone with complex comorbidities at the local private hospital
Especially if you don't like them
And that's absolutely fine.
The private sector is better at sweating assets (increasing throughput) than the NHS. (I remember someone telling me how they had massively improved the throughout in a screening facility by taking away the free coffee and biscuits for patients).
So if they do the easy stuff, and they do them quickly and efficiently, then that frees up capacity in the NHS for the more complex operations.
Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party. Is that not just buying the contracts? (MODS, I haven't mentioned who or which party, surely you wont pull the post again).
Do you think it's right unions should fund Labour?
If in power the government were giving out multi-million pound contracts to the unions to run hospitals, which in turn would mean a huge profit on the unions initial outlay, no.
Pathetic. Unions fund Labour and labour do what the unions tell it. Labour set up a scheme to channel public funds directly to the unions, can't remember its name off the top of my head. Anyway ... 'Cash for policies'. The tory party does not give out contracts to NHS providers.
@blairmcdougall: ICM #indyref poll. 10pt NO lead. Undecideds leaning No by ratio of 2:1. 52% say Salmond currency plan not credible. http://t.co/VXizky1885
Before the last election when I was teaching we had several weeks notice of each Ofsted inspection and which of our lessons they would sit in. So I knew at least two weeks in advance when I was teaching calculus in the morning and remedial numeracy in the evening in both lessons an Ofsted Inspector would be sitting at the back of the class, I was even told the inspector's name.
Ofsted never did snap, no-notice inspections. They should have done but each time it was proposed the teaching unions screamed blue bloody murder.
Did your school bring in teacher that had never worked there to perform in front of the inspectors?
"Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party"
Anyone got any evidence that that has happened? Party donations are publicly available so someone making such an allegation ought to be able to back it up.
On the NHS, Had quite serious back issues. Saw my GP who sent me for an MRI scan, which identified the problem. Was referred for surgery which was fully successful. All of the above was paid for by the NHS, all of it was carried out by privatised providers. My GP, the scan and the surgery, all privatised, all excellent and all carried out within six weeks. More privatization of none emergency care would suit me down to the ground.
For the past 2 months I’ve been acting as chauffeur to an elderly neighbour while he underwent cataract surgery on both eyes. Despite being on the NHS, all of the consultancy, op and post op treatment was successfully carried out by a local private Hospital.
As long as the treatment remains free at the point of use, I really don’t see what the problem is with outsourcing to the private sector.
Cateracts are the number 1 cherry picked service.
Try getting a hip operation carried out on someone with complex comorbidities at the local private hospital
Especially if you don't like them
And that's absolutely fine.
The private sector is better at sweating assets (increasing throughput) than the NHS. (I remember someone telling me how they had massively improved the throughout in a screening facility by taking away the free coffee and biscuits for patients).
So if they do the easy stuff, and they do them quickly and efficiently, then that frees up capacity in the NHS for the more complex operations.
Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party. Is that not just buying the contracts? (MODS, I haven't mentioned who or which party, surely you wont pull the post again).
Do you think it's right unions should fund Labour?
If in power the government were giving out multi-million pound contracts to the unions to run hospitals, which in turn would mean a huge profit on the unions initial outlay, no.
Pathetic. Unions fund Labour and labour do what the unions tell it. Labour set up a scheme to channel public funds directly to the unions, can't remember its name off the top of my head. Anyway ... 'Cash for policies'. The tory party does not give out contracts to NHS providers.
I could list you a whole host of Tory funders who have been given NHS contracct, however, every time I do it , the post gets dragged and I get warned, so I cannot.
"Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party"
Anyone got any evidence that that has happened? Party donations are publicly available so someone making such an allegation ought to be able to back it up.
Yes I have, I have posted it on here a few times, the post gets dragged and I get a warning.
On the NHS, Had quite serious back issues. Saw my GP who sent me for an MRI scan, which identified the problem. Was referred for surgery which was fully successful. All of the above was paid for by the NHS, all of it was carried out by privatised providers. My GP, the scan and the surgery, all privatised, all excellent and all carried out within six weeks. More privatization of none emergency care would suit me down to the ground.
For the past 2 months I’ve been acting as chauffeur to an elderly neighbour while he underwent cataract surgery on both eyes. Despite being on the NHS, all of the consultancy, op and post op treatment was successfully carried out by a local private Hospital.
As long as the treatment remains free at the point of use, I really don’t see what the problem is with outsourcing to the private sector.
Cateracts are the number 1 cherry picked service.
Try getting a hip operation carried out on someone with complex comorbidities at the local private hospital
Especially if you don't like them
And that's absolutely fine.
The private sector is better at sweating assets (increasing throughput) than the NHS. (I remember someone telling me how they had massively improved the throughout in a screening facility by taking away the free coffee and biscuits for patients).
So if they do the easy stuff, and they do them quickly and efficiently, then that frees up capacity in the NHS for the more complex operations.
Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party. Is that not just buying the contracts? (MODS, I haven't mentioned who or which party, surely you wont pull the post again).
Do you think it's right unions should fund Labour?
If in power the government were giving out multi-million pound contracts to the unions to run hospitals, which in turn would mean a huge profit on the unions initial outlay, no.
Pathetic. Unions fund Labour and labour do what the unions tell it. Labour set up a scheme to channel public funds directly to the unions, can't remember its name off the top of my head. Anyway ... 'Cash for policies'. The tory party does not give out contracts to NHS providers.
The union modernisation fund, which, if memory serves, nearly equalled the amounts donated to Labour.
Before the last election when I was teaching we had several weeks notice of each Ofsted inspection and which of our lessons they would sit in. So I knew at least two weeks in advance when I was teaching calculus in the morning and remedial numeracy in the evening in both lessons an Ofsted Inspector would be sitting at the back of the class, I was even told the inspector's name.
Ofsted never did snap, no-notice inspections. They should have done but each time it was proposed the teaching unions screamed blue bloody murder.
Did your school bring in teacher that had never worked there to perform in front of the inspectors?
I don't know, they might have done. Certainly things were changed and spruced up to create a good impression. However, the thrust of that article is that it is somehow a scandal that a school was informed of an inspection ahead of time - that was and as far as I know still is standard practice.
"Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party"
Anyone got any evidence that that has happened? Party donations are publicly available so someone making such an allegation ought to be able to back it up.
Logic suggests that any company or indeed individual might benefit from a government contract. Whats special about the NHS? Indeed what is so outlandish about UK donation rules compared to elsewhere in the world?
"Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party"
Anyone got any evidence that that has happened? Party donations are publicly available so someone making such an allegation ought to be able to back it up.
Yes I have, I have posted it on here a few times, the post gets dragged and I get a warning.
Well do me a favour and send me a private message with the evidence that you have.
@blairmcdougall: ICM #indyref poll. 10pt NO lead. Undecideds leaning No by ratio of 2:1. 52% say Salmond currency plan not credible. http://t.co/VXizky1885
"Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party"
Anyone got any evidence that that has happened? Party donations are publicly available so someone making such an allegation ought to be able to back it up.
Yes I have, I have posted it on here a few times, the post gets dragged and I get a warning.
Well do me a favour and send me a private message with the evidence that you have.
@HurstLlama From the same link, "By law, schools can only be given half a day's notice of an inspection. Former education secretary Michael Gove has previously argued that schools should get no notice at all, to ensure that they do not evade proper scrutiny."
On the NHS, Had quite serious back issues. Saw my GP who sent me for an MRI scan, which identified the problem. Was referred for surgery which was fully successful. All of the above was paid for by the NHS, all of it was carried out by privatised providers. My GP, the scan and the surgery, all privatised, all excellent and all carried out within six weeks. More privatization of none emergency care would suit me down to the ground.
For the past 2 months I’ve been acting as chauffeur to an elderly neighbour while he underwent cataract surgery on both eyes. Despite being on the NHS, all of the consultancy, op and post op treatment was successfully carried out by a local private Hospital.
As long as the treatment remains free at the point of use, I really don’t see what the problem is with outsourcing to the private sector.
Cateracts are the number 1 cherry picked service.
Try getting a hip operation carried out on someone with complex comorbidities at the local private hospital
Especially if you don't like them
And that's absolutely fine.
The private sector is better at sweating assets (increasing throughput) than the NHS. (I remember someone telling me how they had massively improved the throughout in a screening facility by taking away the free coffee and biscuits for patients).
So if they do the easy stuff, and they do them quickly and efficiently, then that frees up capacity in the NHS for the more complex operations.
Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party. Is that not just buying the contracts? (MODS, I haven't mentioned who or which party, surely you wont pull the post again).
Do you think it's right unions should fund Labour?
If in power the government were giving out multi-million pound contracts to the unions to run hospitals, which in turn would mean a huge profit on the unions initial outlay, no.
Pathetic. Unions fund Labour and labour do what the unions tell it. Labour set up a scheme to channel public funds directly to the unions, can't remember its name off the top of my head. Anyway ... 'Cash for policies'. The tory party does not give out contracts to NHS providers.
The union modernisation fund, which, if memory serves, nearly equalled the amounts donated to Labour.
@blairmcdougall: ICM #indyref poll. 10pt NO lead. Undecideds leaning No by ratio of 2:1. 52% say Salmond currency plan not credible. http://t.co/VXizky1885
@blairmcdougall: ICM #indyref poll. 10pt NO lead. Undecideds leaning No by ratio of 2:1. 52% say Salmond currency plan not credible. http://t.co/VXizky1885
Following on from my successful day yesterday, here are my tips today, I've gone a little bit crazy, as those wonderful people at Bet 365 have given me quite a few freet bets
Southampton to win, Liverpool to win 1 nil, Skrtel, Lovrem and Sterling FGS, and Lovren to score any time.
So Labour will not be ending the role of private providers in the NHS any time soon. Tinkering with the structure of commissioning does not hide the fact that the fundamental market model will remain with the separation of procuring and providing.
No doubt Burnham will continue to trumpet the abolition of the Lansley reforms in a fine display of sophistry.
"Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party"
Anyone got any evidence that that has happened? Party donations are publicly available so someone making such an allegation ought to be able to back it up.
Yes I have, I have posted it on here a few times, the post gets dragged and I get a warning.
Because you say A therefore B. Without evidence.
Accusing people of corruption is a serious allegation and shouldn't be made lightly.
"Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party"
Anyone got any evidence that that has happened? Party donations are publicly available so someone making such an allegation ought to be able to back it up.
Yes I have, I have posted it on here a few times, the post gets dragged and I get a warning.
Because you say A therefore B. Without evidence.
Accusing people of corruption is a serious allegation and shouldn't be made lightly.
I've seen little reflection on motivation and potential turnout when it comes to this referendum. Surely thats critical now though a No vote still looks likely.
I spoke to a few Scottish people most of whom were pro-Union (PS they all live in Scotland) and I took few things from it:
-The hostility to Salmond as an individual and the view he was a total chancer (and not in a good way) seemed to be as strong as the opposition to independence
-I heard a similar sentiment expressed with consistency, that they feel some people are saying yes to independence with the idea that 'its a bit of a laugh'.
That is just anecdotal bollocks, what you would expect from some numpty in the Orange Order or the armed forces and far from the reality on the streets.
Well of course its anecdotal, its people I've spoken to. None of those people as far as I'm aware are in either the Orange Order or have history in the military.
'the reality on the streets'. What? Do you live in the hood, down where its happening in the mean streets?
That gave me a laugh, thanks for that.
You are welcome, there is a lot of information on what is happening without having to be physically on every street corner. One just needs to look.
You can read hundreds of personal stories of people deciding on YES daily , whereas if you look at NO it is only failed luvvies, businessmen looking for gongs and idiots like Abbot, Obama etc trying to help their pals the tories. There is no narrative to promote staying in the union , it is 100% negative. It is a case of Hope or NO hope.
PS:I live in a lovely detached house overlooking countryside.
Next thing you will be telling is is that James Kelly has only just decided to vote yes
Does he actually have a vote? Doesn't he live overseas?
So as well as being stupid you cannot read either. He lives in the metropolis of Cumbernauld.
You appear to have the reading issues. This ? means I'm asking a question. Do you understand now? Note the ? at the end of the previous sentence.
I answered just in case you were asking , however unless very new to site you would know where he lived as it was discussed ad nauseum on here for a long time. I just presumed you were posting sarcastically as per normal.
Only one month left of the world's most boring election campaign.
Go on Alan , tell us how you really feel about it
Well let's see
2011 campaign opens polls 60 no 40 yes
2and a half years of
Unionists: we're doomed, there'll be no money, the oil wells will dry up overnight, we'll have to barter with kidney beans and we'll have borders like East Germany
Nats: Hoots. Haggis. English bastards. Free money for all and everyone willgive us exactly what we demand because it's in their interest even though it isn't.
One month to go polls 60 No 40 Yes.
All this tells us is Eck has the nation building skills of Slobadan Milosevic.
Alan, you have the 60/40 bit wrong and you missed out the neeps and tatties. Also only Westminster has been criticised , not the English. 6 out of 10 must try harder next time.
Also only Westminster has been criticised , not the English.
malc do you think anybody apart from yourself believes that crap ? It's dog whistling for the Neds; at least have the guts to recognise it as such. Next you'll be telling me the Tory bogeyman means only the Tories in Scotland and nowhere else.
Not at all Tories are seen as bogeymen , but I still say there has been very little said about hating English people. That is because most people do not indeed dislike them in any way, there will always be a few loons on boith sides of the borders that do I agree. For all the scaremongering about foreigners etc by BT it has not caused any anti English feeling as they hoped for.
I've seen little reflection on motivation and potential turnout when it comes to this referendum. Surely thats critical now though a No vote still looks likely.
I spoke to a few Scottish people most of whom were pro-Union (PS they all live in Scotland) and I took few things from it:
-The hostility to Salmond as an individual and the view he was a total chancer (and not in a good way) seemed to be as strong as the opposition to independence
-I heard a similar sentiment expressed with consistency, that they feel some people are saying yes to independence with the idea that 'its a bit of a laugh'.
That is just anecdotal bollocks, what you would expect from some numpty in the Orange Order or the armed forces and far from the reality on the streets.
Well of course its anecdotal, its people I've spoken to. None of those people as far as I'm aware are in either the Orange Order or have history in the military.
'the reality on the streets'. What? Do you live in the hood, down where its happening in the mean streets?
That gave me a laugh, thanks for that.
You are welcome, there is a lot of information on what is happening without having to be physically on every street corner. One just needs to look.
You can read hundreds of personal stories of people deciding on YES daily , whereas if you look at NO it is only failed luvvies, businessmen looking for gongs and idiots like Abbot, Obama etc trying to help their pals the tories. There is no narrative to promote staying in the union , it is 100% negative. It is a case of Hope or NO hope.
PS:I live in a lovely detached house overlooking countryside.
Next thing you will be telling is is that James Kelly has only just decided to vote yes
Does he actually have a vote? Doesn't he live overseas?
So as well as being stupid you cannot read either. He lives in the metropolis of Cumbernauld.
You appear to have the reading issues. This ? means I'm asking a question. Do you understand now? Note the ? at the end of the previous sentence.
I just presumed you were posting sarcastically as per normal.
Not everybody is a troll, something to bear in mind for future reference.
@blairmcdougall: ICM #indyref poll. 10pt NO lead. Undecideds leaning No by ratio of 2:1. 52% say Salmond currency plan not credible. http://t.co/VXizky1885
Ha Ha Ha , clutching at straws does not even begin to cover it.
Of course, voters across the UK - not just in Scotland - are opposed to NHS privatisation. That's why it won't happen. It's more SNP dishonesty to claim it will. But looking for and creating divisions is what they are all about. And because they are so wedded to separation and creating borders they'll say anything to achieve their aim, safe in the knowledge that with a Yes secured it does not matter if everything they have claimed turns out to be false.
Anyway, that ICM is not half as bad for No as the SoS headline had suggested. But it's still going to be very tight. And, as I said last night, it's no good to any of us to stick together just because one of us is too worried to leave.
Privatisation not happening? tell that to patients needing these services
Dorset Pathology £60,000,000 Dec-13 South Downs Out of Hours £14,000,000.00 Dec-13 London Immigration Removal £37,000,000.00 Dec-13 Kent Out of Hours £12,000,000.00 Dec-13 Nationwide Digital Records £450,000,000.00 Dec-13 Yorkshire Screening £8,500,000.00 Nov-13 Bradford Treatment Centre £16,000,000.00 Nov-13 Bexley Nursing £7,000,000.00 Nov-13 h Luton Mental Health £230,000,000.00 Nov-13
I live equidistant to both Addenbrookes (Cambridge's main hospital) and Hinchinbrooke (in Huntingdon, now run by Circle). As such, I have had reason to go to both at various times.
My experience, and those of friends, is that Hinchinbrooke is currently by far preferable if the same procedure is offered. The hospital has undergone a much-needed spruce up (starting with the wards, with the public areas such as corridors coming later), the staff are friendly, and it is easy to navigate.
A couple of years ago I had some test results go missing, and I blamed Hinchinbrooke at the time (as mentioned on here passim). Since then I've has a similar thing happen at Addenbrookes, and it looks as though it is my lamentable local GP surgery to blame.
We recently had a choice to make between the two hospitals, and Hinchinbrooke won hands down in virtually every criteria. The service we received was brilliant, even when there was a significant health problem at three in the morning.
This is anecdata, and the proof of the pudding will be if Circle manage to stem the previous huge losses whilst making these improvements. But in the meantime, it's better for the patients than the old management. And that's one heck of a big factor.
@GPW_Portland: in Edinburgh where I can report most cabbies are pro-Union. Inc one who won't vote for independence "cos Salmond's a jambo." (Hearts fan).
I've seen little reflection on motivation and potential turnout when it comes to this referendum. Surely thats critical now though a No vote still looks likely.
I spoke to a few Scottish people most of whom were pro-Union (PS they all live in Scotland) and I took few things from it:
-The hostility to Salmond as an individual and the view he was a total chancer (and not in a good way) seemed to be as strong as the opposition to independence
-I heard a similar sentiment expressed with consistency, that they feel some people are saying yes to independence with the idea that 'its a bit of a laugh'.
That is just anecdotal bollocks, what you would expect from some numpty in the Orange Order or the armed forces and far from the reality on the streets.
Well of course its anecdotal, its people I've spoken to. None of those people as far as I'm aware are in either the Orange Order or have history in the military.
'the reality on the streets'. What? Do you live in the hood, down where its happening in the mean streets?
That gave me a laugh, thanks for that.
You are welcome, there is a lot of information on what is happening without having to be physically on every street corner. One just needs to look.
You can read hundreds of personal stories of people deciding on YES daily , whereas if you look at NO it is only failed luvvies, businessmen looking for gongs and idiots like Abbot, Obama etc trying to help their pals the tories. There is no narrative to promote staying in the union , it is 100% negative. It is a case of Hope or NO hope.
PS:I live in a lovely detached house overlooking countryside.
Next thing you will be telling is is that James Kelly has only just decided to vote yes
Does he actually have a vote? Doesn't he live overseas?
So as well as being stupid you cannot read either. He lives in the metropolis of Cumbernauld.
You appear to have the reading issues. This ? means I'm asking a question. Do you understand now? Note the ? at the end of the previous sentence.
I just presumed you were posting sarcastically as per normal.
Not everybody is a troll, something to bear in mind for future reference.
Mr. Owls, under Labour I was seen by a private hospital because the NHS couldn't see me in sufficient time. Should I have complained to my Labour MP about the evil privatisation?
Do you know how much that cost the NHS?
Have you seen the lucrative contracts the private providers were given?
Milburn thought it was a short term fix ( IMO he is the 3rd worst SoS in the last 32 years)
Couldnt see you in time? look at the position pre 1997 and Post 2010
That is why the voters do not trust the Tories on the NHS
Lansley (IMO the worst SoS in last 32 years) has broke in all senses of the word the NHS for good and the Tories will pay an electoral price for that IMO.
Do you provide management services to the NHS by any chance?
No I worked in it for 32 years, am passionate about it and people will lament its passing as set in train by the aforesaid SoS
Labour's 2010 manifesto promised the increased use of private medicine in the NHS. Even in Labour's 13 wasted years private medicine was used by the NHS. The NHS is going to remain. Its scaremongering to say otherwise. It needs to manage its resources efficiently. Labour promised a 20 billion efficiency drive in 2010, 20 billion of savings over 4 years. This govt is carrying that out. I wonder why if Brown thought there was 20 billion of slack in the NHS why he spent that money in the first place. Brown caused the NHS problems by hosepiping money at it for political purposes - he did not care if it was wasted.
Efficiency savings are not defined in advance. They are a percentage topsliced off the department/units budget universally.
In practice they are illusory and not unrelated to the fact that we miss the budget targets...
I see someone in Herald who resembles a pretendy sad old Scot , new secretary of the Scottish Research Society , a failed Tory and now failed kipper who pretends he is Scottish , thinks it will be 60/40 NO, has loony ideas on many topics , whinging about "anti-English xenophobia" now where have I read all that before.
I live equidistant to both Addenbrookes (Cambridge's main hospital) and Hinchinbrooke (in Huntingdon, now run by Circle). As such, I have had reason to go to both at various times.
My experience, and those of friends, is that Hinchinbrooke is currently by far preferable if the same procedure is offered. The hospital has undergone a much-needed spruce up (starting with the wards, with the public areas such as corridors coming later), the staff are friendly, and it is easy to navigate.
A couple of years ago I had some test results go missing, and I blamed Hinchinbrooke at the time (as mentioned on here passim). Since then I've has a similar thing happen at Addenbrookes, and it looks as though it is my lamentable local GP surgery to blame.
We recently had a choice to make between the two hospitals, and Hinchinbrooke won hands down in virtually every criteria. The service we received was brilliant, even when there was a significant health problem at three in the morning.
This is anecdata, and the proof of the pudding will be if Circle manage to stem the previous huge losses whilst making these improvements. But in the meantime, it's better for the patients than the old management. And that's one heck of a big factor.
As I always say (broken record) when this topic comes up, the NHS *should* be privatised, at least partially, but privatised in the sense that patients should have choice (in conjunction with their GP) about where they are treated, and the NHS should be funded by an endowment that follows each patient, so if they don't attract patients, they don't attract funding. How many hospitals would employ a huge staff of middle managers when it meant less money to spend on care then? How many old people would be killed for want of a glass of water then? Every organisation has a desired outcome that motivates them. The current NHS has the two outcomes of meeting Whitehall targets, and showing that they're in crisis so they get more funding. Neither of those are conducive to good patient care.
I live equidistant to both Addenbrookes (Cambridge's main hospital) and Hinchinbrooke (in Huntingdon, now run by Circle). As such, I have had reason to go to both at various times.
My experience, and those of friends, is that Hinchinbrooke is currently by far preferable if the same procedure is offered. The hospital has undergone a much-needed spruce up (starting with the wards, with the public areas such as corridors coming later), the staff are friendly, and it is easy to navigate.
A couple of years ago I had some test results go missing, and I blamed Hinchinbrooke at the time (as mentioned on here passim). Since then I've has a similar thing happen at Addenbrookes, and it looks as though it is my lamentable local GP surgery to blame.
We recently had a choice to make between the two hospitals, and Hinchinbrooke won hands down in virtually every criteria. The service we received was brilliant, even when there was a significant health problem at three in the morning.
This is anecdata, and the proof of the pudding will be if Circle manage to stem the previous huge losses whilst making these improvements. But in the meantime, it's better for the patients than the old management. And that's one heck of a big factor.
As I always say (broken record) when this topic comes up, the NHS *should* be privatised, at least partially, but privatised in the sense that patients should have choice (in conjunction with their GP) about where they are treated, and the NHS should be funded by an endowment that follows each patient, so if they don't attract patients, they don't attract funding. How many hospitals would employ a huge staff of middle managers when it meant less money to spend on care then? How many old people would be killed for want of a glass of water then? Every organisation has a desired outcome that motivates them. The current NHS has the two outcomes of meeting Whitehall targets, and showing that they're in crisis so they get more funding. Neither of those are conducive to good patient care.
Most efficient Health System in the world with great patient outcomes and PB Tories want to and are dismantling it.
Let GE 2015 be solely about the NHS please lets see what the voters think.
I live equidistant to both Addenbrookes (Cambridge's main hospital) and Hinchinbrooke (in Huntingdon, now run by Circle). As such, I have had reason to go to both at various times.
My experience, and those of friends, is that Hinchinbrooke is currently by far preferable if the same procedure is offered. The hospital has undergone a much-needed spruce up (starting with the wards, with the public areas such as corridors coming later), the staff are friendly, and it is easy to navigate.
A couple of years ago I had some test results go missing, and I blamed Hinchinbrooke at the time (as mentioned on here passim). Since then I've has a similar thing happen at Addenbrookes, and it looks as though it is my lamentable local GP surgery to blame.
We recently had a choice to make between the two hospitals, and Hinchinbrooke won hands down in virtually every criteria. The service we received was brilliant, even when there was a significant health problem at three in the morning.
This is anecdata, and the proof of the pudding will be if Circle manage to stem the previous huge losses whilst making these improvements. But in the meantime, it's better for the patients than the old management. And that's one heck of a big factor.
Come off it, Mr Owls, any hospital can cock-up and all do. I could write a book about the failures in treatment I have suffered or witnessed in hospital since my kidneys went splat, and I have never been near a private provider.
Four complaints out of 675 patients is off the top of my head about a 0.6% dissatisfaction rate. Somewhere like that Staffordshire hospital might be pleased to have that. Mind you, on paper they probably did. They were content to leave their patients lying in their own filth and suffering from thirst so I don't suppose they were that good at recording complaints.
I have a major operation on Thursday and was offered a choice of where to have it done. Hopefully I will be reporting good outcomes and good care, I am hopeful of a good outcome but fear the stretched Acute services of Shafffield may not have been spruced up and may well be creaking at the seams from the Lansley reforms and financial pressures.
The NHS hospital choice was the only one with sufficient ITU/HDU facilities to be a sensible choice but the only time I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection and readmitted to the local NHS hospital within 24hrs.
Will hopefully report back on my experiences at the start of September.
As I always say (broken record) when this topic comes up, the NHS *should* be privatised, at least partially, but privatised in the sense that patients should have choice (in conjunction with their GP) about where they are treated, and the NHS should be funded by an endowment that follows each patient, so if they don't attract patients, they don't attract funding. How many hospitals would employ a huge staff of middle managers when it meant less money to spend on care then? How many old people would be killed for want of a glass of water then? Every organisation has a desired outcome that motivates them. The current NHS has the two outcomes of meeting Whitehall targets, and showing that they're in crisis so they get more funding. Neither of those are conducive to good patient care.
Most efficient Health System in the world with great patient outcomes and PB Tories want to and are dismantling it.
Let GE 2015 be solely about the NHS please lets see what the voters think.
I'm not a PB Tory.
I take it your 'most efficient' and 'greatest patient outcomes' line comes from that non-peer reviewed, non-academically published, 'study' from that American healthcare pressure group (campaigning for America to have its own NHS style health system), which had among its board of directors the Chief Exec of the NHS? If I have to spell it out, that was guff. I could have come up with the same 'table' given an afternoon that would prove the opposite.
Our health system is little more than a glorified abattoir.
The problem is, when it comes to the NHS, most people don't 'think' -a visceral combination of fear, pride in 'the envy of the world', nostaligic memories, and brainwashing means people fiercely advocate the current health system even as it is making them sick.
As I always say (broken record) when this topic comes up, the NHS *should* be privatised, at least partially, but privatised in the sense that patients should have choice (in conjunction with their GP) about where they are treated, and the NHS should be funded by an endowment that follows each patient, so if they don't attract patients, they don't attract funding. How many hospitals would employ a huge staff of middle managers when it meant less money to spend on care then? How many old people would be killed for want of a glass of water then? Every organisation has a desired outcome that motivates them. The current NHS has the two outcomes of meeting Whitehall targets, and showing that they're in crisis so they get more funding. Neither of those are conducive to good patient care.
Most efficient Health System in the world with great patient outcomes and PB Tories want to and are dismantling it.
Let GE 2015 be solely about the NHS please lets see what the voters think.
I'm not a PB Tory.
Our health system is little more than a glorified abattoir.
History is where you learn about the great and the good. The rest of us are a footnote in history for academics. Gove wants you know the names of the Kings and Queens, but if far less interested in in letting people know how the majority struggled to live, or why things like the NHS had to come into being.
As I always say (broken record) when this topic comes up, the NHS *should* be privatised, at least partially, but privatised in the sense that patients should have choice (in conjunction with their GP) about where they are treated, and the NHS should be funded by an endowment that follows each patient, so if they don't attract patients, they don't attract funding. How many hospitals would employ a huge staff of middle managers when it meant less money to spend on care then? How many old people would be killed for want of a glass of water then? Every organisation has a desired outcome that motivates them. The current NHS has the two outcomes of meeting Whitehall targets, and showing that they're in crisis so they get more funding. Neither of those are conducive to good patient care.
Let GE 2015 be solely about the NHS please lets see what the voters think.
You could rerun the Jennifer's Ear PPB.... That went well last time...
I live equidistant to both Addenbrookes (Cambridge's main hospital) and Hinchinbrooke (in Huntingdon, now run by Circle). As such, I have had reason to go to both at various times.
My experience, and those of friends, is that Hinchinbrooke is currently by far preferable if the same procedure is offered. The hospital has undergone a much-needed spruce up (starting with the wards, with the public areas such as corridors coming later), the staff are friendly, and it is easy to navigate.
A couple of years ago I had some test results go missing, and I blamed Hinchinbrooke at the time (as mentioned on here passim). Since then I've has a similar thing happen at Addenbrookes, and it looks as though it is my lamentable local GP surgery to blame.
We recently had a choice to make between the two hospitals, and Hinchinbrooke won hands down in virtually every criteria. The service we received was brilliant, even when there was a significant health problem at three in the morning.
This is anecdata, and the proof of the pudding will be if Circle manage to stem the previous huge losses whilst making these improvements. But in the meantime, it's better for the patients than the old management. And that's one heck of a big factor.
How does 4 out of 675 in 6 months compare with similar wards in similar hospitals? Do you know?
And there is an important point here: complaints matter massively in customer-facing industries, and medicine is no different. Some complaints will be misguided, some will be irrelevant, but many will point to potential problems that the hospital needs to sort out.
After all, that is one of the things that went wrong at Stafford (where a family member of mine received awful treatment). Warnings went unheeded, and the nightmare continued.
In fact, if I was running an organisation such as a hospital I might be worried if I was getting no complaints: is something stopping people complaining? Is something being covered up?
"... I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection ..."
Of course that sort of thing never happens in an NHS hospital.
Come on, Mr Owls, you should be knowledgeable enough to provide better arguments than that.
Not really an argument just recounting my only experience of NHS funded private sector health which was very negative. Felt like they had been paid for an overnight stay only and despite me being clearly unwell they were urging me to go home. The NHS as always being the backstop
Tories will hope the NHS is not a major issue at GE 2015
IMO it will be. Waiting lists getting longer financial crisis at most Acute hospitals despite 7 day working and 45years of real cuts in wages for all NHS staff
@Luckyguy1983 I wonder what medical care for the masses was like before the NHS?
From family history it wasn't actually that bad if you got admitted to hospital. Guys, Barts and St Thomas's have after all been providing the best of medical care for the poor and needy since the middle ages. I dare say there were similar institutions in the rest of the country. Take out the technology and I don't suppose the treatment my Uncle George received at the Moorfields Eye Hospital in the 1930s was much worse that I received at the Brighton Eye hospital in 2014. Neither he nor I paid for a thing.
The pinch point prior to the NHS was primary care, the GPs. The bit that is in fact still, and always has been, in the hands of private practitioners.
"... I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection ..."
Of course that sort of thing never happens in an NHS hospital.
Come on, Mr Owls, you should be knowledgeable enough to provide better arguments than that.
Not really an argument just recounting my only experience of NHS funded private sector health which was very negative. Felt like they had been paid for an overnight stay only and despite me being clearly unwell they were urging me to go home. The NHS as always being the backstop
Tories will hope the NHS is not a major issue at GE 2015
IMO it will be. Waiting lists getting longer financial crisis at most Acute hospitals despite 7 day working and 5years of real cuts in wages for all NHS staff
@Rexel56 Perhaps Cameron will rehash his problems with claiming medical care for his sick son. For a great many people, he has sorted it. They just don't get it now.
Also remember that Circle taking over Hinchinbrooke was initiated by that well-known evil baby-eating Tory, Andy Burnham. Something he immediately seems to have forgotten once he went into opposition. If he has that much problem with his memory, perhaps he should not be put into control of the NHS again.
On that note, Labour has to hope that NHS Wales's record does not get too much coverage in the run-up to GE 2015 ...
"... I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection ..."
Of course that sort of thing never happens in an NHS hospital.
Come on, Mr Owls, you should be knowledgeable enough to provide better arguments than that.
Not really an argument just recounting my only experience of NHS funded private sector health which was very negative. Felt like they had been paid for an overnight stay only and despite me being clearly unwell they were urging me to go home. The NHS as always being the backstop
Tories will hope the NHS is not a major issue at GE 2015
IMO it will be. Waiting lists getting longer financial crisis at most Acute hospitals despite 7 day working and 45years of real cuts in wages for all NHS staff
Oh, FFS, Mr Owls, you had a shit experience and was sent home too early. Do you really believe that never happens in the NHS? If so I can provide you chapter and verse on numerous examples were it bloody well has. To me, twice, for a start; including one occasion when my wife was pleading with the quacks not to send me home because I was clearly too ill for her to cope with.
Frankly, this idea that you seem to want to propagate that the NHS is faultless is a bit pathetic.
As I always say (broken record) when this topic comes up, the NHS *should* be privatised, at least partially, but privatised in the sense that patients should have choice (in conjunction with their GP) about where they are treated, and the NHS should be funded by an endowment that follows each patient, so if they don't attract patients, they don't attract funding. How many hospitals would employ a huge staff of middle managers when it meant less money to spend on care then? How many old people would be killed for want of a glass of water then? Every organisation has a desired outcome that motivates them. The current NHS has the two outcomes of meeting Whitehall targets, and showing that they're in crisis so they get more funding. Neither of those are conducive to good patient care.
Most efficient Health System in the world with great patient outcomes and PB Tories want to and are dismantling it.
Let GE 2015 be solely about the NHS please lets see what the voters think.
I'm not a PB Tory.
Our health system is little more than a glorified abattoir.
Good luck with that view at GE 2015
I express my views because I think they're right, not because they're good electoral lines.
@Luckyguy1983 And there is where the right wing fails to understand. The NHS is "sacred" to a lot of people at a subliminal level. Our grand parents and great grand parents remember what life was like before WW2, it fades with each generation, but it still quite strong.
This is policy and training, not isolated cases. Even the laziest of nurses wouldn't let a patient die of thirst unless it was ingrained in them to do so. It's a sick sick service, and it needs an Augean Stables clean up that only the light of choice and competition can provide.
"... I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection ..."
Of course that sort of thing never happens in an NHS hospital.
Come on, Mr Owls, you should be knowledgeable enough to provide better arguments than that.
Not really an argument just recounting my only experience of NHS funded private sector health which was very negative. Felt like they had been paid for an overnight stay only and despite me being clearly unwell they were urging me to go home. The NHS as always being the backstop
Tories will hope the NHS is not a major issue at GE 2015
IMO it will be. Waiting lists getting longer financial crisis at most Acute hospitals despite 7 day working and 45years of real cuts in wages for all NHS staff
@Luckyguy1983 And there is where the right wing fails to understand. The NHS is "sacred" to a lot of people at a subliminal level. Our grand parents and great grand parents remember what life was like before WW2, it fades with each generation, but it still quite strong.
And that's what many on the left fail to understand: what matters to a lot of people is not three letters, but ensuring that patients have the best outcomes whatever the provider.
"... I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection ..."
Of course that sort of thing never happens in an NHS hospital.
Come on, Mr Owls, you should be knowledgeable enough to provide better arguments than that.
Not really an argument just recounting my only experience of NHS funded private sector health which was very negative. Felt like they had been paid for an overnight stay only and despite me being clearly unwell they were urging me to go home. The NHS as always being the backstop
Tories will hope the NHS is not a major issue at GE 2015
IMO it will be. Waiting lists getting longer financial crisis at most Acute hospitals despite 7 day working and 45years of real cuts in wages for all NHS staff
Oh, FFS, Mr Owls, you had a shit experience and was sent home too early. Do you really believe that never happens in the NHS? If so I can provide you chapter and verse on numerous examples were it bloody well has. To me, twice, for a start; including one occasion when my wife was pleading with the quacks not to send me home because I was clearly too ill for her to cope with.
Frankly, this idea that you seem to want to propagate that the NHS is faultless is a bit pathetic.
Where have I said its faultless. Tory PB analogies that its a glorified abattoir are pathetic IMO.
Brits have had for over 60 years an NHS to be proud of. Your minority view that its shite is a bit pathetic
The responses to your article are far more about the potential IS threat in Britain, and not Iraq.
Iraq is giving people a vision of Britain in 100 years, maybe 50. A shattered ghettoised patchwork of antagonistic nationalities, colours and creeds with a chronically weak and corrupt government in thrall to one community or another.
A country ripe for a force like ISIS to take control and start their butchery
"... I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection ..."
Of course that sort of thing never happens in an NHS hospital.
Come on, Mr Owls, you should be knowledgeable enough to provide better arguments than that.
Not really an argument just recounting my only experience of NHS funded private sector health which was very negative. Felt like they had been paid for an overnight stay only and despite me being clearly unwell they were urging me to go home. The NHS as always being the backstop
Tories will hope the NHS is not a major issue at GE 2015
IMO it will be. Waiting lists getting longer financial crisis at most Acute hospitals despite 7 day working and 45years of real cuts in wages for all NHS staff
Oh, FFS, Mr Owls, you had a shit experience and was sent home too early. Do you really believe that never happens in the NHS? If so I can provide you chapter and verse on numerous examples were it bloody well has. To me, twice, for a start; including one occasion when my wife was pleading with the quacks not to send me home because I was clearly too ill for her to cope with.
Frankly, this idea that you seem to want to propagate that the NHS is faultless is a bit pathetic.
Where have I said its faultless. Tory PB analogies that its a glorified abattoir are pathetic IMO.
Brits have had for over 60 years an NHS to be proud of. Your minority view that its shite is a bit pathetic
I think you'll find the person who made the reprehensible 'abattoir' comment is Not A Tory (tm).
The responses to your article are far more about the potential IS threat in Britain, and not Iraq.
Iraq is giving people a vision of Britain in 100 years, maybe 50. A shattered ghettoised patchwork of antagonistic nationalities, colours and creeds with a chronically weak and corrupt government in thrall to one community or another.
A country ripe for a force like ISIS to take control and start their butchery
Hmmmm so ICM asked Scots whether Darling and Cameron are less trusted on what I believe is a devolved area. Now if I am not mistaken unless either or both of them decide to stand for the Scottish Assembly or there is a major reverse in devolution policy at Westminster (which certainly I've not picked up on) then they have little or no opportunity to influence Scottish Health policies.
Not that I doubt that people could be influenced by such considerations but I do wish pollsters would ask questions that are based on reality!
"... I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection ..."
Of course that sort of thing never happens in an NHS hospital.
Come on, Mr Owls, you should be knowledgeable enough to provide better arguments than that.
Not really an argument just recounting my only experience of NHS funded private sector health which was very negative. Felt like they had been paid for an overnight stay only and despite me being clearly unwell they were urging me to go home. The NHS as always being the backstop
Tories will hope the NHS is not a major issue at GE 2015
IMO it will be. Waiting lists getting longer financial crisis at most Acute hospitals despite 7 day working and 45years of real cuts in wages for all NHS staff
Oh, FFS, Mr Owls, you had a shit experience and was sent home too early. Do you really believe that never happens in the NHS? If so I can provide you chapter and verse on numerous examples were it bloody well has. To me, twice, for a start; including one occasion when my wife was pleading with the quacks not to send me home because I was clearly too ill for her to cope with.
Frankly, this idea that you seem to want to propagate that the NHS is faultless is a bit pathetic.
Where have I said its faultless. Tory PB analogies that its a glorified abattoir are pathetic IMO.
Brits have had for over 60 years an NHS to be proud of. Your minority view that its shite is a bit pathetic
Big John, when have I ever said the NHS is shite? Goodness, I would have been dead many years ago if it hadn't been there. However, I don't worship it's structures and I can see and have experienced its many faults.
The crunch point about the NHS is that it provides the best treatment to those that need it free at the point of use. Everything else is special pleading by groups who are trying to protect their own interests at the taxpayers expense.
I have a major operation on Thursday and was offered a choice of where to have it done. Hopefully I will be reporting good outcomes and good care, I am hopeful of a good outcome but fear the stretched Acute services of Shafffield may not have been spruced up and may well be creaking at the seams from the Lansley reforms and financial pressures.
The NHS hospital choice was the only one with sufficient ITU/HDU facilities to be a sensible choice but the only time I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection and readmitted to the local NHS hospital within 24hrs.
Will hopefully report back on my experiences at the start of September.
I have a major operation on Thursday and was offered a choice of where to have it done. Hopefully I will be reporting good outcomes and good care, I am hopeful of a good outcome but fear the stretched Acute services of Shafffield may not have been spruced up and may well be creaking at the seams from the Lansley reforms and financial pressures.
The NHS hospital choice was the only one with sufficient ITU/HDU facilities to be a sensible choice but the only time I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection and readmitted to the local NHS hospital within 24hrs.
Will hopefully report back on my experiences at the start of September.
My 88 years old mother in law developed a lung cancer afer a lifetime spent smoking. She received a prompt consultation followed by an exploratoty exam to set her and the machine up, a dummy run to test the settings and a course of 5 radiology treatments. It was as prompt as one could hope. Her age was no barrier. I took her for the last one. She received a consultation before it and from what I could see there were 8 or 10 of these finelky tuned and accurate machines dealing with a considerable number of people. One day in the NHS. I read on this thread where someone called the NHS an 'abatoir' This is a crass and ignorant and hysteric and downright disgusting statement.
Hmmmm so ICM asked Scots whether Darling and Cameron are less trusted on what I believe is a devolved area. Now if I am not mistaken unless either or both of them decide to stand for the Scottish Assembly or there is a major reverse in devolution policy at Westminster (which certainly I've not picked up on) then they have little or no opportunity to influence Scottish Health policies.
Not that I doubt that people could be influenced by such considerations but I do wish pollsters would ask questions that are based on reality!
Hmmmmmm so the £4B proposed cut in Scottish budget by 2017 will not affect the NHS in Scotland?
History is where you learn about the great and the good. The rest of us are a footnote in history for academics. Gove wants you know the names of the Kings and Queens, but if far less interested in in letting people know how the majority struggled to live, or why things like the NHS had to come into being.
I've always thought history should largely be about Kings and Queens, for the simple reason that they were the ones who decided what happened most of the time.
JosiasJessop "Who under law did Stafford Hospital have to look after?" The patient. The law was broken by bad management , staff, and staff shortages in order to meet a set of targets. "Targets" should be a rough aiming point, sometimes over, sometimes under, and used as an indicator on performance. Competitiveness amongst managers. which the new culture encouraged means that managers try to undershoot the "target" which usually does not end well.
Only just now discovered The Walking Dead's been on 5* for the last fortnight or so (season 4). Thankfully, missed episodes can be watched on demand, for the next few days at least.
On the NHS, Had quite serious back issues. Saw my GP who sent me for an MRI scan, which identified the problem. Was referred for surgery which was fully successful. All of the above was paid for by the NHS, all of it was carried out by privatised providers. My GP, the scan and the surgery, all privatised, all excellent and all carried out within six weeks. More privatization of none emergency care would suit me down to the ground.
For the past 2 months I’ve been acting as chauffeur to an elderly neighbour while he underwent cataract surgery on both eyes. Despite being on the NHS, all of the consultancy, op and post op treatment was successfully carried out by a local private Hospital.
As long as the treatment remains free at the point of use, I really don’t see what the problem is with outsourcing to the private sector.
Cateracts are the number 1 cherry picked service.
Try getting a hip operation carried out on someone with complex comorbidities at the local private hospital
Especially if you don't like them
....
Do you think it is right that companies that can win these NHS contracts should be allowed to pump millions into a political party. Is that not just buying the contracts? (MODS, I haven't mentioned who or which party, surely you wont pull the post again).
Do you think it's right unions should fund Labour?
....
Pathetic. Unions fund Labour and labour do what the unions tell it. Labour set up a scheme to channel public funds directly to the unions, can't remember its name off the top of my head. Anyway ... 'Cash for policies'. The tory party does not give out contracts to NHS providers.
The union modernisation fund, which, if memory serves, nearly equalled the amounts donated to Labour.
Ah yes thank you Mr Saddened. And do you know I had quite forgotten how the money was used to recycle back into the Labour Party.
I'm not sneering, but it's interesting how many people who thought we shouldn't get involved in Iraq under any circumstances just a few weeks ago have completely changed their minds and now think we should take action. When the facts change, etc.
Comments
Do you think it is right that the unions pump millions into a political party while explicitly demanding a say over policy. Is that not just buying the likely next government?
At the moment the Labour party, are intending a partial repeal.
There is a movement in the LibDem's to push that agenda even further at the party conference.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/16/lib-dem-rebels-nick-clegg-repeal-nhs-reforms
Before the last election when I was teaching we had several weeks notice of each Ofsted inspection and which of our lessons they would sit in. So I knew at least two weeks in advance when I was teaching calculus in the morning and remedial numeracy in the evening in both lessons an Ofsted Inspector would be sitting at the back of the class, I was even told the inspector's name.
Ofsted never did snap, no-notice inspections. They should have done but each time it was proposed the teaching unions screamed blue bloody murder.
The tory party does not give out contracts to NHS providers.
Don't ask me. Read the article instead.
Anyone got any evidence that that has happened? Party donations are publicly available so someone making such an allegation ought to be able to back it up.
From the same link,
"By law, schools can only be given half a day's notice of an inspection. Former education secretary Michael Gove has previously argued that schools should get no notice at all, to ensure that they do not evade proper scrutiny."
You did read the article ?
http://iaindale.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/tories-must-abolish-union-modernisation.html
Was hoping for an account of the currency .
Even today Irish emigration is high.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/emigration-at-record-high-as-87000-people-left-the-country-last-year-cso-28814646.html
''Youth Work Ireland warned the demographic position of the country is approaching crisis level with 150,000 young people emigrating for a better future since 2008.''
Southampton to win, Liverpool to win 1 nil, Skrtel, Lovrem and Sterling FGS, and Lovren to score any time.
The barcodes to defeat Citeh.
No doubt Burnham will continue to trumpet the abolition of the Lansley reforms in a fine display of sophistry.
Accusing people of corruption is a serious allegation and shouldn't be made lightly.
If you have evidence take it to the police.
Mike Baldock @UKIPSwale 5h
@MSmithsonPB any reason you chose not to Tweet the Opinium Poll results with +6% for UKIP? Not many you don't Tweet...
Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB
@UKIPSwale The Opinium 21% UKIP share poll wasTweeted yesterday & fully covered on my website.
I just presumed you were posting sarcastically as per normal.
For all the scaremongering about foreigners etc by BT it has not caused any anti English feeling as they hoped for.
twitter.com/History_Pics/status/499259292802097153/photo/1
Some will be horrified, some intrigued and some will see an opportunity to get Salmond.
"CON did better than virtually all the polls while Ukip did worse"
http://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2014/05/26/ep14-results-summary-with-changes-on-2009/
Dorset Pathology £60,000,000 Dec-13
South Downs Out of Hours £14,000,000.00 Dec-13
London Immigration Removal £37,000,000.00 Dec-13
Kent Out of Hours £12,000,000.00 Dec-13
Nationwide Digital Records £450,000,000.00 Dec-13
Yorkshire Screening £8,500,000.00 Nov-13
Bradford Treatment Centre £16,000,000.00 Nov-13
Bexley Nursing £7,000,000.00 Nov-13 h
Luton Mental Health £230,000,000.00 Nov-13
I live equidistant to both Addenbrookes (Cambridge's main hospital) and Hinchinbrooke (in Huntingdon, now run by Circle). As such, I have had reason to go to both at various times.
My experience, and those of friends, is that Hinchinbrooke is currently by far preferable if the same procedure is offered. The hospital has undergone a much-needed spruce up (starting with the wards, with the public areas such as corridors coming later), the staff are friendly, and it is easy to navigate.
A couple of years ago I had some test results go missing, and I blamed Hinchinbrooke at the time (as mentioned on here passim). Since then I've has a similar thing happen at Addenbrookes, and it looks as though it is my lamentable local GP surgery to blame.
We recently had a choice to make between the two hospitals, and Hinchinbrooke won hands down in virtually every criteria. The service we received was brilliant, even when there was a significant health problem at three in the morning.
This is anecdata, and the proof of the pudding will be if Circle manage to stem the previous huge losses whilst making these improvements. But in the meantime, it's better for the patients than the old management. And that's one heck of a big factor.
(Waits to get called a PB Tory et al).
We won that's all that mattered
In practice they are illusory and not unrelated to the fact that we miss the budget targets...
http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/latest-news/patients_raise_care_concerns_at_hinchingbrooke_hospital_1_3724017
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2710952/Coroner-blasts-hospital-great-grandmother-died-dehydrated-ignored-staff-hours.html
Let GE 2015 be solely about the NHS please lets see what the voters think.
Four complaints out of 675 patients is off the top of my head about a 0.6% dissatisfaction rate. Somewhere like that Staffordshire hospital might be pleased to have that. Mind you, on paper they probably did. They were content to leave their patients lying in their own filth and suffering from thirst so I don't suppose they were that good at recording complaints.
The NHS hospital choice was the only one with sufficient ITU/HDU facilities to be a sensible choice but the only time I was referred by the NHS to a private facility I was sent home with a chest infection and readmitted to the local NHS hospital within 24hrs.
Will hopefully report back on my experiences at the start of September.
I take it your 'most efficient' and 'greatest patient outcomes' line comes from that non-peer reviewed, non-academically published, 'study' from that American healthcare pressure group (campaigning for America to have its own NHS style health system), which had among its board of directors the Chief Exec of the NHS? If I have to spell it out, that was guff. I could have come up with the same 'table' given an afternoon that would prove the opposite.
Our health system is little more than a glorified abattoir.
The problem is, when it comes to the NHS, most people don't 'think' -a visceral combination of fear, pride in 'the envy of the world', nostaligic memories, and brainwashing means people fiercely advocate the current health system even as it is making them sick.
I wonder what medical care for the masses was like before the NHS?
Of course that sort of thing never happens in an NHS hospital.
Come on, Mr Owls, you should be knowledgeable enough to provide better arguments than that.
The rest of us are a footnote in history for academics.
Gove wants you know the names of the Kings and Queens, but if far less interested in in letting people know how the majority struggled to live, or why things like the NHS had to come into being.
And there is an important point here: complaints matter massively in customer-facing industries, and medicine is no different. Some complaints will be misguided, some will be irrelevant, but many will point to potential problems that the hospital needs to sort out.
After all, that is one of the things that went wrong at Stafford (where a family member of mine received awful treatment). Warnings went unheeded, and the nightmare continued.
In fact, if I was running an organisation such as a hospital I might be worried if I was getting no complaints: is something stopping people complaining? Is something being covered up?
Tories will hope the NHS is not a major issue at GE 2015
IMO it will be. Waiting lists getting longer financial crisis at most Acute hospitals despite 7 day working and 45years of real cuts in wages for all NHS staff
The pinch point prior to the NHS was primary care, the GPs. The bit that is in fact still, and always has been, in the hands of private practitioners.
Perhaps Cameron will rehash his problems with claiming medical care for his sick son.
For a great many people, he has sorted it. They just don't get it now.
http://www.barnet-today.co.uk/News.cfm?id=25901&headline=Barnet Hospital negligence contributed to infant death, coroner rules
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/he-no-dignity-life---7609643
+ many more.
Also remember that Circle taking over Hinchinbrooke was initiated by that well-known evil baby-eating Tory, Andy Burnham. Something he immediately seems to have forgotten once he went into opposition. If he has that much problem with his memory, perhaps he should not be put into control of the NHS again.
On that note, Labour has to hope that NHS Wales's record does not get too much coverage in the run-up to GE 2015 ...
Frankly, this idea that you seem to want to propagate that the NHS is faultless is a bit pathetic.
And there is where the right wing fails to understand. The NHS is "sacred" to a lot of people at a subliminal level.
Our grand parents and great grand parents remember what life was like before WW2, it fades with each generation, but it still quite strong.
Patients, many of them elderly, are wasting away to skin and bone because they cannot feed themselves and nobody is prepared to do it for them.
They are dehydrated because they have nothing to drink, or water is placed out of their reach.
They are lying in their own excreta because nurses are ‘too busy’ to take them to the toilet, or ‘too qualified’ to clean them. For want of an extra blanket they are left cold.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2559895/The-haunting-letters-sent-Labour-MP-ANN-CLWYD-moved-tears-reveal-appalling-face-NHS.html
This is policy and training, not isolated cases. Even the laziest of nurses wouldn't let a patient die of thirst unless it was ingrained in them to do so. It's a sick sick service, and it needs an Augean Stables clean up that only the light of choice and competition can provide.
Exactly who does a health care company have a duty under law to look after?
All this because of the terrible recession labour left us with.
And the govt are intelligentlky investing in the NHS
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1-billion-to-help-aes-and-nhs-staff-access-medical-records-in-hi-tech-hospital-revolution
The digitising of medical records and x-rays is moving on and only the other day I was told by an NHS professional at a meeting how this was a great step forward.
http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/portfolio-summ.pdf
This is a sensible system not the mad all singing dancing one which failed under labour.
Brits have had for over 60 years an NHS to be proud of. Your minority view that its shite is a bit pathetic
The responses to your article are far more about the potential IS threat in Britain, and not Iraq.
Iraq is giving people a vision of Britain in 100 years, maybe 50. A shattered ghettoised patchwork of antagonistic nationalities, colours and creeds with a chronically weak and corrupt government in thrall to one community or another.
A country ripe for a force like ISIS to take control and start their butchery
Exactly who does a health care company have a duty under law to look after?
Not that I doubt that people could be influenced by such considerations but I do wish pollsters would ask questions that are based on reality!
Who in their right mind wants to go back to the 1930s??? certainly not the tories. That comment reveals nothing but your own baseless prejudices.
The crunch point about the NHS is that it provides the best treatment to those that need it free at the point of use. Everything else is special pleading by groups who are trying to protect their own interests at the taxpayers expense.
I took her for the last one. She received a consultation before it and from what I could see there were 8 or 10 of these finelky tuned and accurate machines dealing with a considerable number of people.
One day in the NHS.
I read on this thread where someone called the NHS an 'abatoir' This is a crass and ignorant and hysteric and downright disgusting statement.
"Who under law did Stafford Hospital have to look after?"
The patient. The law was broken by bad management , staff, and staff shortages in order to meet a set of targets.
"Targets" should be a rough aiming point, sometimes over, sometimes under, and used as an indicator on performance.
Competitiveness amongst managers. which the new culture encouraged means that managers try to undershoot the "target" which usually does not end well.
Only just now discovered The Walking Dead's been on 5* for the last fortnight or so (season 4). Thankfully, missed episodes can be watched on demand, for the next few days at least.