I wonder if recent events in the NHS have made English people more amenable to a German or French model.

It's quite clear from the Junior doctors' strike who the service is run for.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Richard_Nabavi said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

https://twitter.com/MichaelLCrick/status/773114384621207552

The numpties should have thought of that before resigning.

They forget they up against the master tactician that is Jeremy Corbyn

Corbyn is not the master tactician, he’s just far more clued up on Labour’s rulebook than PLP.

FrancisUrquhart said:

Casino_Royale said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Re NHS reforms...I never really got why the general of poly-clinics that Labour proposed were so controversial. They seemed like a sensible idea.

Does your proposal involve a change to the status quo of the NHS? Yes, or no?

Yes - it is controversial, and you are a destroyer of the NHS
No - meh. More money please for doctors and nurses.

The Jerry Robinson show from a number of years ago showed that this attitude to be far too common (and that bean counter and doctors both think they run hospitals).

It's what happens with most nationalised industries that bargain solely with the Government and are funded largely by the taxpayer: they become dominated by producer interests.

Of course, they would argue (always) that their interests are also the same as those of their customers.

HurstLlama said:

"They could be co-located with major trauma centres and large A&E wards to help mitigate the need for urgent cases to travel to use the equipment."

Have you ever been in a large hospital A & E at peak time? The Royal Sussex County Hospital on a Saturday night looks like something out Beirut in the civil war, but with added drunks. The idea of tipping another couple of hospital's worth of A & E patients into that mess (as was actually proposed a few years ago) is a recipe for disaster.

Then there is the issue of patient transport. Paramedics taking heart attack, stroke, trauma patients further to a centre of excellence requires more time. So unless you have more paramedic equipped ambulances patients are going to waiting longer for that vital first treatment that is now recognised as so important. So to maintain compatible outcomes there need to be more paramedics more ambulances. Quite apart from the fact that in the SE the population is growing so fast services are already under great strain. Just look at the queues of ambulances sitting outside A&E departments waiting to unload; ambulances want to get shot of their patients so they can get back for the next one whilst hospitals won't accept them because the four hour clock starts ticking when they do.

That is just the A&E part. Scanners, X-rays, Ultra-sound and so forth are also needed for non-urgent, non-trauma cases. If you concentrate them at just the trauma centres what happens to those cases. Tell some old girl she has to go fifteen miles on several buses to get a scan? That is an improvement? And when she, after probably a couple of hours, finally arrives at the centre the scanner is booked solid with emergency cases so she has to sit waiting until after the last bus has gone (happens about 18:00 in these parts).

Sorry, but the great trauma centre idea might work but only if significant investment is maintained in other parts of the system. Do it, perhaps, for clinical reasons, but don't do it to save money.

Privatise the non-traumatic scanning and lab testing. You'll find diagnostic labs and scanning centres opening up in every shopping mall and sports complex. And they'll compete on service for the customer, and efficiency to bolster profits.

This will not undermine the central concept of the NHS - it is simply outsourcing those bits it makes sense to outsource, and in an area where the US approach has proven far more successful than the UK one.

TheScreamingEagles said:

MaxPB said:

Does anyone know if the BPC inquiry into the failure of the polling industry was ever released or if it's even finished?

They released their findings in March, the pollsters are in the next phase of updating their methodologies by early 2017

At some point they'll overcompensate.

justin124 said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

justin124 said:

Not sure whether this has been posted - Ashcroft Voting Intentions from his poll
Con : 40%
Lab : 31%
L_D : 7%
SNP : 5%
UKIP : 13%
Grn : 3%

A Con lead of 9% inplies a swing from Lab across GB of 1.2% since May 2015. That would imply 12 Tory gains from Labour resulting in a Tory majority of 36.
However, the Scottish crossbreaks show a Lab to Con swing of circa 8% - which means that the overall swing in England & Wales is just 0.45%. Without taking any account of first time incumbency , Labour would only lose 4 seats on such a swing.

It's not a full VI poll. as per ComRes, it's just a voter identifier.

As per ComRes, these raw figures generally favour Labour and disadvantage the Tories.

I am only passing on info from UK polling Report - Have not seen the data myself!

You've not seen the data yet you've had the time to extrapolate what you think the swings are in E&W and the seat gains/losses based on the Scottish crossbreaks

Hmmm.

Perhaps in future you should check the data out yourself before getting ahead of yourself.

PlatoSaid said:

Michael Deacon
Three months ago I was on a boat with Nigel Farage being chased down the Thames by Bob Geldof. Today: https://t.co/qE69PTdmaO

I thought UB40 were declared bankrupt and split years ago?

PlatoSaid said:

Michael Deacon
Three months ago I was on a boat with Nigel Farage being chased down the Thames by Bob Geldof. Today: https://t.co/qE69PTdmaO

Quite brilliant. In the pantheon of PR this must be top ten for worst of all time.

Corbyn next to to backdrop with the words 'UB40'.

Anyone over the age of 40 (no one else will know the band) will easily get this subliminal message.

LOL, I see some joker on Betfair is offering to lay Trump at evens in Texas. Optimistic...

Is that you, @Pulpstar?

Edit: I of course mean is offering a lay, ie hoping to back

CarlottaVance said:

Out in two?

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37284199#"

Five years? Seems a bit on the low side.

MaxPB said:

Charles said:

HurstLlama said:

Sandpit said:

The cost of support staff is cheap compared to the cost of expensive capital (MRI scanners, dialysis machines etc) sitting idle for 75% of the week. No reason they can't be used 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Imagine if an airline decided to only hire one crew of pilots and hosties for every plane they bought. The actual numbers are 6-8 crews per plane in the real world, they have the plane running 18-22 hours a day as it's not making any money sitting on the ground. Scheduled light maintainence is all done overnight.

Obviously I can't speak for everywhere but in this part of the world they are actually rather good at keeping that sort of kit running as much as possible. A chum of mine used to have his thrice weekly dialysis appointments at 06:15 so it would take as little out of his working day as possible. His unit also offered evening appointments. For myself I have been in a scanner at the local hospital before nine o'clock in the morning.

So there are certainly at least some pockets of the NHS which are pretty good at making the maximum use of expensive kit.

P.S. That said judging by the uniform the operator wore I am not sure if the MRI scanning has not been contracted out. The scanner was in the hospital but I got the feeling it was owned and operated by a private company. Unfortunately I wasn't in a position to make enquiries. It was jolly efficient either way.

In your area MRI is handled by Alliance Medical which is a really well run operation.

Charles, do you think the large trauma centre idea is feasible?

Not sure what the specific idea you have in mind is, but essentially DGHs are a inefficient monstrosity that are the bane of the NHS

- A&E: push into the retail segment. Have them in town centres with ambulances out back. Use them them minor fixes and triage effectively on the phone: either patch up or use an ambulance to an acute setting

- Multi-GP out patient facilities with co-location of pharmacy and other primary care functions. Again get them close to the end user

- Acute hospitals should be just then: patch them up, get them out of surgery or IC asap. Don't use them for convalesence

- Specialist hospitals: focus the skills that you need to get centres of excellence

- Chronic facilities: for extended recovery where in-patient coverage is needed. Not really that many of them. Co-locate with old age homes

- Home care: this is the golden prize. Get as many patients as possible out of hospitals and into the home setting covered by mobile nurses and telemedicine consults as needed

CarlottaVance said:

Out in two?

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37284199#"

Unlikely, as the sentence is more than four years he's not eligible for tag, and given the serious nature of the offences, he'll end up serving the majority of that sentence

rottenborough said:

SimonStClare said:

PlatoSaid said:

Michael Deacon
Three months ago I was on a boat with Nigel Farage being chased down the Thames by Bob Geldof. Today: https://t.co/qE69PTdmaO

I thought UB40 were declared bankrupt and split years ago?

There are now two UB40s, both called UB40 apparently.

So, 'splits' - is another subliminal message to add to the 1980s mass-unemployment meme.

What happened to wd40?

PlatoSaid said:

AP
BREAKING: UK court sentences radical preacher Anjem Choudary to 5 ½ years for encouraging support for Islamic State group.

What a joke FFS

Hell be out in a few months for good behaviour.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Pulpstar said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

MaxPB said:

Does anyone know if the BPC inquiry into the failure of the polling industry was ever released or if it's even finished?

They released their findings in March, the pollsters are in the next phase of updating their methodologies by early 2017

At some point they'll overcompensate.

I did speak to a pollster last week, that was their fear, they said given Theresa May's mahoosive lead on leadership, and the general Tory leads on the economy/competence, and Labour are a complete clusterfuck at the moment, he's surprised the Tory lead is only is in the tens.

Yes, it looks odd to me. But I'm wrong of course, Corbyn is reaching out to people the length and breadth of the land with his refreshing message of anti-austerity and hope for a new Jerusalem...

Pass me my pills.

rottenborough said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Pulpstar said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

MaxPB said:

Does anyone know if the BPC inquiry into the failure of the polling industry was ever released or if it's even finished?

They released their findings in March, the pollsters are in the next phase of updating their methodologies by early 2017

At some point they'll overcompensate.

I did speak to a pollster last week, that was their fear, they said given Theresa May's mahoosive lead on leadership, and the general Tory leads on the economy/competence, and Labour are a complete clusterfuck at the moment, he's surprised the Tory lead is only is in the tens.

Yes, it looks odd to me. But I'm wrong of course, Corbyn is reaching out to people the length and breadth of the land with his refreshing message of anti-austerity and hope for a new Jerusalem...

Pass me my pills.

Well, there comes a point where the vaguely left-leaning might vote for Labour, safe in the knowledge that they're going to lose.

SimonStClare said:

PlatoSaid said:

Michael Deacon
Three months ago I was on a boat with Nigel Farage being chased down the Thames by Bob Geldof. Today: https://t.co/qE69PTdmaO

I thought UB40 were declared bankrupt and split years ago?

I heard them on the radio a few weeks ago.

Ali Campbell (lead singer) split from UB40 after a bitter fall out (with his comrades and brothers?)

I think they are all in litigation now trying to work out should be allowed to use the UB40 brand...

An omen?

GIN1138 said:

SimonStClare said:

PlatoSaid said:

Michael Deacon
Three months ago I was on a boat with Nigel Farage being chased down the Thames by Bob Geldof. Today: https://t.co/qE69PTdmaO

I thought UB40 were declared bankrupt and split years ago?

I heard them on the radio a few weeks ago.

Ali Campbell (lead singer) split from UB40 after a bitter fall out.

I think they are all in litigation trying to work out should be allowed to use the UB40 brand...

An omen?

I see Quentin Letts is there. Looking forward to his piece - no doubt he will skewer this bit of bonkers PR. I mean it actually appears to be taking place in a wine cellar. Get it.

FrancisUrquhart said:

Can the government appeal the pathetic sentence?

Is it pathetic, or is it in line with the sentencing guidelines?

AndyJS said:

Clinton's average national lead down to 3.3 points.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html

Having coughing fits on aeroplanes won't help - especially as Trump has raised health as a meme.