He can shake the magic reform tree all he likes, but the "efficiencies" he's after can't be achieved without spending money. Want to free up bed space? Fund social care properly. Want more homegrown doctors and nurses? Give universities the money to train them (and stop overworking existing staff to the point of quitting) #NHS#UKPolitics
#BBCLauraK just stated that there are terrible problems with the #Scottish#NHS. What's she on about - of course there are problems after 14 years of Tory mismanagement and corruption but we haven't even had strikes here unlike the rest of UK.
Election campaigning is in full swing. And #Hunt is busy trying to get credit for ‘solutions’ to the #Blood Scandal. Of course as Health minster he contributed to the destruction of the #NHS (his family are heavily involved in private healthcare) and will in due course tell us how he saved it. Pass the sick bag Alice 🤢
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So, the theory being put forward by #ReformUK is a 20% tax relief on all private healthcare and insurance. The inference being that if more people take up private healthcare, there will be less demand on the #nhs. Sounds logical, right? The only problem is that we all know what will happen. If demand falls, so will the funding. Another "innovative?" idea is: "𝘊𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘜𝘒 & 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴." so basically shipping our sick and injured to another country. #politics
In 2019, the Conservatives promised 40 new hospitals by 2030. So far, two have been completed, and five are still under construction. There are currently 124,000 job vacancies in the #nhs. The problem isn't money; our national health system is failing because it lacks the capacity to cater to an exploding population and because nobody wants to work in healthcare.
It takes a special kind of dedication to want to nurse sick and injured people, so while yes, healthcare workers should be paid a decent wage, offering huge salaries doesn't necessarily mean the vacancies will be filled overnight.
Leaving aside the fact that (as always UK is synonymous with England and hence the whole of Britain), who is surprised. With c ompanies such as Palentir involved, and no doubts brown paper envelopes to senior managers and a Westminster government ruling the roost it is inevitable.
The NHS is great but it has limits: yesterday was the first time I've ever heard a GP drop their official demeanour to let their anger at a lack-of-resource situation show.
My local area has very limited provision for mental health services related to Autism or ADHD; he got angry that they were failing patients, having to tell them to go private. (Meaning me in this instance, and another two people last week).
You'll be unsurprised that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed 'extra' NHS spending promised by the Tories was eaten up by inflation;
this is what happens when the focus is no nominal not real (inflation-adjusted) values.
Its been obvious that the defunding of the NHS was at least partly achieved by being publicly obscure (with media collusion) about inflation-adjusted funding & instead trumpeting absolute/nominal funding increases.
Camilla Cavendish is too cynical about the BMA & its handling of the doctors' strike.
But she's right on the button when she points out much of 'junior' Doctor disquiet is not about wages but about working conditions.
And this, local Trusts can do something about by offering subsidised meals, free parking & better rests facilities (as has been done in Milton Keynes).
As she concludes, if we want Doctors 'to take care of us, we need to look after them'
Its not just the availability of staff, or of beds/equipment that lies behind the NHS crisis, its a shortage of drugs too....
The Tories wrecking strategy has been multi-dimensional & has come together compounding each element to put us in the position where the political clients of private healthcare can ensure they can profit from the chaos (see earlier post on agency nurses)
The NHS is in real & present danger... and (now) not just from the right!
Another aspect to the staffing crisis in the NHS; the excessive billing for nurses (check out the surplus kept by the agency) providing flexible, emergency shift cover.
The mismanagement of the health service is draining cash out of the system & putting it in private firms' pockets....
And no, its not a bug in the system, its a feature; its classic Tory wrecking.
And any claims by the Tories they're going to end such 'profiteering' should be ignored!
Tonight I'll toast to the AstraZenica #vacine. It was the first one available, and saved millions of lives. I am glad that my first #COVID19 shot was theirs. 💉
“An agency providing last-minute freelance nurses to NHS hospitals is routinely charging up to £2,000 a shift.” Excellent business model for privatised NHS services. #NHS
Ghost sign for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children on Old Dumbarton Road in Glasgow. The city's first dedicated children's hospital, it originally opened in 1882 in Garnethill. In 1914, it moved to new premises in Yorkhill in the West End of Glasgow where it remained until it was replaced by the new Royal Hospital for Children on Govan Road in 2015.
So now cash-strapped NHS trusts are being required to balance their books, and as such are being forced to choose between repairing buildings or retaining staff.
This engineered crisis of the NHS looks to be accelerating as the Tories use their last months in Govt. to squeeze the health service some more & ensure the maximum mess for Labour to deal with on gaining power (a mess so big the Tories will soon start blaming Labour for not clearing it up).
Hospitals are being forced to cut medical staff, threatening their ability to care for patients.
NHS leaders had been recruiting medical staff as part of their efforts to tackle the waiting list backlog, one of Rishi Sunak’s five pledges, but say they are now being told their priority must be to balance the books.
Unless govt funds the recent nurses and doctors pay rises in full, NHS Trusts are bound to be in deficit. The war on the NHS continues.