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Is the NHS safe in Tory (or Labour) hands

(92 Posts)
ayse Wed 07-Jan-15 08:19:19

My understanding is that Labour started privatising contracting out services to the private sector that the Tories continued. Is this value for money? I think not - direct employees have more ownership of their work and are more accountable (IMO). My taxes are going to give private companies a profit when this could be ploughed back into the service.
Now we are faced with an A & E crisis and I realise that throwing more money at the service is not the whole answer. However, yesterday on Radio 4, I caught part of a discussion with Dudley Hospital Trust (successfully coped with the budget cuts) who now have managers and any available staff pushing trolleys and generally dealing with the public to keep their service flowing. They work weekends in the same way as they staff the week but the speaker indicated they are now falling behind their targets for A & E.
The Trust is hoping to install a GP in the hospital to see non-urgent cases - what a good idea.
Perhaps we need to campaign for more finances for the health service and be prepared to stump up a bit extra in our taxes. I'd rather have that than see any further disintegration to our services.

rosequartz Mon 26-Jan-15 20:23:22

The English NHS is patchy, some excellent, some not good.
The Welsh NHS is patchy, some excellent, some not good.

I am speaking from experience of both.
Like the curate's egg, good in parts.

QED (or not whatever you wish to think)

rosequartz Mon 26-Jan-15 20:25:32

I did a poll ana

There was one participant - just me wink

rosequartz Tue 27-Jan-15 18:32:24

Apparently (I cannot do links easily on the tab, so cannot confirm in the post):

The Welsh Audit Office had found that NHS performance in Wales has been getting worse, whereas England and Scotland are performing better against tougher targets.

According to the report, 1 in 10 patients in Wales had to wait more than 26 weeks for treatment and 3% more than 36 weeks in March last year.
A Welsh Government spokesman welcomed the report saying it shows that 9 out of 10 patients are waiting less than 26 weeks for treatment.

It's the way you tell'em. !

I must say that a young family member has received excellent emergency treatment in a Welsh hospital this week.

rosequartz Tue 27-Jan-15 18:36:32

I managed to do it, fingers crossed
www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/11750288.Welsh_waiting_times_too_long___audit_office_report

durhamjen Wed 28-Jan-15 22:18:29

One good thing happened today.

www.onmedica.com/newsarticle.aspx?id=efbc2c1e-4362-44f5-adde-16561e6dd787

You're safe to go to hospital tomorrow.

Ana Wed 28-Jan-15 22:28:32

But don't hold your breath if you're waiting for an ambulance in Wales! hmm (Won't bother posting a link, but waiting times are down yet again...)

durhamjen Wed 28-Jan-15 22:31:39

Better than it would have been, though. They were asking for doctors to drive them!

Ana Wed 28-Jan-15 22:40:13

Not in Wales they weren't...hmm

rosequartz Thu 29-Jan-15 11:34:14

You're safe to go to hospital tomorrow.

Fingers and toes crossed none of us need to!!
(better uncross my toes in case I fall over!)

durhamjen Thu 29-Jan-15 21:12:49

A good thing happened today, too. Hospitals are at last telling the government they have had enough.

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/29/englands-biggest-hospitals-refuse-nhs-budget-patient-safety-fears

Ana Thu 29-Jan-15 22:55:13

More to the point (of this thread)

blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/01/andy-burnhams-car-crash-interview-shows-why-labour-cant-be-trusted-with-the-nhs/

gillybob Thu 29-Jan-15 23:25:04

Not sure about all of this pre election propaganda doing the rounds at the minute. My mum is a dialysis patient and is being bombarded with shit rubbish from the various ambulance ( patient transport not paramedic)drivers ,on whom she relies for patient transport. They are moaning on a daily basis that they have had to drive from A to B and back from B to A etc. She is becoming quite distressed about it!

Well I'm sorry but isn't that their job?

durhamjen Thu 29-Jan-15 23:44:40

Why is mine not to the point? The hospitals are telling the government that the hospitals will not be safe if they have to implement more cuts next April. I think that is very much to the point. The thread title was is the NHS safe in Tory hands.
It was on the BBC news as well.

durhamjen Thu 29-Jan-15 23:49:58

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/andy-mcsmiths-diary-the-tories-missing-reports-on-weaponising-mass-distraction-10009264.html?origin=internalSearch

durhamjen Fri 30-Jan-15 23:10:32

This is interesting. I agree with the first sentence. How many of you know that your hospital trusts are fined for not hitting targets?

"Few patients realise that if their local A&E misses its waiting time targets, or receives too big an increase in the number of its A&E patients, it is hit with huge fines. Just one hospital, Royal Stoke, this month revealed it has had to set aside £2million for fines for missing targets (including a £3/4 million fine for long A&E waits). Imposing such fines on already struggling hospitals is a singularly stupid policy, when A&Es are mostly just the frontline to which problems elsewhere in the NHS back up.

Unsurprisingly, hospitals play whatever tricks they can to avoid missing targets. Last year nearly 300,000 patients waited more than half an hour in the back of an ambulance before being allowed through the door to start the A&E clock. As well as endangering patients, this messes up the ambulance service’s targets - but in the fragmented (or ‘competitive’) modern NHS, that’s another Trust’s (or company’s) problem (and fines)."

This is one reason why competition in the NHS should be done away with.

durhamjen Sat 31-Jan-15 16:47:44

Just had this sent in an email. Hope it's not true.

"A confidential source has given me the 'heads up' that major 'voluntary' redundancies are starting in NHS England.

Over 200 properties have been auctioned off for a fraction of their value by Jeremy Hunt under the guise of its private company NHS property services Ltd. There are plans to sell off its facilities management section to any willing provider.

Charming!"