Looks like it could soon be 'RIP the NHS'?

Hardly when despite numerous requests we were only given the documents seconds before we entered the appeal room daphnedill ! Deliberate? Yes I think so. And as for the cost of this document. I have no idea. But given who wrote it (their name is at the bottom of the front page and every other of the 40 pages) I would imagine it wouldn't have been cheap. Also will need to be updated every time a school is even slightly changed, refurbished, built, closed, and/or rooms have a change of use. This is in black and white so guaranteed.

PS. The last thing the public sector needs is yet another kick up the pants, because every kick costs money. What it needs is to be allowed to get on with the job without constant reforms and funding on par with other developed countries.

The classroom measurements don't cost much and stay the same from year to year, unless there are extensions. The information is actually useful, because it's partly how a school works out its maximum capacity (its PAN). There is a formula for minimum classroom sizes and additional rooms such as broom cupboards, libraries, office space, etc. If there had been extra space, you could have used the information in your appeal and challenged the PAN.

The big waste in education is from constant changes to the curriculum (enforced by central government) and the amount siphoned off by some of the big academy chains (another government initiative).

Government initiatives are also responsible for the amount of paperwork in the NHS. One of my sisters was a senior manager in the NHS and it used to drive her mad. The 2011 reforms are costing the NHS dearly. If you remember, these were sold to the public as putting the patient in charge of care, but they've done nothing of the sort. Don't kid yourself. The NHS is underfunded. It's one of the most efficient healthcare services in the world for what it costs, but the public wants more without paying more.

But even some of the top consultants and doctors within the NHS (were actually in the program) and said that they can see it with their own eyes. People being brought in from consultancies to write papers about papers costing millions upon millions of pounds that should be spent on patient care. It is the same within local government and no doubt in education too.

Apologies for mentioning education but had to find some of the papers from my recent failed appeal. Lots of figures, boxes and gobbledygook written by a VERY well know team of accountants/consultants regarding the square footage of every classroom down to broom cupboard of every school in the district. I wonder how much that cost? The cost of a school perhaps? A few classrooms? 100 additional teachers?

The whole public sector needs a giant kick up the pants .

The trouble is, gillybob, it's the government which sets up the initiatives which need management consultants, as a result of its constant tinkering and imposition of systems.

Implementing the coalitions's healthcare reforms is estimated to have cost over £3*billion*. The NHS is spending billions on 'procurement teams', who have to organise bids for services and draw up all the legal documents.

It puts the £4.6 million allegedly spent on health tourism in perspective.

Face up to it! The NHS is underfunded.

Planned closures of many pharmacies means that a lot of people advised to see a pharmacist for minor complaints will not be able to do so and many people will have to travel much further to pick up prescriptions. More pressure on GP's surgeries and A&E.

Did you watch to documentary tonight about the billions of pounds of tax payers money paid out to consultants by the public sector (NHS being one of the worst offenders ) durhamjen.? One doctor said they could totally run 2 hospitals per year on the money wasted writing papers etc. by private "consultants" .

This is about the STP in the Durham/Darlington/Teesside area.
Next week there is going to be a march from hospital to hospital. It will be absolutely ridiculous if there is only one A&E in an area this large.

"Documents we have seen show that at least 2 or 3 of our local A&E departments (North Durham, Darlington, North Tees, James Cook, Friarage) will close. The effect on our hospitals could be so severe that only James Cook would retain an A&E department.
County Durham and Darlington Trust has a £14.7m deficit which would have to be eliminated in order to access funds. The closure of one of the Trust's maternity units has been proposed.
We are hugely opposed to these closures which will put lives at risk and so we are marching between hospitals in Northallerton, Darlington, Bishop Auckland, Shotley Bridge, Durham, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and North Tees in order to show just how large our footprint is and how dangerously isolated we will become as a result of these savage cuts."

Does anyone know anything about the STPs in their areas?

Despite the fact that all A&Es in the area are not meeting their targets, and neither are the hospitals, Hunt is still saying the NHS needs to save £22 billion by 2020.

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/hot-topics/stop-practice-closures/labour-condemns-nhs-memo-saying-practices-should-be-allowed-to-fail/20033013.article

Some GPs are being told the best thing for them to do is to go bankrupt!

Petra no evidence that this is widespread. It will be interesting to see the results of the Tooting trial.
A far bigger threat to the NHS is the cutback in funding on home care by local authorities combined with increasing lifespans and increasing "diseases of civilisation".
As someone said the other day - the NHS is suffering from it's own success because we are living so much longer.

This is going to be interesting.

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/home/finance-and-practice-life-news/at-least-12000-new-gps-needed-by-2020-new-workforce-data-reveal/20032973.article

We will need 12000 more GPs by 2020, at the same time as Hunt is teeling foreign doctors they will not be needed.

I suppose if they let practices close, we will not need so many.

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/hot-topics/stop-practice-closures/vulnerable-practices-to-be-allowed-to-fail-and-wither-says-nhs-england-director/20032943.article

Are we ever going to do anything about 'health tourism' I've just been reading about St Georges in Tooting. 'Health tourism' particularly in maternity cost the £4.6 million last year. They know where most of these people are coming from and its a very lucrative business arranging these 'trips'

This is why the NHS is in financial difficulty.

www.opendemocracy.net/uk/shinealight/clare-sambrook/190k-payoff-for-ex-chief-of-nhs-trust-that-failed-to-investigate-hundr

Why should she be given a payoff?
She should be in court.

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/07/jeremy-hunt-plan-to-end-nhs-reliance-on-foreign-medics-could-backfire-hunt-told

Next week there is a Health select committe enquiry into the finances of the NHS.

calderdaleandkirklees999callforthenhs.wordpress.com/2016/10/07/health-select-committee-inquiry-into-the-state-of-nhs-finances/

This is why.

'This is in response to the recent request from NHS Providers – the trade association for NHS Foundation Trusts and Trusts – for an inquiry into how to get NHS Providers out of the impossible situation they are now in, as a result of NHS underfunding. That is ok. What is not ok is that they said the inquiry should look at a range of chilling proposals – including ending comprehensive NHS care that’s free to all at the point of use, based on people’s clinical need.'

Apparently MPs are being told that they should support commissioners!

While the Tory conference has been going on in Birmingham, this has been happening in Manchester.

www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/government-duplicity-exposed-at-expo-in-manchester

If you want to know why you can't find out about what's happening in your STP, this is why.

Jeremy Hunt lied about not imposing the contract.

skwalker1964.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/did-jeremy-hunt-commit-perjury-to-win-junior-docs-court-case/

Is that not contempt of court?

Like these ones.

www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/health/fury-shotley-bridge-hospital-axes-11961411

This is the hospital that Simon Stevens was shown walking round when he was given the job as CEO of NHSE. It's where he did he work experience, and he took pains to tell everybody that Shotley Bridge Hospital was the sort of community service he wanted to keep. That was two years ago.

Jeremy Hunt was in the North East on Friday and said the rest of the country could learn from the hospitals in the North East. He obviously didn't mean Shotley Bridge.
They were saying that Shotley Bridge needs to close the ward because it was built in the 60s.
The Freeman, which Hunt praised, was built in 1977, so it won't be long before that slips down the list. I was in a ward built for four beds. There were six beds in it, not enough room for all the furniture. I bet he never went in that bit, just the newer parts.

The efficiency savings is another way of saying "cuts"

nhap.org/17149-2/

About the junior doctors dispute.
Jeremy Hunt had no power to impose the new contract.

Can anyone make head or tail of this, particularly anyone who thinks the government can be trusted with the economy?

fullfact.org/health/can-seven-day-nhs-be-paid/

The government is going to give the NHS another £34 billion by 2020, but wants the NHS to make £22 billion in efficiency savings. They said they wanted a 24/7 NHS but forgot to tell anyone what it meant and forgot to factor it in.

Junior doctors are now talking about leaving the BMA and setting up their own union because they are disgusted with the union. The BMA unilaterally called off the strikes.

It definitely is tragic that Virgin and other private players are winning contracts for NHS services, and then just handing them back when they can't make them pay. I was shocked to see how many private companies have contracts worth millions for running community health services, including GP surgeries, and often the patients ie "service users" are not aware until they fold, as has happened in Witney, because these private providers are quite discreet with their branding. The NHS is fast becoming a logo under which private companies operate, with no overall accountability it seems. I am glad you are keeping this topic to the fore dj and others.

Could be tragic if they can't find another surgery to go to.