NHS winter crisis looms

There aren't enough doctors and nurses to cope now. Doctors and nurses talking about how dangerous the NHS is now. People not wanting to train as nurses already.

The State of the NHS being discussed on Victoria Derbyshire now.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/former-tory-government-health-adviser-nick-seddon-us-firm-optum-nhs-privatisation-david-cameron-a7561696.html

Always amazes me that they can call hip and knee operations elective surgery. Who chooses to have one? You have one because it's necessary.

Big jump in numbers of people waiting too long for treatment like hip and knee replacements
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38853709

Wow, Jess, worth watching that. I always watch Inside Out.

Effect of Brexit on EU nurses in UK.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38817425?foo=bar&

It's really sad.
My son had an autologous stem cell transplant. It's a hugely aggressive treatment involving giving so much heavy duty chemo that they literally have no immune system for several weeks. It's very dangerous and hard to cope with even for a young man in his 30s.
(A stem cell transplant from a donor is even more hazardous.)
When he went for his follow up visit his summary was "If it hasn't worked I'm f***ed" - i.e. you only get one chance at this.
I can understand why oncologists might judge that if it has not worked once, it's not going to work a second time, and will likely kill the patient in the process.
A friend of mine died when her leukaemia came back. She had the max amount of chemo because she was very determined. However she kept on getting infection after infection, stopping the treatment each time and that killed her.
Sometimes it is not just the cost
I don't think it fair to blame NICE. It's the government that is underfunding the NHS and launching other attacks on it, such as picking a fight with doctors, bashing a spurious 24/7 drum and demoralising GPs, removing nursing bursaries, cutting back on beds and outsourcing chunks of it to profit making companies.
But even if you increased taxes for everyone to pay for a service that was world class in all departments, it would still not be a bottomless money pit for everything the pharmaceutical companies came up with.

Good post Jalima 12.32

'I'm extremely pleased, relieved, exasperated, delighted, anxious, tearful but most of all heart wrenchingly happy to inform you all that because of all your hard work, love, tears, strength, sheer determination and people power from not only here but across the country, across the globe in fact.... we - YOU - have been able to put a SUBSTANTIAL deposit down on my 2nd transplant... Unfortunately due to reasons far beyond anything we or I could control the transplant WILL be done at Kings (which I'm so pleased about as there was a point where I thought this wasn't going to happen at all....) BUT - it is under PRIVATE care and not the NHS! This did cause problems, headaches, heartaches and wasn't expected but the Private International Team have tried to help us resolve these issues and in light of the fundraising events that have just happened and are about to happen, WILL ENSURE the transplant WILL be able to be PAID for in FULL and hopefully leave us with enough to cover our expenses while I'm in there for the month and some of my recovery.......

THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE DONE....
THIS IS WHAT THE POWER OF LOVE CAN DO

THE 20th FEBRUARY ADMISSION
21st FEBRUARY START CHEMO
AND 1ST MARCH FOR TRANSPLANT!
(Yes these are my provisional dates to start to help me save my life and for me to show along with a few lucky others that 2nd transplants do work! We are worth it!)

From someone to whom I have donated.
She was given one stem cell transplant, but the second was refused. She has two young children. It would cost more than the cost of a stemcell transplant to look after those children if their mother dies.

'And this situation is one not just Sasha is now faced with - all those in need of a second transplant will be effected.

Sasha's friends and family have all been working hard fundraising to try and help ease the pressure but we have such a small amount of time to raise the cash. Sasha has only a 20% survival rate in the next 24 months if she does not have the second transplant.

The NHS say they have made this decision to save money, but only 11 people require this treatment each year and to cover this only costs the NHS £600,000 over a 3 year period. It is such a small amount of money. These little cuts are now destroying families lives.'

167,000 people have signed a petition, thinking this is unfair.

They really should not be approving things that cost a fortune but don't do much good.

That is right and they have to decide, but NICE have sometimes had a fight on their hands by not approving certain drugs that have been proven, in clinical trials, to prolong life and, if not cure, certainly contain certain diseases and some patients have enjoyed many more years of life and, as Mair says, seen DC graduate, marry, DGC born.

I have heard them referred to as the National Institute for Curtailing Expenses. Certainly 'Health and Care Excellence' could be described as a misnomer in some instances because they have denied Health and Care Excellence to some patients.

I agree with your post JessM (although I would possibly donate if I knew someone personally). However, if I thought a drug had value but was still being denied I would want to help a patient fight to get it.

Some drugs and treatments are extremely expensive; they cost a lot to research and do go through extensive clinical trials. When they come off licence they can be produced more cheaply, of course, because other drugs firms have not had to spend out on all the research.
The cost of a new drug and its efficacy should be set against the cost of that patient having other treatments and perhaps spending a lot of time in hospital.

They really should not be approving things that cost a fortune but don't do much good

Slightly distorting the picture there. These drugs often DO do a great deal of good, but they are simply life prolongers not cures.

However if you are living to see a grandchild born or your son or daughter married, that extra six months or so can mean so very much!

Difficult one Durhamjen. Of course every case is heartrending and has my sympathy.
However some of these new medicines are very often of dubious benefit - as in "may prolong life" with a not very well-proven track record. Sometimes they have been tried out and evaluated for a few years and found ineffective. They are sometimes described as "treatments" or "cures" but they are not.
Some are only useful in very specific cases. The new monoclonal antibody medicines are incredibly specific and hard to produce. Because they are not "drugs" but biological molecules that require careful culturing under incredibly careful conditions.
And these new treatments are all very, very expensive.
Charities often push for them to be approved - but often the charities are getting funding from the drug companies.
David Cameron muddied the waters with his fund for certain cancer drugs which were not approved by NICE.
I do not envy the task of the people in NICE who have an extremely difficult choice deciding which medicines should be approved. They really should not be approving things that cost a fortune but don't do much good.
The NHS is struggling because the funding is not being increased in line with the rising need due to the demographic tidal wave (baby boomers, living longer...). If money is set aside to possibly, slightly prolong the lives of people who are terminally ill , then basic care for children and old people will suffer more.
Finally some of these treatments on offer in the USA (and even occasionally here) are just fraudulent. There have been lots of cases.
So sympathetic as I feel for these people, who are desperate, of course, I would not donate.

This is appalling. 2000 more people setting up crowdfunding pages so that they can get medical help that is not available on the NHS. An increase from 300+ in 2015 to 2300+ in 2016.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/desperate-patients-rejected-treatment-nhs-9758457

What happened to the basic free at the point of need?
Who is playing God?

www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/our_nhs

For anyone near London, there's a march for the NHS on March 4th.

www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/nhs_transport

Transport information for those living anywhere else.

I'll try that approach when he responds to my follow-up email Jess

MPs tend to respond individually to individual problems and issues - and sometimes they take up a personal case of injustice.
If you ask them specifically to ask a question to a minister, it will be referred and you'll get the ministerial response. This is worthwhile if lots of people are writing as they minister's staff will be reporting on numbers - 200 letters received about ...
If it is a general letter you will get a general response, often from a staff member, as MPs get 100s of letters every week.

I live in the area you mentioned durhamjen and e-mailed my M.P. I received a standard reply. The problem is no one listens to the invidual. Things only get noticed if there's a huge scandal and the media takes it up. Even then as with this article unless there's a hue and cry it will slip away unnoticed while individuals suffer. Thanks for the link though I'll write this time quoting the article. It'll probably do no good though.

Incidentally I eventually had a reply from my MP saying everything is fine here! No problems our trust is doing ok. And in the same day is an article in the Times saying a neighbouring trust will be rationing hip and knee replacement operations.

My query was about the state of the NHS in general, not local but nationwide. This he chose to ignore. Typical politician!

Anyone live in Kent?

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/02/nhs-cash-crisis-in-kent-halts-non-urgent-surgery-until-april

www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/sarah-carpenter/management-consultants-scoop-up-on-secretive-shake-up-of-health-service-in-en

More privatisng through STPs.

Was there anyone in London on Thursday night?
Did any of you see the 38 degrees messages about the NHS lighting up the London Eye, Marble Arch and the Houses of Parliament?

The Lords are discussing the sustainability of the NHS.

For anyone who wishes to try and influence their discussion, weownit has a template for you to write to Lord Patel.

weownit.org.uk/act-now/lord-patel-protect-our-public-nhs-future

This is a written response about STPs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what total level of capital funding is requested in the 44 sustainability and transformation plans for the delivery of those plans.

Hansard source
(Citation: HC Deb, 19 January 2017, cW)

Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) continue to develop, as each local area discusses their proposals with staff, patients and local people.

As a result, it is not possible to develop an aggregate total for the total level of capital funding requested to deliver the STPs.

Anyone else find that unsatisfactory?
They do not know capital funding requested, but you can bet your life that they will not get as much as they ask for.