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Post by staffordshrew on Dec 14, 2022 11:00:50 GMT 1
Government relying on us all getting peed off with the strickers, so far, I for one am just getting more peed off with the government. They want large groups of workers to be far worse off in pay and conditions if they accept these offers, then hide and avoid negotiation.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2022 13:57:55 GMT 1
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Post by northwestman on Dec 14, 2022 17:14:48 GMT 1
Spot on. I'm certainly well aware of the statistics he quotes, but thanks to the Mail, Express, Sun, Telegraph, BBC, ITV and Sky amongst others, not enough of the population are. The billions p**sed away by this Government need to be highlighted again and again by the media when the Government is claiming not to have enough money to resolve the pay claims - but they aren't. Gaslighting is being cynically brought into play, together with dud statistics such as claiming that to pay out would cost every family £1,000 a year, which although arrant nonsense has been parroted by Minister after Minister. |
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Post by kenwood on Dec 15, 2022 12:34:46 GMT 1
Somewhere between the 4% and 11% inflation is fair. I'd say your average nurse would be delighted with 7.5%. Asking for 19% is just plain ridiculous. Until they clammer down to a remotely realistic start point I can understand why there's no negotiations to be honest. Negotiations need both parties to be prepared to find some middle ground. The RCN sat down with Steve Barclay to negotiate, but he refused to even discuss pay. What was the point in agreeing to the meeting in the first place? Maybe if he had been prepared to offer around 7.5% the RCN would have agreed to put it to their members, but point blank refusing to budge on wages is only going to make the nurses dig their heels in even further and who can really blame them? Barclay refusing to negotiate, the rail union suddenly being presented with a list of measures including changes to workers contracts when it looked as if things were moving in the right direction. It has been suggested by some that the government aren’t interested in settling disputes with Sunak banging on about the unions being Labours paymasters to try and deflect from the real issue . Sunak , Hunt , Barclay et al are quite content to let matters continue , basically they couldn’t give a shiny s**te because they are in pole position. As the dispute bites and the cost of everything soars they are counting on union members to back down , in effect starved into submission . It’ll happen, there’s only so much families can take . Sunak giving us the line about hard working members of society being disadvantaged by these reprobates out on strike , his party being the party for the strivers not the shirkers and all the usual crap. He wouldn’t know because he hasn’t a f* ckin clue , it’s the workers who are out on strike because of successive Tory governments mis management of the economy plus a total lack of investment in public services over the years. And still he does nothing about his friends bonuses and nom doms . Makes you wonder why? When you look back to the beginning of the COVID crisis and examine the list of companies ? ( excuse me while I wipe the tears of mirth from my eyes) directed to the VIP lane for the supply of PPE , yes , including Mones interest , and the amount wasted , spaffed up the wall , then you should be outraged . The amount wasted is more than enough to cover an acceptable %increase in health workers wages. Will we get this money back - will we f ck . A general election can’t come soon enough to get rid of these Tory chancers . |
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Post by northwestman on Dec 19, 2022 11:28:49 GMT 1
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said it was Barclay himself who was holding the country to ransom. She said:
Look at Scotland. The government there came back to the negotiating table, made a new offer and the strikes were cancelled. Yet in England they refuse to negotiate a new deal with the unions or go back to the pay review body.
It’s Steve Barclay who is holding the country to ransom. He will have to carry the can if patients suffer because he thinks this is his Thatcher moment.
And on the Today programme this morning Christina McAnea, the Unison general secretary, said ministers were being impossible. She said:
The government has been completely intransigent here. We’ve been calling on them for weeks and weeks to talk to us about this, to actually sit down and have a proper discussion before we try and resolve this dispute, and they have adamantly refused to do that.
I don’t know how much stronger myself, or Pat Cullen [the RCN general secretary] or Gary Smith of the GMB [need to be] – all of us are saying the same thing, we are prepared to talk to you, but they will not talk to us about the elephant in the room, which is pay.
McAnea said she last met Barclay herself five weeks ago, for about 15 minutes. She said there was “no trust left” between unions and the government and that, for Wednesday’s ambulance strike to be called off, ministers would have to promise to open negotiations on pay. She said:
It has be a very firm commitment. There is no trust left between us and the government. They would have to come up with something more that was more than just ‘Let’s talk about this’ for us to call off the strike on Wednesday.
The Guardian.
Meanwhile, Sunak is in Latvia and Estonia today.
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Post by northwestman on Dec 19, 2022 15:53:24 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/19/mother-steve-barclay-health-secretary-nhs-staff-waiting-lists-hospitalThe mother of a sick girl has confronted the UK health secretary during a hospital visit, telling him that NHS staff are “worked to the bone” and the government is doing “terrible damage” to families on waiting lists. Sarah Pinnington-Auld, whose three-year-old daughter, Lucy, has cystic fibrosis, rebuked Steve Barclay over NHS staff working conditions and long waits for treatment as he visited King’s College hospital in London. She told the Conservative cabinet minister how her daughter was pushed off an “absolutely horrific” waiting list because of “the obscene number of people who came through and the lack of resources”. “The damage that you’re doing to families like myself is terrible, because it was agony for us as a family waiting for that call,” she said. “Preparing our children, for their sister and her hospital visit, for then it to be cancelled. And I know you look and we’re all numbers, but actually they’re people waiting for care.” Pinnington-Auld could be heard telling Barclay that staff were “absolutely amazing” but pressures on the NHS were affecting Lucy’s care, with her bronchoscopy delayed because of a lack of beds. “That’s what’s really upsetting, actually, because we have a daughter with a life-limiting, life-shortening condition and we have some brilliant experts and they’re being worked to the bone, and actually the level of care they provide is amazing, but they are not being able to provide it in the way they want to provide it because the resourcing is not there.” She also criticised the government for blaming long delays on the Covid pandemic when waiting lists were lengthy even before. “We were short of doctors, we were short of beds going into the pandemic, so I think it is really wrong to blame it on the pandemic,” she said. She warned that until the social care crisis was resolved, there would continue to be a shortage of hospital beds. “Until you as a government prioritise health and social care, you’re not going to free up the already limited number of beds,” she said. She's said it all here. No doubt Barclay was expecting to have nothing more than a photocall visiting an NHS Hospital. Just hope the rest of the media pick this up.
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Post by northwestman on Dec 19, 2022 16:19:11 GMT 1
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2022 6:54:02 GMT 1
The Tories want the strikes to go ahead in the forlorn hope that people will turn against the nurses, postal staff, rail staff, etc, and they can then try to turn it all on to the union funded Labour party. Unfortunately for them in many cases the support for the strikers is actually growing, because the public can see every day that the union leaders are making their cases on national television and radio, even in the face of blatant bias in the questioning by presenters such as Richard Madeley . The public want the government to allow the pay rises to be given to the nurses, they want to see guards and ticket office staff, many people know their postie and want them to have job security and a decent wage.
Sunak was droning on earlier in the year about a high skill, high wage economy. Don't hear that phrase very often these days. I don't know how many times I need to repeat this, but taking money out of peoples pockets is not going to grow the bloody economy, cutting your way to growth is like eating you way to weight loss, it ain't f**kin' working
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Dec 20, 2022 11:58:34 GMT 1
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Post by martinshrew on Dec 20, 2022 11:58:34 GMT 1
The Tories want the strikes to go ahead in the forlorn hope that people will turn against the nurses, postal staff, rail staff, etc, and they can then try to turn it all on to the union funded Labour party. Unfortunately for them in many cases the support for the strikers is actually growing, because the public can see every day that the union leaders are making their cases on national television and radio, even in the face of blatant bias in the questioning by presenters such as Richard Madeley . The public want the government to allow the pay rises to be given to the nurses, they want to see guards and ticket office staff, many people know their postie and want them to have job security and a decent wage.
Sunak was droning on earlier in the year about a high skill, high wage economy. Don't hear that phrase very often these days. I don't know how many times I need to repeat this, but taking money out of peoples pockets is not going to grow the bloody economy, cutting your way to growth is like eating you way to weight loss, it ain't f**kin' working
I do happen to agree with a large portion of that, although I think the public will turn somewhat on RMT. Their members are already paid very well and it's clear to everybody the railways need reform and modernisation. Nurses will always get sympathy; for their profession it's impossible to put a price on their heads but it's clear at least to me that they're underpaid. The NHS needs modernisation, it was fine 30 or 40 years ago but people are living longer, have more complex needs plus the mental health aspect. If it were me I'd have 3x emergency departments, one which is a standard A&E, a new area purely for sprains, tweaks, breaks etc and then another area purely dedicated to mental health. I also think it's high time that those who are under arrest and cause issue to themselves requiring medical attention to avoid being locked up are charged, and quite heftily on top of their criminal charges. |
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Dec 20, 2022 14:08:22 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 20, 2022 14:08:22 GMT 1
The public should avoid any "risky activity" during Wednesday's ambulance strikes, a minister has said.
Will Quince, the health minister, urged people to alter their plans to minimise the danger of injuring themselves.
"There will be disruption to the service and it is important that where people are planning any risky activity, I would strongly encourage them not to do so because there will be disruption on the day," he told Times Radio.
And that's the official line!
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Dec 20, 2022 15:04:35 GMT 1
Post by zenfootball2 on Dec 20, 2022 15:04:35 GMT 1
As usual the right wing media and the conservatives are trying to demonise the NHS unions even when thre own report blames them www.theguardian.com/society/nhs"A “decade of neglect” by successive Conservative administrations has weakened the NHS to the point that it will not be able to tackle the 7 million-strong backlog of care, a government-commissioned report has concluded. The paper by the King’s Fund health thinktank says years of denying funding to the health service and failing to address its growing workforce crisis have left it with too few staff, too little equipment and too many outdated buildings to perform the amount of surgery needed." |
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Dec 20, 2022 17:24:49 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 20, 2022 17:24:49 GMT 1
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Dec 20, 2022 17:31:19 GMT 1
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Post by martinshrew on Dec 20, 2022 17:31:19 GMT 1
Labour run Wales is thriving I see. |
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Dec 20, 2022 17:38:07 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 20, 2022 17:38:07 GMT 1
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Dec 20, 2022 17:50:51 GMT 1
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Post by martinshrew on Dec 20, 2022 17:50:51 GMT 1
That's kind of my point, it's almost not political it's just the NHS is no longer fit for purpose. |
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Post by davycrockett on Dec 20, 2022 18:16:59 GMT 1
The public should avoid any "risky activity" during Wednesday's ambulance strikes, a minister has said. Will Quince, the health minister, urged people to alter their plans to minimise the danger of injuring themselves. "There will be disruption to the service and it is important that where people are planning any risky activity, I would strongly encourage them not to do so because there will be disruption on the day," he told Times Radio. And that's the official line! The official line tonite’s only call an ambulance if your dying 😕 |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2022 19:25:07 GMT 1
The Tories want the strikes to go ahead in the forlorn hope that people will turn against the nurses, postal staff, rail staff, etc, and they can then try to turn it all on to the union funded Labour party. Unfortunately for them in many cases the support for the strikers is actually growing, because the public can see every day that the union leaders are making their cases on national television and radio, even in the face of blatant bias in the questioning by presenters such as Richard Madeley . The public want the government to allow the pay rises to be given to the nurses, they want to see guards and ticket office staff, many people know their postie and want them to have job security and a decent wage.
Sunak was droning on earlier in the year about a high skill, high wage economy. Don't hear that phrase very often these days. I don't know how many times I need to repeat this, but taking money out of peoples pockets is not going to grow the bloody economy, cutting your way to growth is like eating you way to weight loss, it ain't f**kin' working
I do happen to agree with a large portion of that, although I think the public will turn somewhat on RMT. Their members are already paid very well and it's clear to everybody the railways need reform and modernisation. Nurses will always get sympathy; for their profession it's impossible to put a price on their heads but it's clear at least to me that they're underpaid. The NHS needs modernisation, it was fine 30 or 40 years ago but people are living longer, have more complex needs plus the mental health aspect. If it were me I'd have 3x emergency departments, one which is a standard A&E, a new area purely for sprains, tweaks, breaks etc and then another area purely dedicated to mental health. I also think it's high time that those who are under arrest and cause issue to themselves requiring medical attention to avoid being locked up are charged, and quite heftily on top of their criminal charges. I think you'll find that you're confusing the RMT staff ,who range from station staff and logistics to cleaners and track repair teams, with the ASLEF train drivers. Just as most nurses are in the RCN and are being accused of being on £35k+ a year it is the HCAs, cleaners, porters, etc that are mostly in UNISON that are baring the brunt of the low wages. Many of those jobs are paying less than a quid over minimum wage.
Is modernisation really the answer? Back in the 70s and 80s there were cottage hospitals in virtually every small town in the country. People were sent to them to recuperate after surgery or illness. They're all gone now, either private care homes or more likely knocked down to build a couple of hundred pigeon coop homes for private landlords to snap up. The amount of patients needing extra care on leaving hospital hasn't changed all that much, it's just that there is no longer any provision around, unless you are able to pay through the nose for it. Those cottage hospitals were staffed by a mix of older, experienced nurses who wanted to stay in the profession without the constant stresses of a major hospital and by younger, newly qualified nurses learning in a less stressed environment. Now the older nurses just leave the job entirely and the younger ones are thrown in the deep end. Many of those cottage hospitals were left to the communities by wealthy landowners and benefactors for those communities. The communities lost the hospitals and the government kept the money. Sounds fair.
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Dec 21, 2022 1:02:18 GMT 1
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Post by martinshrew on Dec 21, 2022 1:02:18 GMT 1
I do happen to agree with a large portion of that, although I think the public will turn somewhat on RMT. Their members are already paid very well and it's clear to everybody the railways need reform and modernisation. Nurses will always get sympathy; for their profession it's impossible to put a price on their heads but it's clear at least to me that they're underpaid. The NHS needs modernisation, it was fine 30 or 40 years ago but people are living longer, have more complex needs plus the mental health aspect. If it were me I'd have 3x emergency departments, one which is a standard A&E, a new area purely for sprains, tweaks, breaks etc and then another area purely dedicated to mental health. I also think it's high time that those who are under arrest and cause issue to themselves requiring medical attention to avoid being locked up are charged, and quite heftily on top of their criminal charges. I think you'll find that you're confusing the RMT staff ,who range from station staff and logistics to cleaners and track repair teams, with the ASLEF train drivers. Just as most nurses are in the RCN and are being accused of being on £35k+ a year it is the HCAs, cleaners, porters, etc that are mostly in UNISON that are baring the brunt of the low wages. Many of those jobs are paying less than a quid over minimum wage.
Is modernisation really the answer? Back in the 70s and 80s there were cottage hospitals in virtually every small town in the country. People were sent to them to recuperate after surgery or illness. They're all gone now, either private care homes or more likely knocked down to build a couple of hundred pigeon coop homes for private landlords to snap up. The amount of patients needing extra care on leaving hospital hasn't changed all that much, it's just that there is no longer any provision around, unless you are able to pay through the nose for it. Those cottage hospitals were staffed by a mix of older, experienced nurses who wanted to stay in the profession without the constant stresses of a major hospital and by younger, newly qualified nurses learning in a less stressed environment. Now the older nurses just leave the job entirely and the younger ones are thrown in the deep end. Many of those cottage hospitals were left to the communities by wealthy landowners and benefactors for those communities. The communities lost the hospitals and the government kept the money. Sounds fair.
I take your point on the union mix up, my view on some are still the same. Agree on the community hospitals, just nonsense after nonsense policy. |
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Post by kenwood on Dec 21, 2022 7:29:45 GMT 1
Cottage hospitals allowed patients to recuperate within their local communities . Ideal for visits from family which certainly helped patients to recover .
I’m afraid the situation now is to discharge patients straight from hospital wards to home because of pressure on beds leading in far too many cases to “ unsafe discharge “ .
People may remember that some time back discharge from hospital involved consultation through hospital social workers , particularly for those vulnerable elderly , to ensure that services were in place before a patient was discharged home.
Prior to this procedure patients could be discharged to cottage hospitals freeing up beds in the main hospital and allowing a planned procedure to be undertaken enabling the patient to eventually return home safely .
As time tells it was indeed a sad day when we lost cottage hospitals .
In Shropshire our residential homes for the elderly have been sold off or leased to private organisations . Both these and privately run homes are struggling to survive as our local authority cannot afford to increase its contribution per resident .
This is because central government has , in turn, not increased its grant to local authorities for social care . It’s a complete mess as funding for what is generally known as “ home care “ has also suffered a similar fate.
As we have seen recently health and social care budgets are irrevocably linked .
It’s not just a question of funding our nhs sufficiently , we cannot ignore our social care provision and unfortunately part of the funding required for that will be from an increase in our Council Tax .
So we can see why the Government is allowing local authorities to increase its council tax by up to 5% .
There are 165000 staff vacancies in social care , it’s a worrying fact . Take into account the policy to cap lifetime social care fees at £86,000 will be delayed until perhaps 2025 more people will face crippling bills .
Long term pressure on adult social care services will not be solved by council tax increases and lifting the social care fee cap will not help those already struggling to pay for their care .
The whole social care system is a mess and there doesn’t appear to be a way out .
I just wonder whether this Government will be encouraging private health care insurance to play a bigger part in our cradle to grave nhs provision ?
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Dec 21, 2022 9:50:43 GMT 1
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Post by martinshrew on Dec 21, 2022 9:50:43 GMT 1
Are people willing to pay 1 or 2% extra tax to fund a proper modern day health service, I guess that's where it'll end up?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2022 10:03:03 GMT 1
Are people willing to pay 1 or 2% extra tax to fund a proper modern day health service, I guess that's where it'll end up? As long as the original funding method is not changed and the extra is ring fenced for the NHS and social care, then yes I would be happy to pay that extra. |
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Post by sheltonsalopian on Dec 21, 2022 10:54:16 GMT 1
Are people willing to pay 1 or 2% extra tax to fund a proper modern day health service, I guess that's where it'll end up? It'll keep swallowing up however much money we raise for it until the demographics shift again. There is just currently too many people using it and not enough people in the workforce to cover it, this won't be solved by extra money although might be a bit of a plaster. |
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Dec 21, 2022 11:11:51 GMT 1
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Post by martinshrew on Dec 21, 2022 11:11:51 GMT 1
Are people willing to pay 1 or 2% extra tax to fund a proper modern day health service, I guess that's where it'll end up? It'll keep swallowing up however much money we raise for it until the demographics shift again. There is just currently too many people using it and not enough people in the workforce to cover it, this won't be solved by extra money although might be a bit of a plaster. If it were to swallow 1/2% of my wages, I'd want cast iron guarantees of more hospitals, more staff, more appointments etc by "xyz". |
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Dec 21, 2022 11:34:00 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 21, 2022 11:34:00 GMT 1
Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said the emergency system has been under “immense pressure” for the last three years, including “the worst we’ve ever seen it” in the last year when it comes to delays handing over patients to A&E. He has told Times Radio:
Trying to work out the effect of industrial action compared to a system which is already not doing what we want it to do is going to be difficult.
He said A&E departments were expecting people to turn up in different ways during the ambulance strike, adding:
We’re expecting people with strokes and heart attacks to turn up at the front door. Now, because of the delays this has already been happening quite a lot anyway.
It is the best alternative to calling an ambulance – if you think you can get to hospital in a way that appears safe and efficient, with somebody giving you a lift, that might be a more appropriate thing to do.
He added that “hospitals are full to bursting” and some people would be waiting a long time in A&E. The UK had the “least number of beds of almost any European country” and this was coupled with problems discharging people into social care, he said.
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Dec 21, 2022 18:20:43 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 21, 2022 18:20:43 GMT 1
The row generated by Steve Barclay’s claim that the unions made “a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients” because they were obstructing strike-day contingency planning seems to be escalating. Christina McAnea, the Unison general secretary, posted messages on Twitter this morning saying she was shocked by the comments, but later she went further, accusing the health secretary of “a complete and utter fabrication”.
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said the same thing in marginally blunter language. She said:
To say that ambulance unions have taken a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients is a blatant lie. The unions have negotiated critical cover, including 999 calls, at a local level with hosts of NHS Trusts. That is how it is done.
Stephen Barclay obviously doesn’t understand how these issues are dealt with in the NHS. That is an embarrassment for him and the government. He has now lost all credibility. Clearly he isn’t the man for the job. He’s well past his sell-by date.
And her Unite colleague, Onay Kasab, told GB News that far from complaining about the contingency cover for strike day at their meeting yesterday, Barclay was congratulating unions for their work. Kasab said:
I was at the meeting yesterday with the secretary of state, and obviously I must have been in the wrong room. Because when I thought we met with him, he clearly congratulated the trade unions for working with the trusts and for working with the government to put emergency measures in place which made sure that people were safe as possible today.
And yet the statements he made this morning bear absolutely no resemblance to the meeting we were in yesterday, unfortunately.
The Guardian.
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Dec 21, 2022 18:26:31 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 21, 2022 18:26:31 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/21/former-ambulance-driver-strike-tories-public-support-nhsThe government’s response has so far involved stonewalling on the question of pay and deflecting the blame for patient harm on to striking workers. The last ambulance strike, in 1989, continued for several months, and caused extreme hardship for those involved. It ended because, to the surprise of the government at the time, public sentiment remained steadfastly behind front line ambulance workers. Attempts to turn the tide of opinion against NHS staff failed miserably, and it seems remarkable that the current government looks set to repeat the same mistakes at a time when its own position is so electorally perilous. The current wave of strikes has served to highlight the near-collapse of healthcare across the UK and the appalling conditions faced by front line crews. Demand currently far outstrips supply. The “call stack”, the number of waiting 999 calls that need a response, is regularly more than 100 deep in many areas of the country. This means more than 100 people waiting for an ambulance. At best, many will be waiting hours.
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Dec 21, 2022 19:01:32 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 21, 2022 19:01:32 GMT 1
The 1989–1990 British ambulance strike was part of a dispute over pay between ambulance crews and the government, with action lasting from 7 September 1989 to 23 February 1990. Ambulance workers were aggrieved that their pay had fallen behind that of firefighters with which it had been linked in 1985. A government pay offer of 7.5% was rejected by the five ambulance workers unions, which demanded a 25.8% rise. Union action started with an overtime ban but escalated to a full refusal of crews to attend non-emergency calls in November. The government used the British Army, volunteer ambulances and the police to mitigate the effects of the strike. A pay deal of 16.9% was reached on 23 February 1990 and the ambulance crews returned to work. The strike was regarded as a success for the union, which had carefully cultivated public opinion throughout. The Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, was keen not to raise inflation by awarding further pay increases. It was also carrying out reform of the National Health Service and thought that would be cemented by a win over the unions. In May 1989, the government offered a 7.5% pay rise; the unions recommended their members to accept that, but it was rejected by a large majority. The unions seemed to have underestimated their members' feelings. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989%E2%80%931990_British_ambulance_strikeIt seems we have been here before! |
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Dec 22, 2022 16:24:00 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 22, 2022 16:24:00 GMT 1
This week, many GP surgeries around the country have messaged patients asking them not to book an appointment, unless it is urgent. With the addition of ambulance staff striking across England and Wales – hot on the heels of nursing strikes and thousands of cancelled procedures – the public have also been advised not to call 999, except in life-threatening emergencies.
Such situations beg the question: is healthcare no longer available in Britain? Are we witnessing the demise of the NHS?
It is clear the events unfolding this week are the culmination of years of NHS mismanagement. Staff are exhausted, demoralised and desperate. The warning signs were there: an ageing and increasingly unhealthy population, a reduction in hospital bed numbers, increasing demands for GP appointments; coupled with longer waits for outpatient appointments, surgery, ambulances, and in emergency departments. Every metric will diagnose the same underlying issue – a health service which is entirely failing to keep up with rapidly expanding demand, and unravelling in the process.
NHS leaders have been so ideologically wedded to the principle of offering care free at the point of access, that they have foolishly sidelined other priorities: such as safety, quality, and reasonable levels of accessibility. Do you want your cancer to be swiftly diagnosed and treated? Would you like to give birth in a hospital with enough midwives in order to guarantee safety? Not in the NHS. But it is free – you should be grateful for what you get.
Daily Telegraph.
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Dec 22, 2022 19:54:01 GMT 1
Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2022 19:54:01 GMT 1
This week, many GP surgeries around the country have messaged patients asking them not to book an appointment, unless it is urgent. With the addition of ambulance staff striking across England and Wales – hot on the heels of nursing strikes and thousands of cancelled procedures – the public have also been advised not to call 999, except in life-threatening emergencies. Such situations beg the question: is healthcare no longer available in Britain? Are we witnessing the demise of the NHS? It is clear the events unfolding this week are the culmination of years of NHS mismanagement. Staff are exhausted, demoralised and desperate. The warning signs were there: an ageing and increasingly unhealthy population, a reduction in hospital bed numbers, increasing demands for GP appointments; coupled with longer waits for outpatient appointments, surgery, ambulances, and in emergency departments. Every metric will diagnose the same underlying issue – a health service which is entirely failing to keep up with rapidly expanding demand, and unravelling in the process. NHS leaders have been so ideologically wedded to the principle of offering care free at the point of access, that they have foolishly sidelined other priorities: such as safety, quality, and reasonable levels of accessibility. Do you want your cancer to be swiftly diagnosed and treated? Would you like to give birth in a hospital with enough midwives in order to guarantee safety? Not in the NHS. But it is free – you should be grateful for what you get. Daily Telegraph. I would expect nothing less from the Telegraph to be honest.
Free at the point of access care has saved a bloody sight more lives than it has cost over the last 70 odd years, but the average Telegraph reader would probably have been alright in that time anyway and it's only the poors that have really benefited from the NHS innit.
This right wing driven agenda to undermine the NHS at every opportunity is starting to get desperate now, because they know that the Tories have next to no chance at the next election and if they can't get their privatisation plans through by then it will be the end of the road for ththose plans for the next 5 years at least. Imagine how many more poor people will have their lives saved by the NHS by the time the Tories get back in, it's just not bloody cricket old boy.
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Dec 23, 2022 10:37:50 GMT 1
Post by northwestman on Dec 23, 2022 10:37:50 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/23/media-damns-striking-nurses-ambulance-staff-enemy-minersThe constant cuts to our NHS and the privatisation by stealth of our health services represents a threat to its existence and to the nation’s health. Aneurin Bevan’s dream of a health service that was free to everyone who needed it is being whittled away, little by little, by people who never liked it in the first place, in the hope that no one notices until it is gone. We usually hear two mantras from government when it makes wage increase offers, or in this case wage decrease offers. First, that the wage cut is “generous” and second that it is all that can be afforded. An MP’s salary as at April 2022 was £84,144 a year plus allowances. In contrast, NHS workers, including nurses, have to pay parking charges in hospital car parks while they are at work. If the tabloids and the government are resorting to smearing ordinary people striking against pay cuts as the “enemy within”, it means they’ve already lost the argument. The strikes by those working in essential services across Europe are justified in the face of rising living costs and out of control inflation brought about by incompetent governments. But the press can’t see this – so it sticks to its old, easy, divisive solutions: attacking working people, attacking unions and failing to see how warped and biased coverage perpetuates injustice and heaps hardship on to communities. Those who fought to save their jobs and homes and families in the 1980s look at the rightwing media today and recognise this playbook. I hope that this time the public understands what the unions are fighting for, and see this strategy of sabotage for what it really is.
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