NHS targets 'may have led to 1,200 deaths' in Mid-Staffordshire - Telegraph:
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Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Monday, 20 May 2013
April 2013: NHS reforms: From today the Coalition has put the NHS up for grabs - Telegraph
NHS reforms: From today the Coalition has put the NHS up for grabs - Telegraph: "What was now clear was that the regulations effectively forced CCGs to put all services out to tender to the private sector and forbade them to favour the NHS as the provider.
After a public outcry and criticism from the House of Lords at the way the Government had slipped in the Section 75 regulations at the eleventh hour, Hunt had them hastily rewritten. But most experts agree that there was no meaningful change. GPs are allowed to keep some services within the NHS, but only in particular circumstances, such as when no private sector provider comes forward to bid. Everything else is up for grabs. It will take time for this change to slowly spread throughout our healthcare system, but it will."
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After a public outcry and criticism from the House of Lords at the way the Government had slipped in the Section 75 regulations at the eleventh hour, Hunt had them hastily rewritten. But most experts agree that there was no meaningful change. GPs are allowed to keep some services within the NHS, but only in particular circumstances, such as when no private sector provider comes forward to bid. Everything else is up for grabs. It will take time for this change to slowly spread throughout our healthcare system, but it will."
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Friday, 11 January 2013
Mid term review Jan 2013 Coalition and NHS
NHS
- Increase health spending above inflation every year
- "Stop the top-down reorganisations of the NHS"
- Axe a number of health quangos
- Cut administration costs by a third
- GPs to gain role in health service commissioning
- Directly elected members of primary care trust boards
- Patients to be able to choose GP and rate services
- Dementia research to be prioritised
- Health budget increased in real terms in 2011-12, and set to increase every subsequent year
- Transition of commissioning of health services to GP-led groups under way
- Pilot schemes set up in which patients can choose GPS
- Reduced early preventable death from cancer
- The audit is silent on whether there was a real-terms increase in 2010-11
- Since primary care trusts were swiftly abolished, their boards never contained a directly elected element
- Plans to "develop a 24/7 urgent care service in every area of England, including GP out-of-hours services" appear to have been dropped
- Changes amount to "biggest top-down reorganisation of the NHS in its history"
- Reforms will cost £3bn and increase bureaucracy
- NHS spending cut "two years running" and £1bn spent on redundancies
- 7,000 nursing jobs cut since 2010
- Number of patients facing long waits in A&E has doubled
- Increase the health budget in real terms
- Abolish strategic health authorities and primary care trusts from April 2013
- Establish health and well-being boards
- Invest up to £300m over five years in specialised housing for people in need of care
- Introduce a new bowel screening programme
- Regularly check that doctors are fit to carry out their duties
BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle says: In many ways the government's handling of the NHS is a case study in how not to make policy. In opposition the Tories promised no more reorganisation, only to announce one of the biggest overhauls of the health service in its history within months of gaining power. That would have probably been fine if the changes had been wanted by those working in the NHS. But they weren't. In the end the reforms were pushed through and now the focus of NHS staff is back on the day job - treating patients and trying to keep the NHS afloat in the tough economic climate.
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Saturday, 13 October 2012
NHS boss' criticisms of coalition reforms
Don't 'carpet bomb' NHS with competition, says health chief http://gu.com/p/3b53f
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Nick Robinson on reshuffle
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19481022
What the prime minister has done is fired and hired, like any business leader, to attempt to address some of the weaknesses.
Problem one: The NHS. Not just selling reforms already passed but - arguably much harder - achieving the efficiencies needed to execute the biggest squeeze on the NHS's finances ever seen. Jeremy Hunt is rewarded for his competence overseeing the Olympics, rather than punished for his alleged failings in handling the Murdochs.
Nick Robinson on the reshuffle and implications for NHS and more.
Problem one: The NHS. Not just selling reforms already passed but - arguably much harder - achieving the efficiencies needed to execute the biggest squeeze on the NHS's finances ever seen. Jeremy Hunt is rewarded for his competence overseeing the Olympics, rather than punished for his alleged failings in handling the Murdochs.
Monday, 3 September 2012
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Guardian columnist defends Cameron!
David Cameron's inner Maoist | Ian Birrell http://gu.com/p/38kvc
Friday, 29 June 2012
Concise VIDEOS on the Lansley NHS reforms
The bill became law in March 2012, but here are some very good videos looking at different areas of the controversey...
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Saturday, 19 May 2012
May 2012 Update: How did the nature of coalition government affect the NHS Reform Bill
Excellent summary from the BBC on where the government had to compromise on the NHS Bill. Many of which were pushed onto the government by LD backbenchers pressurising their leader. Revise these.
What the coalition wanted:
What the coalition wanted:
* GPs to take responsibility for £60bn of NHS funds
* Competition to be extended to more NHS services
* Reduced bureaucracy and fewer managers
* An increased role for the private sector
* Backing from every professional group involved.
What they have had to compromise on:
* NHS professionals such as hospital consultants and nurses given greater say in spending
* Competition limited to quality not price
* More managers to look into perceived risks
* All providers to be assessed for their suitability to run services.
The shape of things to come:
* Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) replace primary care trusts
* CCGs decide on care for patients, advise them where to go for treatment and pay the bills
*Some of the day-to-day control of the NHS passes to the new NHS Commissioning Board, which will manage the CCGs at a national and local level
*Responsibility for public health issues like obesity, smoking and alcohol abuse is handed to local councils
*All hospitals become foundation trusts and compete for treatment contracts from CCGs
*The cap on how much hospitals can earn from private patients rises from as little as 1.5% to 49%.
"What is the financial value of public services to the private sector and who are the chief beneficiaries?"
Public services, big earners: a sector-by-sector analysis | Society | guardian.co.uk: "What is the financial value of public services to the private sector and who are the chief beneficiaries?"
Good synoptic stuff here.
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Good synoptic stuff here.
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NHS Update May 2012
100 NHS voices | Society | The Guardian:
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Primary care trusts (PCTs), which currently commission and fund patients' treatment, will be replaced by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) – local groups of doctors, who are mainly GPs. They will gradually be handed responsibility for £60bn of NHS funds. They, rather than PCT managers, will be the ones who decide what care is right for patients, advise them where to go to get the best treatment and pay the bills. But many GPs are worried that this dramatic extension of their power could also damage their relationship of trust with patients because they will become responsible for rationing care, which will generate inevitable tensions.
• The new NHS Commissioning Board will manage the CCGs and try to drive up quality of care. It is meant to be handed much of ministers' day-to-day control of the NHS, to reduce political involvement. Critics fear, though, that the board's regional offices will be very similar to the strategic health authorities (SHAs) that will disappear next year. Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has said he intends to streamline the NHS but the new system will contain many thousands of new bodies.
• Public health – tackling problems such as obesity, smoking and alcohol abuse – will transfer from the NHS to local councils. They will have a specific remit to narrow widening health inequalities between rich and poor.
• Any hospital which is not already a semi-independent foundation trust will have to become one, ideally by 2014. They will compete for treatment contracts from CCGs. Health policy experts predict that CCGs could over time force the closure of units, or even entire hospitals, if they do not rate the care given there.
The "cap" on how much hospitals can earn from private patients will rise from as little as 1.5% to 49%, prompting fears of a two-tier service in which NHS patients have to wait longer than those who pay.
• Competition will be extended, and non-NHS groups – charities and private healthcare firms – will be able to bid for increasing amounts of work currently done by NHS staff.
"Any qualified provider" will see nine NHS services, including treatment of neck and back pain, opened up to competition from next month, with other areas to follow later.
• Campaigners fear a "rush to the bottom" on quality of care as new providers of services put in unrealistically low bids to win contracts, leaving patients dissatisfied. Ministers deny they want to privatise the NHS but health leaders fear growing privatisation is inevitable.
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Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Health groups: for or against the NHS Bill?
NB - the 'summit' was a Downing Street meeting between the PM, Lansley and certain health related organisations (see below).
Against the bill(None of these organisations were invited to the Downing Street summit)
British Medical Association
Cautiously welcomed the July 2010 white paper which set out the coalition's NHS plans. As concern grew, it adopted a policy of "critical engagement": lobbying ministers to amend or drop proposals it deemed too risky, damaging or ill thought-through. But rising anger among grassroots doctors, and deep frustration that Lansley did not really heed their concerns, prompted BMA last November to adopt policy of all-out opposition.
Royal College of Midwives, Royal College of Nursing and Royal College of GPs
Recently made the same switch as BMA, and, after initially seeking major amendments to it, now want the bill scrapped, which is also Labour's position.
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
Concerned that letting non-NHS providers start treating NHS patients, paid for out of NHS funds, will see patients denied physiotherapy sessions they need through the opening up of more NHS services to outside bodies through the "any qualified provider" policy.
Royal College of Pathologists
Concerned aboutcurrent and future impact of the combination of the changes this bill brings, the current "manner and pace of reconfiguration of services, including managerial, and the arbitrary removal of 20% from NHS spending on pathology services".
Royal College of Radiologists
Has "grave concerns" about "many serious and as yet unresolved issues", including the risk that the shake-up will widen health inequalities between richer and poorer patients. It is also "alarmed that the dangers of unfettered competition as outlined in the bill will adversely affect integrated care in both clinical oncology and clinical radiology".
Royal College of Psychiatrists
"Believes the bill is fundamentally flawed and "will not improve the health and care of people with mental illness", said Professor Sue Bailey, its president.
Unite and Unison
Fear the extension of competition in the NHS, and anticipated greater use of private healthcare firms to provide NHS services, will lead to the break-up and privatisation of the NHS.
Undecided(All were invited to the summit)
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Obtained some concessions but still has "grave reservations that the bill carries risks for England's 11 million children and young people". "Opposition to the bill among some paediatricians is increasingly hardening", according to president Professor Terence Stephenson. The results of a survey of its members are due later this week.
Royal College of Physicians
Its emergency general meeting next Monday could see it switch from being critical of the bill on some issues – such as competition and raising the amount hospitals can earn from private patients – to a more hardline stance.
Royal College of Surgeons
The one medical royal college to refuse to sign a strongly-worded joint statement, organised by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges last month, saying the bill was unfit for purpose in its current form. It denies it actively supports the bill.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Agreed to support last month's joint statement but later withdrew its support, after being lobbied by Lansley. "We have never said we fully support the bill. Instead we have always stated that we have concerns with elements of the bill which we have tried to address through the NHS listening exercise and meetings with the Department of Health and politicians," said president Dr Tony Falconer.
For the bill(All were invited to the summit.)
National Association of Primary Care
Group of entrepreneurial GPs that has supported Lansley's plan from the start. It welcomes family doctors gaining control of £60bn worth of contracts to GP-led clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to spend as they see fit on treatment.
NHS Alliance
Has embraced the NHS shake-up, though recently voiced fears that CCGs' independence could be threatened by the new NHS national commissioning board.
Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations
Chief executive Stephen Bubb is a keen advocate of extending competition in the NHS in order to drive up standards and reduce costs.
Against the bill(None of these organisations were invited to the Downing Street summit)
British Medical Association
Cautiously welcomed the July 2010 white paper which set out the coalition's NHS plans. As concern grew, it adopted a policy of "critical engagement": lobbying ministers to amend or drop proposals it deemed too risky, damaging or ill thought-through. But rising anger among grassroots doctors, and deep frustration that Lansley did not really heed their concerns, prompted BMA last November to adopt policy of all-out opposition.
Royal College of Midwives, Royal College of Nursing and Royal College of GPs
Recently made the same switch as BMA, and, after initially seeking major amendments to it, now want the bill scrapped, which is also Labour's position.
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
Concerned that letting non-NHS providers start treating NHS patients, paid for out of NHS funds, will see patients denied physiotherapy sessions they need through the opening up of more NHS services to outside bodies through the "any qualified provider" policy.
Royal College of Pathologists
Concerned aboutcurrent and future impact of the combination of the changes this bill brings, the current "manner and pace of reconfiguration of services, including managerial, and the arbitrary removal of 20% from NHS spending on pathology services".
Royal College of Radiologists
Has "grave concerns" about "many serious and as yet unresolved issues", including the risk that the shake-up will widen health inequalities between richer and poorer patients. It is also "alarmed that the dangers of unfettered competition as outlined in the bill will adversely affect integrated care in both clinical oncology and clinical radiology".
Royal College of Psychiatrists
"Believes the bill is fundamentally flawed and "will not improve the health and care of people with mental illness", said Professor Sue Bailey, its president.
Unite and Unison
Fear the extension of competition in the NHS, and anticipated greater use of private healthcare firms to provide NHS services, will lead to the break-up and privatisation of the NHS.
Undecided(All were invited to the summit)
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Obtained some concessions but still has "grave reservations that the bill carries risks for England's 11 million children and young people". "Opposition to the bill among some paediatricians is increasingly hardening", according to president Professor Terence Stephenson. The results of a survey of its members are due later this week.
Royal College of Physicians
Its emergency general meeting next Monday could see it switch from being critical of the bill on some issues – such as competition and raising the amount hospitals can earn from private patients – to a more hardline stance.
Royal College of Surgeons
The one medical royal college to refuse to sign a strongly-worded joint statement, organised by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges last month, saying the bill was unfit for purpose in its current form. It denies it actively supports the bill.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Agreed to support last month's joint statement but later withdrew its support, after being lobbied by Lansley. "We have never said we fully support the bill. Instead we have always stated that we have concerns with elements of the bill which we have tried to address through the NHS listening exercise and meetings with the Department of Health and politicians," said president Dr Tony Falconer.
For the bill(All were invited to the summit.)
National Association of Primary Care
Group of entrepreneurial GPs that has supported Lansley's plan from the start. It welcomes family doctors gaining control of £60bn worth of contracts to GP-led clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to spend as they see fit on treatment.
NHS Alliance
Has embraced the NHS shake-up, though recently voiced fears that CCGs' independence could be threatened by the new NHS national commissioning board.
Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations
Chief executive Stephen Bubb is a keen advocate of extending competition in the NHS in order to drive up standards and reduce costs.
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