The Sham Of e-petitions

Oh I have lost count of how many times I have clicked on to Dr Kailash Chands e-petition and marvelled at the daily increase (in thousands) of those who have signed.  Initially I truly believed that the general public genuinely had a voice and could elicit change, that when the magic total of 100,000 was reached, the subject of the petition would be debated in Parliament.

Then I read the ‘small print’ and realised I was a trusting fool.

The website states “e-petitions is an easy way for you to influence government policy in the UK.”  However this is strictly not true as plainly stated in ‘How e-petitions work’ - “If you collect 100,000 signatures, your e-petition COULD be debated in the House of Commons.”  Just could be, that’s all.

Any person in the UK can petition the government electronically and any petition that reaches 100,000 is referred to the House of Commons Backbench Business Committee (BBC), who reviews the petition and decides whether it merits debate in Parliament.  (However a petition does not necessarily have to reach the 100,000 total if the Committee feels its subject merits debate.)

If a petition reaches 100,000 it does not automatically follow that it will be debated as it may be felt the subject does not merit debate, there is not time available to schedule the debate or no MP wishes to debate it.

With regards to Dr Chands e-petition Labour MP Natascha Engel (chairwoman of the BBC) states in this article in The Huffington Post “the amount of time allocated by the government meant it was increasingly difficult to schedule debates on contentious issues such as NHS reform.”

She also states that she can only schedule debates with cross-party support necessitating Liberal Democrats and/or Tory MPs to back the Drop the Health Bill petition.

So regrettably it would appear that the petition will/might not be debated and that the electorates’ voices will be ignored.

Is this surprising from a government that does not invite critics of its reforms to its meeting?

Anna :o[

Rome Is Burning

There has been a wonderful surge of signatures to Dr Kailash Chands’ e-petition “Drop the Health Bill” and indeed it has more than surpassed the 100,000 mark (130,789 at the time of writing) required to allow debate in the House of Commons.

But will it be debated?

Click on FAQs and read that “If the subject of the e-petition is currently going through legal proceedings, it may be inappropriate for a debate to be held."

As Cameron and Lansley are determined to ignore the concerns of the BMA, 19 Royal Medical Colleges, Institute of Healthcare Management, Royal Colleges of Nurses and Midwifes, NHS Consultants’ Association, GMB, Unite and Unison unions, Faculty of Public Health, Patients Association, Institute of Healthcare Management, Medical, Management and Nursing Journals, Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, etc. and push ahead with this much hated bill – why would they take notice of an e-petition?

If our wonderful government are intent in ignoring the very people who work within the NHS what more can we do?

If you have not signed the e-petition please do so and Facebook and tweet it!  Email your ‘contacts’ and ask them to do the same.  (The greater the number - the less likely the e-petition will be ignored.)

Email your MP – ask him/her what they intend to do (remember they were elected by you to represent you) on 22nd February when a debate is to be held to vote on the release of the risk register.   (Unison have made it easy - just follow instructions on page.  You don't have to be a member of Unison to do so - I'm not)

Details on the risk register from Unisons' pages:

“The government has so far refused to release the so-called “risk register" behind its controversial Health Bill, despite the independent Information Commissioner telling them to do so.

Speculation suggests that the register contains damning information about the risks of the government's NHS overhaul, particularly around the cost of its plans and the ability of GPs to take on massive new responsibilities.

It takes just two minutes to make a difference

The debate on 22 February is a chance for MPs to vote for the government to release the risk register now, so that the public will have a better idea of what is in store for the NHS and our politicians will be better informed when considering the Health Bill in Parliament.

Ask your MP to support the motion that the risk register should be published.”

If you care about your NHS, please ask your MP to support the motion and again email your ‘contacts’ and ask them if they will do the same.

Email  No 10 direct  and inform Dave of your concerns. It of course is highly probable that he will not read it – but if enough of us write he will certainly be aware of the volume of mail received and the general publics’ unrest, fear, hatred of the HSCB. (Again ask your contacts to do so too.)

Dave’s pride has become more important to him than the wishes of US, the GENERAL PUBLIC, THE ELECTORATE. We live in a DEMOCRACY; we have a RIGHT to VOICE our OPINIONS.

Please don’t just sit there while Rome burns, do something now before it is too late!

Cheers!

Anna :o]

Update on the e-petition!

I checked the number of signatures on the e-petition this morning and the total was 69,000+.

Went to bed, got up and read this article in Pulse, checked the petition to find 92,300 signatures.

What does that say to you Lansley?   To me it says an awful lot of docs have signed today!

I am indeed a happy bunny!

Keep signing folks!  (Just checked when creating this link - now 94,142!  Yippee!)

Anna :o]

Time Is Running Out!

JD provides a list here of those for and against the Health and Social Care Bill (HSCB) and he notes in his ‘Against’ column that “Most of the population (if they knew it)” would be.

I am certain he is correct.

So why don’t they/we know?  I think Richard Bloggers’ excellent post “Why Patients Are Not Objecting To The Health Bill” is well worth a read.  Please read it all!

He writes:  “NHS patients treat the NHS like mains-supplied water. When you need it, it is there. Turn the tap on, and the water flows. Go to your doctor and get treated. You don't have to think how either is provided. You don't think about how it is funded. (Even people on metered water don't think: flushing this toilet will cost me 1p.) You know it is there and you use it when you need it.

And that is exactly how it should be.

But it will change under the Health and Social Care Bill.”

And indeed it will.

For further information of how the HSCB will affect YOU, please read “Frequently asked questions on the Health and Social Care Bill” and focus on

Q7:  I had the impression that the reform was all about putting GPs in charge, which sounds like a good idea.  Isn’t this the case?

A:     No. Through their involvement in Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), GPs will be acquiring new financial and legal responsibilities for balancing budgets and deciding whose care can be paid for and whose cannot, but they may well see a reduction in their professional autonomy rather than an increase.  Specialist services will be provided for most patients through the Any Qualified Provider (AQP) process (identical to Any Willing Provider process used for commercial procurement in the EU and the USA).  GPs initially believed that they would be able to help their patients navigate the system and arrange optimal care.  However it turns out that any provision through AQP must be administered under competition laws, it is the rule of the patient alone to choose a provider.  Because the GP is part of the system, it would distort competition between providers if GPs advised patients of which to choose – so they won’t be allowed to.   Thus GPs will only gain workload and risk, and patients will be deprived of GPs know-how on which providers will be the most suitable.

So your care outside your GP practice will be in the hands of ANY Qualified Provider and not that of a specialist your GP knows and trusts.  How will YOU know who to choose?

Would you send your child to ANY school or attempt to secure a place at a school that offered good education?  Would you buy ANY car or one that you knew was roadworthy?    Would you buy ANY house or one that you wanted to live in as it suited your needs?  (Carry on the possibilities here your good self!)

Dr Kailash Chand is behind an e-petition to have the HSCB scrapped.    It has 63,237 signatures at the time of writing and needs 100,000 before 16/05/12 to force a debate in Parliament.   If you care about the NHS, please sign it – there is much to lose if you don’t.

Please email all you know and ask them to sign the petition and also forward “The frequently asked questions on the Health and Social Care Bill” too.

Cheers!

Anna :o]

Addendum:  e-petition signatures at 11H05 today (Sunday) is 64,467!  A thousand plus since yesterday!  Keep signing folks and we will easily make 100,000!  Don't forget to ask all you know to sign it, tweet it, whatever they can!  Yay!

HSCB - "My friend from America"

I love writing to people all over the world. Love to know what makes them tick, understand the differences and appreciate the similarities. I have American friends and I asked my dear friend ‘Eddie’ if he would consider writing a guest post on the blog re the differences of healthcare in The United States. He declined but gave me permission to publish excerpts from his letters. They are as follows (unedited apart from the first paragraph):

” When I think of America there are 3 things that immediately come to mind: Unaffordable health insurance (I have none)….

"About the health care issue, I'm sorry but I try to avoid blogs and it's not that I don't trust you, far from it; I just quite simply don't have the time. Also I don't have that much to tell really but feel free to use what ever I might come up with, perhaps under the heading "My friend from America" because I do look at you as my friend. One thing I can relate is that I had surgery for two hernia's about ten years ago and when it was over I owed $5000. I paid them what I could afford every month but that wasn't good enough so they put a collection agency on me who threatened to ruin my credit if I didn't pay up. I told them to go ahead and I also told them that you can't get blood out of a turnip. I finally paid them off, it took me five years.

"I didn't realize that your NHS was in jeopardy, and you should fight it because believe me you don't want the alternative. And let me guess it's your conservatives who are pushing to get rid of it?

"There are two main reasons why we have no nationalized health care in the states, lobbyists and the Republican Party. There are many different kinds of lobbyists in Washington, the gun industry has them, the pharmaceutical industry has them and the health care industry also. They are in Washington to fight for their respective clients interests and that entails blocking legislation that may be detrimental to said client. Last year Obama tried to over haul our health system but ran into such rabid opposition that the resulting bill ended up hurting the very people it was intended to help, i.e. poor people. Now I think I told you that I am a life long democrat (liberal) and would never under any circumstances vote for a republican (conservative). In my opinion the democrats are the good guys (or at least the lesser of two evils, politicians in general seem to be a rather unsavory bunch). It's democrats that have pushed legislation that actually help the average person and the poor, social security (which the conservatives are still trying to take away) unemployment insurance etc. The republicans have aligned themselves with white evangelicals and whenever they want to stir up their base they do what they always do, use fear. They started running ads during the health care debate that said Obama was trying to take away their health care and give it to the poor and also that Obama was a socialist (a very dirty word here). There was a public outcry against Obama i.e. the tea party (have you heard of these idiots?) and Obama was forced to back down. I would really like to ask these so called "Christians" what they think Jesus would say about all this. Do they think he would be against legislation that would help millions of poor people? I think not but the real motive for these people is money, they're afraid their taxes would go up. Christians in the U.S. are worried about your soul, because it's relatively cost effective to do so, but they don't give a damn about your health.”

My grandchildren might be writing something similar to the above in years to come when the NHS (as we know it) is dead and gone.   The NHS is already partially privatized (PFIs) and will be more so soon.  You, the tax payer will continue to contribute towards the NHS - but it will no longer be yours.

When you need a hip or knee replacement or whatever – you won’t get it. Do you get it? If you can afford private health care/insurance you just might be okay, that is if you mention the chest infection you had fifteen years ago – sure sign of COPD – for if you don’t you won’t be covered.

Private insurance companies want to make money from you – not pay for care.

Adopt a Lord (pretty damn soon) and stop the Health and Social Care Bill. Do it – or regret it (at painful) leisure.

Anna :o]

HSCB - Do the majority of 'health professionals' really give a damn?

The good Witch Doctors post 'Waiting patiently for The Academy' sent my little grey cells into overdrive.  (This doesn’t happen often!)

WDs post begins thus:

“The Guardian refers to an open letter sent by a group of doctors to all the Presidents of the Medical Royal Colleges asking them to speak for the medical establishment and demand that the Health and Social Care Bill, that has currently completed its trip through the House of Commons, is withdrawn by the government.”

WD mentions that despite much searching she could not find any comment or link leading to information re The Health and Social Care Bill on The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges home page.  (If I was a doctor worried about the HSCB I would have little faith in this academy).

You may wonder what set my little grey cells into overdrive …. I will tell you later.

The letter referred to is here and mentions that a RCGP survey of over a 1000 GPs was highly critical of the government lack of assurance to the medical profession that there would be no privatisation.  Dr Clare Gerada stated:

‘GPs don’t think this bill is going to create a patient-led NHS, they don’t think it’s going to increase autonomy, they don’t think it’s going to improve patient care and they don’t think it’s going to reduce health inequalities.’

I think the GPs who responded to this poll are certainly correct but, are the opinions of 1000 GPs truly representative of over 42000 family doctors?  I do not know how many GPs were asked to take part in the survey – but would the remainder have reached the same conclusion?

There is only one link to the HSCB on the RCGP home page and indeed it is not mentioned at all in the September edition of RCGP News.  Mmmm…. If I was a GP concerned about the HSCB I would worry about this.

The letter also mentions:

‘An online BMJ poll of over 1000 doctors showed that 93% wanted the bill to be withdrawn and a smaller online poll by GP magazine showed that 94% thought the bill should be scrapped. The Government’s former Director for heart disease and stroke, Sir Roger Boyle, also spoke out against the bill. He pulled no punches when he stated that: 'It is horrific that the NHS's future is threatened'

Do you think it fair to suggest that the majority of those who responded to the Yes/No/Unsure poll would be those who have genuine concerns re the HSCB?  What do the rest think?

What set my little grey cells into overdrive?  It was the combination of the Witch Doctors post and this article I had read previously in Pulse.  The article mentions the possibly of a ballot on industrial action over pension reforms and the governments intention of bringing forward its plans to increase the retirement age to 67.

The BMA is calling in lawyers to give advice on industrial actions. Dr Andrew Dearden, BMA pensions chair describing the new pension plans a ‘straightforward tax on healthworkers.’

Dr Hamish Meldrum, union chief and council chair of the BMA has set up a dedicated Pensions Campaign Group and is discussing legal issues and industrial action etc.

Why did this article and the Witch Doctors post send my little grey cells into overdrive?

It appears to my little grey cells that the medical profession is really worked up about future pension changes and there is much anger and the possibility of industrial action.

If the majority of the medical profession were really concerned regarding the ramifications of HSCB would they not have become angry and worked up about this too?  Would they not have threatened industrial action?

Would the fact that they have not, strongly suggest that the good doctors who blog are indeed (and unfortunately) members of a minority of the medical profession who oppose the bill, the remainder being pro the bill or at the very least indifferent to it?

Dave might have been correct when he stated the health professionals back the bill for perhaps in the most part they do?

I hope I’m bloody wrong!

What say you?

Anna :o]

PS Nurses are no better either.

Is The NHS Doomed?

Collecting together the main sections of the Sunday newspapers to take into work last night I was struck by The Observers headline "Lib Dem peer plunges NHS reforms into fresh turmoil" and read with joy that Baroness Shirley Williams is expressing new doubts – although appearing pacified by changes to the bill over summer – having re-examined the proposals.

The article also mentions emails released yesterday following a freedom of information request by Spinwatch detailing exchanges between senior health officials and private companies regarding the handing over of between 10-20 hospitals to international companies.  One message from McKinsey to a senior DoH official reads 'international hospital provider groups' would want certain conditions taking over the hospitals, such as 'a free hand on staff management' – adding that the NHS would be allowed to keep real estate and pensions.  How kind.  

"Let me make clear: there will be no privatisation," now sounds a bit hollow David.

Please read 'German Company involved in talks to take over NHS hospitals.'

I fear that Shirley Williams is possibly quite alone as this article states:

 "Sources close to Clegg said the leadership had already "used up a lot of political capital" by halting and then recasting the bill earlier this year."We expect MPs to vote with the government. Otherwise we won't last very long [in power].""

The response I received from my latest email to my (Labour) MP wasn't very encouraging at all, purely focusing on the revised Clause 1 of the bill still proposing to weaken the responsibility of the Secretary of State to provide and secure NHS services.

No specific questions posed were answered nor did MP X state that he/she planned to vote against the bill.

This is not really a very well constructed post folks (as I should be in bed) and in reality it is all over the place, but I guess what I am trying to say is "I think the NHS is doomed."

Sad, very sad.

Anna :o[

Links: http://cockroachcatcher.blogspot.com/2011/09/nhs-reform-shirley-williams-south.html

The Death Of The NHS

Read  this and weep.  Cry your bloody eyes out.  You were warned.  You did not listen.  Apathy is easy.  Murdoch provided an ideal opportunity to bury bad news - and buried it was.  I totally missed it.

Your future in health provision is to be changed.  You will allow it as it hasn't touched you yet.  It possibly/probably will  in the future when you are needy - and your needs will not be met.  Visit NHS Support Federation, read all and act.  It is up to you.  Only you can effect the halt of privatisation.  Do something for Gods sake!

Anna :o[

NHS Reforms, Southern Cross and Cherry Picking

Southern Cross 

• Teetering on the brink of financial collapse, seeking an orderly wind-down to avert administration.
• Axing 3,000 jobs.
• 164 (28%) of its care homes in England breached CQC standards, that is, impositions imposed for " non-routine conditions."
• Ready to relinquish control of more than 250 homes to landlords.
• Cannot meet its £230m yearly rent bill.
• Rival operators (Bupa, Four Seasons & Bondcare) are ready to (cherry) pick off the most profitable outlets.

 Dave and NHS Reforms

• "Our  changes will secure fair competition – not cherry picking … …"

 Business and Profit 

• Every business operates to make a profit.
• A business might have other goals but if they do not make a profit they will have to close.
• A business operating in a NHS market must cherry pick to make a profit otherwise it will have to close.

The last bullet point is rather simplified and does not take into account as to whether a business is a small local company or a large national or multi-national, nevertheless whether a business is large or small it will cherry pick - it would be foolish not to.

Anna :o]

People, Patients, Privatisation, Profits and the NHS

This is going to be a lazy posts folks and you will have to do most of the work yourselves by reading the links provided.

During my break at work last night I was reading The Sunday Telegraph and The Observer - I like a balanced view, but am always suprised at the totally different entries in these two papers - it is as if they were written in two entirely different countries.

I read in The Telegraph that Dave is to commit to "five guarantees" on the future of the NHS in a speech on Tuesday, these are that he will promise to keep waiting lists low, keep care integrated, maintain spending, keep the health service "national" and not to privatise the NHS.

I also read of the plight of Southern Cross and more importantly the possible plight of the residents that dwell therein.  Southern Cross is a perfect example of greedy business - where profit is more important than people. 

I read in The Observer of doubts re the financal strength of Circle Health this being a troubled company that already has its finger in the NHS pie.

Not read in these papers - despite the PFI controversy, NHS trusts are still setting up deals.  The NHS will eventually pay more than £50bn for buildings worth just £11bn, plus there will be maintence charges on top.  You will be paying this through your taxes general public - but more so your children.  You will be paying this to private companies.

Must go to bed now folks so read and figure it out for yourselves.

Anna :o]

Link: It Could Be Fatal at Bad Medicine

2015 "It's the NHS Jim, but not as we knew it."

My Hero - Not!

Judgement day came and went!  Phew!  Not the end of the world then - but unless we act quickly - as sure as eggs is eggs, pretty soon it will be the end of the NHS as we know it.

So yet again folks I would draw your attention the The Health and Social Care Bill or if you like, NHS reforms.  Only two weeks of the sham NHS "listening exercise" left and then we are doomed!

I know I keep nagging on and on and on and you may be bored to death of it, possibly don't even care - but it is up to YOU general public to get your fingers out, brush off the apathy and get YOUR voice heard!

A recent YouGov poll commissioned by 38 Degrees showed that 95% of the public have no idea how to get involved in the "listening exercise" and 1 in 5 believe that Lansley isn't listening.

I would go a bit further by informing that when attempting to discuss NHS reforms with my colleagues last night - not one of them knew what I was talking about.  Depressing isn't it?

38 Degrees are asking for donations to run ads in The Times, The Mail and The Guardian to alert YOU as to how Lansley has ignored the Save Our NHS campaign.  Donate, do SOMETHING!

Read this article that shows the "listening exercise" is a stunt, read who is worried, read these excellent blogs:
Bad Medicine, The Cockroach Catcher, Witch Doctor, A Betternhs's Blog and all blogs directed to on these same blogs.  Read and learn!

Please do SOMETHING because as sure as eggs is eggs, if you don't, come your dotage and you need your hip replacement - you won't get it!

PRETTY, PRETTY, PRETTY PLEASE - DO SOMETHING!

Anna :o]

Time Is Running Out

NHS REFORMS

C'mon folks - time is running out!  Only 290883 have signed the 38 Degrees 'Save the NHS' petition so far - what a miserable amount!

Okay reforms are required - but not as envisaged by our dear coalition government.  Don't be fooled by Nick's sudden U-turn - listen to this little snippet of Mondays Today programme and learn of the Lib Dems real plans for our NHS.

Don't be fooled by Labours supposed interest in our NHS and their failed motion - New Labour were the original architects of steady NHS privatisation.

Don't be fooled by the 'Pause and Listening' exercise - the reforms will progress unless we shout out and stop it!

Follow the Guardian's NHS Reforms live blog to discover the real news.

Support your GPs.  Listen to the Chair of the Royal College of GPs Dr Clare Gerada here voice her concerns and visit here to learn more - click on 'accompanying report.'

Most importantly support your NHS by signing the petition.  Email it, Tweet it, put in on FaceBook.

It is time what we the general public got off our backsides and fought for something precious - have you got off yours?

Anna :o]

Life and Death before the NHS

Before the NHS the provision of healthcare was very different from today.  Infectious diseases were rife and thousands died of pneumonia, diphtheria, tuberculosis, meningitis and polio every year.

Infant mortality was around one in twenty and there was little the healthcare system could do to change it.

Healthcare was not a luxury everyone could afford.  Those who could, paid for doctor's fees and medicine.  Workers who earned under a certain amount were covered by the 1911 National Insurance Act and paid a few pennies each week and received free treatment "on the panel."  Some woman and children could see a 'Club Doctor' as they paid into a 'sick club.'

Millions, the most needy and vulnerable were not entitled to free care - children, the elderly, women not at work and the unemployed.

Often, among the very poor a decision had to be made between buying necessary medicine or a loaf of bread.  The loaf of bread usually won.

The poem below is firmly based on a story a resident (now deceased) used to relate to me often.  He told of life before the NHS and we both shed tears whenever he told it.

The Coal Black Night

Short pants, scuffed knees, no warmth of coat,
I ill-dressed in drenching rain,
Panic in my heart tossed ragged coal
At Dr Humphries window pane.

Window opened he stretched a tired "Yes?"
"Dad's having one of his heart attacks!"
I screamed and he hurried forth
Hand clasped round his humble bag.

We raced into the coal black night
'Til we could run no more.
Breathing so hard it pained our chest
We found mother at the door.

"Hurry doctor!" she implored through tears
"I fear he is very near to death!"
Father clutching tightly at his heart,
Fighting dear for every breath.

I, cleared from the scullery
To the good room with baby Sis,
That dearest fragile scrap of life,
I gave her a frightened kiss.

I heard the wail of mothers cry
So anguished my blood ran cold.
Dr Humphriess came and hugged me tight -
His heart as good as gold.

"I'm sorry son, your fathers gone,"
His voice crackled with compassion.
Mother entered as if in a dream
Looking old, destroyed and ashen.

I ran to her shouting "No! No! No!"
My heart full of disbelief.
She crushed me deep into her arms
And we were joined in grief.

Embraced within my mothers love
We cried until our tears ran dry,
And deep within that shroud of grief
We heard the doctors anguished cry.

Tears streaming down his tired cheeks
Distraught and so distressed
He cradled Sis within his arms
Close to his heaving chest.

Baby Sis had been born to die,
So fragile, so small and weak.
We took her from the doctors arms
And left kisses on her cheeks.

The three of us stood empty then
No tears left to cry,
For death was not a stranger then
And rarely passed us by.

Anna :o]

NHS Reforms and Apparent Apathy of the General Public

This post is very different from the original draft and this is with thanks to Dr No and his recent post The Patient on the Clapham Omnibus

The draft focused on this interview with Andrew Lansley in which, when asked "Do you think you have done a good job of explaining these reforms?" he replied "... ... Yes" and later that he had "... absolutely engaged with people" and had indeed listened to all GPs! My!  That is a lot of conversations with GPs - how does he find the time?

How strange it is then that one week later on 13/04/11 he, Dave and Nick were holding a round-table session with voluntary health organisations to help reassure the general public that NHS reforms are "not about privatisation."

How strange it is that the afternoon of the very same day he apologised to nurses for poor communication of his health reforms.  How strange it is that he did not have the guts to address the RCN congress, instead meeting a select 60 for a Q&A session to 'listen.'

The rest of the post rambled on about the poor uptake (9%) of docs to the BMA commissioned Ipsos MORI poll, that it appears that GPs are to be frozen out of the NHS board and that there is no unity, no single voice representing 'health professionals' and because of this, I fear our fight is doomed.

However, my thoughts were diverted to Dr No's post and his last sentence: "Perhaps it is time we medical bloggers found a way to sing to a wider audience."

This is my proposition:  We email our concerns to http://www.info.doh.gov.uk/contactus.nsf/memo?openform   We email all our friends and colleagues and ask them to do the same and request (they) email their friends and colleagues and so on into infinity.

Below is an example of what your original email might be - but you can word it as you like:

Saving our NHS

As you must be aware, the very existence of our NHS is under threat, yet there does not appear to be a groundswell of resistance from the general public, that being US!

We take the NHS for granted as it is there when we need it - but what if it was no longer there?  Admittedly it may have a few warts, even several that are in need of treatment - but is an effective treatment to destroy the host?

Unless we unite we will lose our NHS, it morphing into some strange unfriendly beast that offers no asylum to those with complex and expensive medical conditions.

Please help save our NHS and email Andrew Lansley at http://www.info.doh.gov.uk/contactus.nsf/memo?openform and let him know your opinions.  Please forward this to all your friends and colleagues and ask them to do the same.

The only way to be heard is to speak out!  Please help save our NHS!

You could also start a petition limited to your street and send it to:

The Rt Hon Andrew Lansley,
Secretary of State for Public Health,
Department of Health,
79, Whitehall,
London,
SW1A 2NS

C'mon folks - lets do it!  Let's save our NHS!

Anna :o]

ADDENDUM.   Having received an automated reply from Andrew's constituency offfce - the above directions have been changed.  

Saving our NHS Forest

I love my NHS.  It is probably true that I love it less than I did.  The steady privatisation, fragmentation, low staff moral, the illusion of choice has left harshness, a coldness that is felt by patients.  It is also true that within the NHS there are many good people who genuinely care and in themselves are part of the healing process.

The NHS that I knew and loved is so eloquently described by Dr No in Alma Mater.  I was so taken with it; I emailed it to David Cameron's election HQ, then naively believing that the Conservatives would indeed look after our NHS and perhaps even attempt to recover the NHS as it once was.  Whether he read it or not - I don't know.

Of course I wasn't a doctor and not yet a nurse then in the NHS that Dr No described, but a patient.  Several admissions during childhood and for the delivery of my own children, I was aware of the warmth and camaraderie for it indeed rubbed off on patients.  Times have changed and changed the NHS, the sense of temporarily belonging to that family during admittance is very seldom apparent.  Yet the NHS is still worth saving and I am grateful that it exists.

The NHS can be likened to a great oak that stands proudly in an ancient forest existing on the peripheries of our lives; not a constant requirement - but there when we need it.  Its great branches supporting its lush green canopy offering us shelter when we are diseased or injured; its roots searching and probing for life saving cures; its leaves providing us with the oxygen we require for our very existence; its fruits offering new life; its whole self offering a place of refuge in times of need.

Our real forest have recently been under threat, the coalition government planned to sell 15% of the public forest estate by 2015.  Critics objected to the sale on the grounds that it might be more difficult for the public to gain access to them, and even wildlife and the very existence of forests themselves might be threatened as timber companies and developers took control - unfettered by the protection of public management.

The public were up in arms and in a short space of time, a cyber petition gained over 500,000 signatures and our forests were saved.

The very existence of our NHS forest is under threat under the guise of the White Paper: Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS.   Its apparent aims appear laudable: putting patients at the heart of everything the NHS does; focusing on continuous improvement and empowering and liberating clinicians.

In reality, I believe the White Paper to be a terminal illness masquerading as a miracle cure; its true aim to be that of opening the NHS to privatisation; where the very NHS will be threatened as private providers take control, destroying all that is seen as unprofitable, unfettered by the protection of public management.

The public (as patients) will find in increasingly difficult to gain access - especially if presenting with an illness that threatens the confines of a budget.  GP Consortia - unless a true commercial enterprise - will be doomed to failure and be swallowed up by the private sector.  The NHS as we know it will cease to exist.

You would think that the medical and health professions and all in healthcare would be up in arms about the destruction of our NHS forest - but no, bar a small few!  You would think that the general public would be up in arms about the destruction of our NHS forest - but no!  A Save our NHS petition has only gained a mere 37,489 signatures.

A recently published survey commissioned by the BMA would suggest that the great majority of the medical profession have great concerns re NHS reforms.  It is a fact that the key findings are a sham with less than 9% of doctors contacted even bothering to respond.  Amongst its real findings are: under four in ten do not understand what the reforms mean to them individually; over a third are waiting to see what happens; 11% of GP practices have taken no steps in preparing for the reform; 37% know very little or nothing at all about current NHS reforms; 33% of doctors (excluding GPs) have taken no steps to prepare for reform - and so it goes on.  Read the real results of the survey here: Ipsos Mori.  Read it (the downloads!) and weep!

If those in the medical profession and indeed those in nursing and allied professions do not appear to care - how in hells name are we going to engage the general public?

Some of us care and I am thinking here of all the good doctors who blog: Dr No, The Witch Doctor, Dr Grumble, The Cockroach Catcher et al, Militant Medical Nurse and the lovely Julie at Campaigning for Health - but are these fine bloggers truly representative of their professions - or are they the voice of the minority, the majority just waiting to see what happens?  I would hope that they are not and would echo Julie's sentiments in that all who work in health professions - and care about the NHS - should not just 'stand there and moan - do something!'

When we mourn the death of our NHS in years to come, we will throw our hands in the air and exclaim "Why didn't somebody do something?"

Anna :o]

Addendum:  I have been made aware of another petition that seems to be enjoying more success.  Please visit 38degrees, sign and help save our NHS.  (These are the folks whose petition saved our forests!)