The Greatest Tragedy is Indifference

I am not at liberty to speak my truth,

it tempered by myth of equality;

I can hold no opinions of my own

should I offend those who would silence me.

I shall be watched, monitored, thought controlled;

moulded, become some mindless automaton

who blind yields to the bid of those that rule,

blind to the loss of self and freedom gone.

I but a small cog in a larger wheel,

a cog of insignificance and worthless say,

yet still while strength remains will mourn the death

of  Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.

Come let us arm ourselves with righteous voice,

let us fight for return of common good,

let us regain our thoughts and freedoms lost, 

let us embrace again in brotherhood.

Let us fight for our humanity,

for shall we not our spirits surely slain,

we will lose the sense of who and what we are,

we will become a number and not a name.

Anna :o]

I like the French.  Many Brits don’t as they see the French as moaning, but do not understand that the French will readily admit to being "râleurs,” that is unafraid to speak their mind or show their feelings.  To "râler" is not to be confused with rudeness, it is getting things out in the open, sorting out a problem and moving on.  And long may it continue.

I guess with my French heritage – oh so long ago, the time of the Huguenots – I have a propensity to ‘tell it like it is.”  But my ‘telling it like it is’ is never confrontational, always wrapped in soft fluffy blankets with the comfort of moving on sure to follow.

Well apart from my personal life, the bit I have an element of control over, this is not strictly true - for as do my fellow countrymen/women I yield to the dumbing down and regimentation - by the forever increasing rules and regulations - of my life and watch helpless as my personal freedoms are whittled away under the lie of equality and ‘human rights.’  And it is true that most of us, worldwide, are indifferent to both the states (ours - not the US) overt and covert policing of us as we ‘have nothing to hide’…

The health professions’ are fraught with loss of autonomy as medicine and nursing becomes an exercise in ticking boxes, no matter that patients do not necessarily fit the boxes.  (In mental health some patients/clients/service-users do not meet the criteria of the ‘speciality’ of (any of) a particular psychiatrists remit and God help them if they need the input of a psychiatrist – it takes months for one prepared to take them on to be found.)

In the good old days, governance of said professions’ was done under the elected leadership of doctors and nurses (how strange!) but is now that of government quangos, mostly ignorant of the professions’ they supposedly serve.  (But they do not serve, they police in the most oppressive way and bow down to whatever government is in power.)  Added to this are countless regulatory bodies whose aim is to police and find fault – if praise is due, it is never given.

I can only speak with authority on the effect of all this tick boxing, regulation on nursing and although I still love my job, I am afraid in it.  There is a constant need (and knock on effect) to cover my back lest I fall foul of some obscure and ill-thought out regulation, I am constantly treading on eggshells and it is taking its toll and although I really do love my job – I would leave tomorrow if finances permitted.

I am not alone here and would ask you to view this article in The Guardian highlighting a recent survey in which (almost) two-thirds of nurses have considered leaving in the last twelve months as they are so stressed.  It is probable that another Mid-Staffs is happening now as burnout takes its toll and those on the bottom rung of the ladder will be again scapegoated. (Please read of burnout – see how it changes you.)

Doctors too are buckling under the pressure an ever increasing workload and excessive policing of their every action and a recent Pulse survey shows that 43% (of GPs that responded) are classified at very high risk of developing burnout.

I do not doubt within this midst are nurses and doctors who are bad, but also in this midst are doctors and nurses who have been suspended due to vexacious and/or malicious complaints (the compensation culture has a lot to answer for here).  I would therefore ask you to read this excellent Dr No post at Bad Medicine in which he highlights the deaths of 92 doctors who were under ‘Fitness to Practice’ investigation.  I would also ask you to consider signing Dr Helen Bright’s  e-petition here.  Cheers!

The greatest tragedy is indifference…

How did I get here?  Brian at dVerse has us writing of slogans – slogans that catch our attention and remain memorable.  And these thoughts just spilled out…  Thanks Brian.

Death of the NHS

Yesterday the Heath and Social Care Act came into force.

Today the NHS begins to die.
Tomorrow begins the dismantling of the NHS.

The dismantling will be subtle…

You will not notice until a procedure or service you need is denied…

To understand more, please read this article by Max Pemberton in The Telegraph…read it and weep.

Image: courtesy of flickr

Author: Byzantine_K

Neglect Of The Elderly

Today we have learned of the unannounced inspections by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of one hundred hospitals and the disquieting news that one in five are neglecting elderly patients to the point of breaking the law.  (The report is here).                  

We hear of unacceptable hospital cultures where unacceptable care has become the norm, where the elderly are treated with a lack of respect, stripped of their dignity, are ignored, are talked over (by doctors and nurses), where basic needs (eating and drinking and going to the toilet) are not met.

How many times have we heard something similar or seen ‘undercover’ reporting on TV documentaries of the disgraceful care of the elderly this year, last year and the years before?  How many times will we hear and see it again – for we never seem to learn from it?

It appears to me that the blame culture firmly scapegoats nurses and fails to look at the real issues.  Of course there are indeed bad nurses as there are bad doctors, bad politicians and bad governments and I have come across some cruel nurses and doctors in my time but would add that they are few and far between.

The report notes that care has been broken down into a task-based culture where doctors and nurses are held to account for every box they have or haven’t ticked and I would agree that this is indeed the case.  Although not working in a hospital but a care setting there are so many boxes to tick (even the photocopier has to be risk assessed), so many authorities, agencies and professional bodies to which you are accountable, so much damn paperwork (often duplicated for aforementioned authorities, etc) that there is less time to offer patient/resident care.  These boxes have to be ticked, no ifs or buts or it is your job down the swanny.

Of course staffing resources play a part and the report states: ‘Many people told us about the wonderful nurses in their hospital, and then said how hard pressed they were to deliver care.  Having plenty of staff does not guarantee good care (we saw unacceptable care on well-staffed wards, and excellent care on understaffed ones) but not having enough is a sure path to poor care.’   (Bold type mine).

Understaffing does matter, more so when the patient group is more needing of staff input.  If you really want to know why understaffing matters read this excellent and frightening post by Nurse Anne at Militant Medical Nurse.  (It is important that you are aware that most of the nurses you think are nurses on wards are untrained healthcare assistants – that said there are many damned good healthcare assistants who cannot, I repeat cannot do the work of a qualified nurse).

I can only report honestly how understaffing affects the environment in which I work.  We have excellent staffing levels which are above those legally required.  If one member of staff has to accompany a resident to hospital during the night we are 20% down on staff and therefore 20% of residents will not receive the individualized input of that member of staff.  (Hospitals tend to ‘hang on’ to our staff member for hours on end (anywhere from 2-10) and are quite reluctant to let them go (as in effect they increase the hospitals staffing levels).   Staffing levels do affect care whether the DoH agrees with it or not.  (Oh what fine meaningless statements the DoH  make: “…. Ensuring that providers have sufficient qualified, skilled and experienced staff and patients are protected from the risks of inadequate nutrition and hydration.”)

However it would be foolish to pretend that all bad care is related to bad staffing for indeed there is a culture where bad care/practice is the accepted norm, that said if you work in an environment like this (and are good) it is almost impossible to effect change especially if bad practice is top-down.  I worked in a care home such as this (owned by a hospital consultant) and as my ‘whistle blowing’ to management met with indifference I and a residents relative informed the JIU (which has morphed across time into the CQC) and I had to leave and the nurse in question kept her job.

This is the lot of a whistle blower who are regarded as troublemakers and at best ignored and at the worst vilified and lose their job.

So the question needs to be asked “How can change be affected if nothing changes in that wards remain under resourced, staffing levels are in the main made up of healthcare assistants, bad practice is allowed to continue and whistleblowers are vilified?”

What say you?

Anna :o]

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[

Tubby, Or Not Tubby: Fat Is The Question

About the NHS

"Since its launch in 1948, the NHS has grown to become the world's largest publicly funded health service.  It is also one of the most *efficient, most egalitarian and most comprehensive.  *(Erm, this can't be right – thinking of the present Health and Social Care Bill and the reasoning behind it?)

The NHS was born out of a long-held ideal that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth.   That principle remains at its core.   With the exception of charges for some prescriptions and optical and dental services, the NHS remains free at the point of use for anyone who is resident in the UK.  That is currently more than 60m people.  It covers everything from antenatal screening and routine treatment for coughs and colds to open heart surgery, accident and emergency treatment and end-of-life care."

The above can be read at NHS Choices.

Of course good healthcare is no longer available to all – some excluded from elective surgery in specific health care trusts (e.g. Kent, North Yorkshire) as they are smokers or/and are obese.  It is true that all surgery involves risk and this risk is said to be increased in those who smoke or are obese.

Research would suggest that smokers have a higher incidence of postoperative lung problems caused by increased mucous production and decreased ability to clear it.  A smoker's blood is less oxygenated (through inhalation of carbon monoxide and nicotine) and blood flow to the wound is reduced, increasing healing time and the risk of infection.  Giving up the weed a few weeks before surgery does appear to be beneficial.      (On a personal note and as a smoker I can state that my habit has never appeared to have a detrimental effect after surgery – but maybe I am lucky?)

The obese - research here shows that surgery is more complicated in that incisions have to be deeper and  surgery takes longer and is therefore more expensive.  Post operative complications centred round longer healing time – due to a decreased blood supply to the wound and an increased risk of nosocomial (hospital acquired) infection, particularly surgical site infection and that morbidity – not mortality – is increased after surgery.

However, and this is a big however – no pun intended – research here and here show that "… withholding surgery based on the BMI is not justified" and "The regressive attitude towards general surgery in obese patients is no longer justified."

Interestingly, if you read here you will see that bariatric surgery on those with a BMI of 30 or more "appears to be a clinically effective and cost-effective for moderately to severely obese people compared with non-surgical interventions."  This will be a poser for some NHS trusts then – can't have surgery with a BMI above thirty – so you lose a little weight and then no longer qualify for bariatric surgery!  How frustrating that will be!

If you read this article in Pulse you will read that (some) GPs have decided that it is okay for those who are obese and/or smoke to be discriminated against and are backing NHS Hertfordshire to block same denormalised, stigmatised individuals from elective surgery unless certain conditions are met.   So the right to healthcare is no longer available to all and this principle (no longer) remains at its core then?

You will see from the comments in the above mentioned article that all GPs do not condone the rise and rise of the 'Health Police' and indeed this criminalisation of the obese and the smoker is not new.   Poor GPs will also get it in the neck regarding (none) referrals for other newly specified (none) treatments as PCTs add more procedures to the list of 'low clinical priority.'  These measures are of course implemented in cost cutting exercises as trusts need to tighten their financial belts. 

If you visit here - Page 16 (pdf), you will see the Croydon list of low priority treatments.  I find it a little worrying as without one of those specified procedures – I am a 100% certain that I would have been 'on the sick' for over twelve years as I certainly, certainly would have had a greatly reduced quality of life.  It is a sure bet that those folk that made up this little list have never experienced some of these conditions.

So there you have it folks – the NHS is being slowly privatised – believe me it is (!) – and patients are already being selected out of the assurance of 'good healthcare … (being) available to all' and the 'core principle' is no longer the core principle and as you were warned here, there and everywhere in blogland, GP mags and indeed The Guardian the NHS as we knew it is slowly but surely becoming a distant memory.

You were warned…

I wonder why sports injuries aren't excluded from treatment…? 

Competing interests:  I smoke and am overweight although not obese and I just love my imperfect NHS.

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!)

The Air That We Breathe

What have we become?  How cold and indifferent to the suffering of others can we be?

When did cost override the need for care?  How would the NHS cope without these hidden, ignored carers who exist quietly and proudly (but unrewarded for the effort that they do) in our society?

Why should NED have to plead his case for  his sons oxygen?

It is a disgrace!

Anna G