Dr David Wrigley

Bevan was a Labour politician who oversaw the introduction of the NHS in 1948. On February 9th 1948 Bevan told Parliament  “take pride in the fact that, despite our financial and economic anxieties, we are still able to do the most civilised thing in the world: put the welfare of the sick in front of every other consideration”. This still rings true today. Perhaps even more so when the fabric of the NHS is under threat by the coalition Health Bill we see before us now. To highlight the major concerns doctors and patients have over these changes a colleague of mine from BMA UK Council, Dr Clive Peedell, is running from the Bevan statue in Cardiff to the Department of Health in Whitehall , London - a distance of 160 miles in 6 days - in January 2012.  On Friday 13th January the run will pass through Witney in Oxfordshire - David Cameron's constituency. I will be speaking at 11am along with Dr Peedell and Dr Ian Banks, President of the European Mens Health Forum. We will highl...

Equity - a small word but in terms of healthcare it is an enormous concept. It is all about fairness. If there is no fairness in healthcare then patients lose out. Patients will suffer and sometimes patients will die - they die because they didn't receive the care they deserved. This happens in countries where equitable healthcare does not exist. Countries where you need a decent insurance policy to get decent healthcare. If you don't have the insurance you get second rate care. I have seen this at first hand in another country when a patient I was looking after was asked for their credit card before they received the life saving treatment they needed. No credit card = no treatment and you were sent down the road to a poorly equipped 'public' hospital and the care received was second if not third rate. I have co-written the following on the BMJ website about equitable healthcare http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d8259?tab=responses and it details concerns over mai...

It is fascinating to see on this document here just how interlinked politicians are with the commercial sector. Once leaving office politicians accept directorships with the very same companies they worked with or offered contracts to when they were Ministers. Some have very close links when in office too! It is a real eye opener. If the Health and Social Care Bill is passed into law then there will be many more large corporate companies all over the NHS like a rash seeking to make profits from the taxpayer funded NHS - and no doubt these companies will be courting those in positions of influence in order to maximise their chances of winning healthcare contracts....

One aspect of the English Health Bill  is the 'Quality Premium'. I have written about it here . We must highlight this part of the Bill that could destroy the doctor/patient relationship - something that is paramount to good, holistic, patient focussed health care.

This is my new blog and my first post. I work as a GP and am an elected member of the British Medical Association UK Council which represents all of the UKs 200,000 plus doctors. I have been heavily involved in campaigning against the Health and Social Care Bill - a piece of legislation that will change the face of the English NHS (the Bill only affects England). The Bill will open up the NHS to many more large commercial companies and I intend to use this blog to highlight many other concerns about this Bill, feature articles on the NHS and the Bill and pass on information about the health service in our country. I hope you find it informative.