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Showing posts from January, 2012

The beginning of the end?

The Health Bill is now opposed by the BMA , the NHS Consultants Association , the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives . A further blow has been struck to Andrew Lansley and David Cameron. The extremely influential Health Select Committee (chaired by the former Conservative Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell) has produced a damning report on the dangers of the Health Bill. This must surely be the final nail in the Health Bill coffin. It now has virtually no support outside of the coalition government and it is time the politicians listened to the health professionals. Who do you trust more - your doctor or your politician?

Heroic Effort

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The running is over, the feet are sore, the muscles are tight and the efforts of two people to highlight the dangers of the Health Bill to the NHS has been truly momentous. Bevans Run is over and it has done so much to highlight how the coalition Health Bill will privatise much of the NHS. Here is a photo of them at their final destination - the Dept of Health on Whitehall. Dr Clive Peedell and Dr David Wilson. A large rally took place of around 300 people and listened to speakers talk about how the NHS is under threat by this Bill. I spoke and said that doctors do not support the Bill (BMA Council representing all UK doctors voted to oppose the Bill) and who do you trust - your doctor or your politician? Mr Cameron repeatedly says doctors support these changes - they do not! We also went to Mr Cameron's constituency in Witney, Oxfordshire and delivered a dossier of concerns to his office and here is the photo of us outside the door - from the left Professor Ian Banks (Presid

Campaigning

Over the past 18 months I have been campaigning heavily for the NHS. Ever since the coalition White Paper was published in July 2010 I knew immediately it was an utter disaster for the NHS. I opposed it completely from the outset. It is a threat to equitable care across England (it is an England only Health Bill). No matter what your background, your income or your status in society is the NHS is there for you at the moment. This may not be the case in the future. Private firms will increasingly move into healthcare, there will be fragmentation of care, increasing bureaucracy, introduction of insurance based systems and personal health budgets which will mean if you can afford to 'top up' your budget and buy better care then you will be able to do so. It is already happening all around us in social care and in care of the elderly. This is why over the past 18 months I have written articles about the damaging Bill, spoken at many meetings to patients and doctors about these cha