Dr David Wrigley

Last night’s  Panorama  on the problems facing the NHS was public service broadcasting at its most disappointing. The programme - ‘NHS – The Perfect Storm’ had been due to air in early June but was postponed at the last minute by the BBC, prompting speculation that the politicians needed a look at the final edit before it was aired. When it did surface last night, the programme undoubtedly packed an emotional punch. How could we not be moved by patients’ touching stories and the dedication of our NHS staff? But – lacking any real insight into what’s really going on in the NHS - the overall effect was sensationalist, with the narrator's fatuous comments adding nothing. There was just one brief mention of the situation I see many of my patients struggling with - left ‘stuck’ in hospital or struggling on at home in worsening health, hit by  40% cuts  to the home support they used to receive from care assistants and social workers. The programme's talk of...

The media called this the “ first major speech ” in this brand new Conservative majority government. Prime Minister David Cameron, with five years of power ahead of him, decided to focus on the NHS, and, in particular, he focused on one particular aspect—seven day working. Trailed in the Tory manifesto and now offered to the nation it sounds appealing, but as is usually the case with many things Mr Cameron does, most of it doesn’t stand up to proper scrutiny. Here is my seven point plan for Mr Cameron’s seven day NHS: 1. Get the five days right first—If the government wants to make the NHS work safely and efficiently seven days a week, then it might be a good idea to get the five days of Monday to Friday working well beforehand. At the moment the NHS is in dire straits, struggling financially with medical, nursing, and allied staff leaving or retiring early in their droves. What was the adage Mr Cameron likes to use—fix the roof while the sun is shining? Well, the sun isn’t sh...

On July 5th 1948 in Manchester Labour Secretary of State for Health Aneurin Bevan announced the birth of the NHS  . On March 27th 2015 in Manchester Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne signed a piece of paper that would bring about the end of a National Health Service. These two events are 67 years apart but signal huge differences in how health care would be provided to the population. In a surprise announcement just weeks before a General Election the Tories signed a deal with the Greater Manchester Authorities - which includes Manchester, Bolton, Salford, Oldham, Stockport, Wigan, Tameside, Trafford, Rochdale and Bury Council - a huge area. The actual deal can be read here . It hands over £6bn from central government to a new organisation to run health and social care services for 2.7 million residents in the Greater Manchester area. On the face of it this may sound attractive - no longer having Whitehall poking its nose into local health issues, but ...

In early 2015 a new book written by Dr Jacky Davis, John Lister and myself will be published. It will be an expose of the ongoing sale of our English NHS and the privatisation of many contract and services. It will tell the truth about what has happened to our NHS since the coalition came to power - how they have acted in their own interests and been economical with the truth. You will not read this information in any political manifesto or think tank pamphlet. No politician will ever utter what is in the book and will use weasel words to deny it all. We have researched the evidence and presented it all together. Here is a link to the publishers website  - pre-orders can be made there with free P&P and a reduced cover price. All profits will go to the campaigning group Keep Our NHS Public  - the authors will take no income at all from the book. We hope you will find it an interesting read - though it may raise your blood pressure!

In April 2014 this press release was sent out https://www.bedfordshireccg.nhs.uk/news/index.php?story_id=364&id=&area_id= Full of the usual fluff about ‘integrated, seamless services’ making ‘a huge difference to patients' . the contract winners Circle made out this was the best thing since sliced bread.  Roll forward a few months and the article below was in the Health Services Journal (paywalled so copy and pasted).  It transpires Circle have tried to subcontract the service back to the local hospital (grab the money and let someone else do the work) and the hospital now has serious concerns over the viability of A&E and orthopaedic services due to patients being seen by Circle and removing vital income from the hospital. Often hospitals rely on such income to keep it financially viable and support very costly departments like intensive care units.  This is reprehensible behaviour by the private sector. Another blow to the NHS at the ha...

‘All you GPs are private providers anyway’ I often have this charge thrown at me when I speak at NHS campaign meetings. Those who level this charge at me are often those arguing in favour of a privatised NHS. They will say that ever since 1948 GPs have been private companies, so not much is changing. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is true that GPs are self employed and have been since 1948. They often own the GP surgery that they work from and the NHS pays the GPs to allow them to employ the staff, pay for the electricity and lighting in the surgery and take home their own income too. GPs do earn a good income. But the vast majority earn nowhere near the telephone number salaries the Daily Mail talk about. But GPs cannot sell or advertise our surgeries or set up a practice wherever we like.  And GPs stay at their surgery through thick and thin. They invest in a community. Even during the bad times they stay with their patients and ensure their surgery is t...

I was a guest speaker last night at a packed meeting in central Newcastle where we discussed and debated the changes to the NHS. Everyone in the room was very concerned and indeed very angry at what they heard. A lot were unaware of the scale of the issue over privatisation in the English NHS (Scotland has committed to having no private companies running NHS services). Time and again I hear 'we didn't vote for this at the last election - it wasn't in any manifesto' or 'the coalition have no mandate to make such huge changes to our NHS - no single party won the election'. And I agree with them. The coalition have been very clever in making out GPs were on board with the NHS changes (they weren't) and that it was what the NHS needed (it wasn't) and that the NHS is in a massive hole (it isn't) and their coup de grace is that they are selling off many services to the private sector hidden behind the well trusted and well respected NHS logo. It is priva...