The purchaser-provider split is an artificial distinction. It does not reflect real-life medicine where the GP (labelled as “purchaser”) provides far more day-to-day medical care than the hospital (labelled as “the provider”). Less than 10% of GP referrals are referred to hospital and most of those will in due course be referred back to the….
Excellent Guardian article about PFIs and a potential solution
Deborah Orr’s well written article (Weekend Guardian – 30.06.12.) exposes all the iniquities of the flawed PFI process which has lumbered the NHS with enormous capital debts. She rightly points out that politicians of all parties have at one time or another supported this devious bit of legislation. However Deborah, along with all the parliamentarians….
An NHS beyond the market
While dedicated to the abolition of the NHS market, the NHSCA recognises the need to put forward constructive alternatives. On June 14th a round-table event was held for this purpose. It was hosted by the BMA in association with the NHSCA, the NHS Support Federation, and the Keep Our NHS Public campaign (see June Newsletter)….
The Meaning of QHATSCH
There has been some limited debate amongst committee members about the use of rude words on our website. It occurred to me that we could dispense with the voluminous list of Anglo Saxon obscenities and import a very emphatic word from the German vocabulary. Quatsch is an expletive with onomatopoeic explosiveness. For those not versed….
Lewisham – no decisions about me without me !!??
The Draft Report of the Trust Special Administrator (TSA) called in to deal with the financial crisis at South London Healthcare Trust centres mainly on changes at the neighbouring University Hospital Lewisham. It is proposed that this hospital should lose its A&E and its critical care, complex surgery and complex medical services, despite the fact….
Gaming in the English NHS
The first article by Jonathon Tomlinson a GP from Hoxton (inner city London GP practice) on this website, gives you an insight into how the market has “forced” hospitals to use gaming tactics in order to finance their budget. You should read this in conjunction with Matthew Dunnigan’s research showing the exorbitant way in which….
Letter to MP about NHS Reforms & Cancer (NE Essex)
Dear Brooks Newmark (MP for Braintree, Essex), I am writing to you to express my concerns about the Coalition’s proposed re-organisation of the NHS. As a hospital consultant working in Colchester and treating many of your constituents I had got used to the “constant change to give the illusion of progress” agenda of the previous….
The Fight to Save Britain’s NHS
The following remarks were delivered to the Annual Meeting of Physicians for a National Health Program in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 29 2011 My American husband said – talk slowly otherwise they won’t understand your accent. Added to that handicap I have rather lost my voice so I’m really hoping you can understand me today…..
The Bill that till Effectively Legalise Fraud
As the government looks to open up the NHS further to private companies, it has been as coy in its description of the companies looking to profit from this as the companies themselves. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley hardly mentions that these companies will be making a profit from his reforms, preferring to talk about modernisation….
The pot, the kettle and the big stick
As from April 1st 2011, Hospital Trusts will be fined for every breach of the privacy and dignity rules sanctioned by the Government1. These rules decree that where patients have to share their sleeping accommodation with members of the opposite sex, the offending Trust will be fined £250 for every day that the breach persists…..