[11 January 2017] NHS campaigning group Doctors for the NHS has called on the government to stop denying the scale and cause of the unprecedented crisis facing the NHS and admit that the only workable long-term solution is to ensure funding is adequate. (more…)
Weekend patients die sooner so the weekend must be to blame? The false assurance of the 7-day myth
The Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners warns of weekday chaos unless the government abandons its drive to achieve “seven day working” for family doctors. Perhaps of greater concern is the effect routine “seven-day working” will have on hospital patients. Doctors in emergency specialties already work 7 days a week. With staff levels stretched….
Press Release: The BMA has spoken – STPs will mean hospital closures
[20 November 2016] Doctors for the NHS have welcomed the BMA’s latest statement[1] about the true nature of the government’s Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) and point out that these plans – formulated in secret – are going to mean massive and widespread hospital closures, masquerading under false reassurances about ‘centralising’ services. [1] BMA press….
More consensus to save our NHS: easy with the Mayo!
How the world’s best hospital gets the best out of its staff – an inspiring presentation at yesterday’s King’s Fund Annual conference from Professor Stephen Swensen of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota – left me with the resounding and redolent irony that a leading US health institution should reject the excesses of marketplace ideals….
NHS Bullying: the cardinal symptom of a greater disease
[27 October 2016] Reports that NHS staff are suffering record levels of bullying [1] and plummeting morale [2] come at a time of record funding crises. They all point to the same cause: the NHS is being run down deliberately for reasons that have more to do with an obsessive belief in the power of….
On the Agenda: NHS Debate on prime-time TV
Doctors for the NHS Chair Eric Watts was invited to be part of the studio audience for a new series of topical discussion programmes by ITV, The Agenda. The opening subject of this week’s prime-time debate (18 October, 8-9 pm) was on the financial state of the NHS, and a panel of experts gave their opinions….
A video that answers all the right questions
Published on 7 October, 2016 in News / Blog, NHS Threats, Privatisation, Staff conditions, Your views
Doctors for the NHS member and Keep Our NHS Public Co-Chair Dr Tony O’Sullivan has been videod by Ealing Save Our NHS, answering the questions people ask about the NHS: is it being privatised, isn’t private better, why the NHS is best. This absolutely needs to be seen. Widely.
Press release: A solution to doctor recruitment shortage denied
[6 October 2016] Doctors for the NHS has learned that the government is blocking any further expansion of a scheme which would solve the problem with shortages in doctor numbers without threatening net migration or disadvantaging doctors from resource-poor countries – the very week Jeremy Hunt pledges to make the NHS “Self sufficient” in doctors…..
Press release: If you want to fight cancer, stop cutting the NHS
[5 October 2016] Doctors for the NHS is calling on the government to restore NHS funding to improve the parlous state of cancer services in much of England[1]. The news about the state of cancer services follows years of chronic under-funding and cuts to services, leaving the NHS on the brink of collapse as GPs….
DFNHS Chair writes to GMC
Dr Eric Watts, DFNHS Chair, has written to the Chair of the General Medical Council about the parlous state of the NHS and the working conditions of doctors and has received a lengthy reply. (more…)