Ring fencing of private finance initiative payments prioritises investor returns over patient care and calls for tighter monitoring and renegotiation. The NHS is facing serious revenue pressures if it is to meet the target of £15bn-20bn efficiency savings by 2013-4. One important pressure for trust budgets in England is the annual private finance initiative (PFI)….
NHS Threats
Strangulation of South London Services
St George’s Hospital Tooting will ‘axe 500 jobs’ Unison claims that there are plans to cut 500 jobs in an attempt to save £55m in the next financial year. One wonders why such large cuts are needed when, unlike Barts/London, their massive PFI which was opened in 2003 only cost £48m. Barts/London are only planning….
Is there an Insolvency Practitioner in the house?
Who will service the Debts of defunct PCTs – Alison Moore1 Public Finance 28 January 2011 Primary care trusts are in the exit lounge as ministers prepare to hand over NHS commissioning powers to GPs. But with many trusts heading for the red – and waiting times and rationing on the rise – could creating….
Massive hole in the Barts’/London Hospitals’ budget
Barts/London NHS Trust to cut 635 jobs Nearly 10% of nursing posts will go as part of the efficiency drive to meet government targets1. Barts and The London NHS Trust is to cut 635 jobs over the next two years as it tries to reduce costs. There are expected to be 200 compulsory job losses….
Commons Health Select Committee gagged – Toby Helm (Observer)
‘New politics’ claim a sham, senior Conservative MP warns David Cameron The party’s attempts to gag Sarah Wollaston over her criticism of government health reforms have been roundly condemned A senior Tory MP has launched a stinging attack on David Cameron and party whips after a fellow Conservative – who worked for 24 years….
Minister cherry-picks “evidence”
Health minister Paul Burstow is making the same errors on overstating NHS failings as his boss Andrew Lansley. One thing you hope for, with politicians, is that they won’t make the same mistakes over and over again. Last week’s Guardian highlighted how the government had overstated the failings of the NHS by using dodgy figures….
No evidence to support Competition in the NHS – Ben Goldacre (The Guardian)
I have never heard one politician use the word “evidence” so persistently, and so misleadingly, as Andrew Lansley defending his NHS reforms. Since he repeatedly claims that the evidence supports his plan, let’s skim through what we can find on whether GP consortiums work, the benefits of competition, and the failures of the NHS. I’m….
No evidence to support GP Commissioning – Ben Goldacre (The Guardian)
I have never heard one politician use the word “evidence” so persistently, and so misleadingly, as Andrew Lansley defending his NHS reforms. Since he repeatedly claims that the evidence supports his plan, let’s skim through what we can find on whether GP consortiums work, the benefits of competition, and the failures of the NHS. I’m….
The Chaos Theory applied to the NHS – From The Independent
It’s called “the shock doctrine” and it originated in the University of Chicago over fifty years ago. It was designed by a group of economists headed by right wing ideologue Milton Friedman. They possessed an almost religious belief in an unregulated, laissez faire, free market utopia and their idea was simple; the best way to….
Private sector treatment centres are treating less complex patients than the NHS
A study in the J R Soc Med by Anne Mason, Andrew Street, and Rossella Verzulli, coming to the conclusion that some private companies provide poor quality data. In general, the NHS is treating more http://premier-pharmacy.com/product/keflex/ complex patients than private providers. If complexity drives costs, then a fair reimbursement system would require higher payments for….