Doctors for the NHS (DFNHS) has called on contact tracing for Covid-19 to be put back into the public domain, after early reports [1] of ‘shambolic and inadequate’ recruitment and training of contact-tracing staff by private Call-Centre firm, Sitel. (more…)
NHS Threats
A Strange Kind of Welcome
We condemn Home Secretary Priti Patel’s decision not to scrap the NHS surcharge for overseas NHS and Care workers, which is set to rise to over £600 a year despite the fact that these ‘essential front-line, key’ workers pay the same tax and national insurance as anyone else doing their job. (more…)
Covid-19: are there lessons from history?
Currently we are caught in a maelstrom of the very alien and all-too-human. What are we to make of our healthcarers having to face a dangerous pandemic while so dangerously ill-equipped? Some historical snapshots may explain. (more…)
The deadly numbers game: Covid-19 and the death certificate
Recording and comparing deaths from Covid-19 – every one of them a tragedy for families and individuals – should demand the highest possible transparency and clarity. But the reality falls far short. (more…)
Private good – public bad. A question of trust?
Government is spending vast amounts to combat Covid-19, but there is a reluctance to use this money to rebuild public services – a long-term investment that would benefit us all through the duration of this crisis and beyond. (more…)
Online meeting 5 May – What Now for the NHS?
Keep Our NHS Public and Health Campaigns Together are running an online meeting on Tuesday 5 May (7-9 pm) examining why the NHS was so badly prepared for the pandemic – and what may lie ahead. (more…)
Rising to the Challenge: Covid-19 Testing, testing, testing
Nobody should underestimate the extent of the challenge in dealing with a pandemic. That is why governments at national and local level carry out regular exercises to plan their response when the time comes, and can mobilise the resources they need quickly. (more…)
Private Hospitals and the Price of pestilence
Private hospitals have offered to help the NHS during the pandemic crisis. Reassurances that this would ‘not be at a profit’ were made at the time. But what exactly does that mean? And how might this actually profit the private hospitals and put them in a position to profit after the pandemic? (more…)
Private Company Beds for the pandemic: Are there strings attached?
Doctors for the NHS has joined with other health campaigning groups nationally to sign a letter to the Minister for Health, Matt Hancock, asking for assurances about NHS provision with private beds during the pandemic crisis. (more…)
What is wrong with General Practice?
David Zigmond, a member of Doctors for the NHS’s Executive, explains why he thinks general practice is proving less popular. He was interviewed by Alan Taman (more…)