Is that the best you can come up with mcboo ?

I give a long spiel showing how the medical professions are opposed to the government’s Health and Social Care Bill, and how they have stated that the government is misleading the public by repeatedly stating that there will be ‘no privatisation of the NHS’, and the best you can come up with is to ask me if I know what neo-con means ?

How pathetic.

Did you google?

Ernie – Could you point to the clauses in the bill rather than the viewpoint of vested interests?

The Bill will (essentially) move the NHS towards commissioning services from ‘any qualified provider’ – think all manner of ‘partnered’ consortia with a touchy, feely NHS kitemark. As Stoatsbrother will probably point out, it will certainly offer opportunities for canny GPs to improve services & – hopefully – keep patients out of hospital/acute care (the Holy Grail of provision, tbh). But (despite all the usual Big Society bullsh1te rhetoric), smaller ‘social enterprises’ by healthcare rofessionals are likely to be muscled out of the way/taken over by the big health corps – and Assura etc have already demonstrated a readiness to run to the lawyers if they feel they are being denied a slice of the NHS pie.

I’ve got nothing against the private sector – it plays a major role in mixed-economy continental healthcare (as part of a better-invested, highly regulated social insurance model, of course…) – but I’m sure as hell opposed to fragmenting decent, cost-effective services in the name of ‘competition’. Especially if that means consortia simply profting from NHS capacity (Circle healthcare, I’m looking at you), with no commensurate improvement in outcomes.

Can’t stop & chat… .

Ernie – Could you point to the clauses in the bill rather than the viewpoint of vested interests?

Aren’t vested interests allowed? That would make politics a bit boring.

The kind of answer you’re trying to get from Ernie is the one that more or less states that the bill does not mention that it will privatise large parts of the NHS.

Everyone however can see where this is going.

mefty – Member

Ernie – Could you point to the clauses in the bill rather than the viewpoint of vested interests?

😀

So the BMA has a “vested interest” to stop privatisation, a “vested interest” to put patients before profit?

It’s an absolute disgrace !!!!

.

Makes you wonder why the government wanted consultations with the healthcare professions eh ? Presumably their opinions are only valid if they are in agreement with them ?

If the NHS isn’t working can I please have the night off?

I was chatting with a colleague last night who does some agency work, for a night shift in intensive care he gets £40 an hour overnight. That’s just for turning up and working as part of a nursing team, with no additional responsibility. I get £20 an hour for being in charge of the unit, and the unit next door and occasionally being the senior nurse covering another two units.

Any move towards more private sector healthcare provision is likely to be rather more expensive than most would think.

crikey – Member

Any move towards more private sector healthcare provision is likely to be rather more expensive than most would think.

I expect it to be pretty bloody expensive. Yet even then, you’re probably right.

I was chatting with a colleague last night who does some agency work, for a night shift in intensive care he gets £40 an hour overnight.

That may well be the case but you’ll have the last laugh when you pick up your pension ……………………………. ohhh !! 😐

If it makes you feel any better, some of the bank Paras who were working in my area (at a similarly higher rate to what you’ve outlined above) have been stung as the contractor has gone bust (allegedly!). £2-4k seems to be the figure most have lost.

You take your chances and all that………………

Pick up my pension?
It’ll be too big to pick up, I’ll need a wheelbarrow…

Any move towards more private sector healthcare provision is likely to be rather more expensive than most would think.

Exactly. There’ll be lots of platitudes about choice n’ competition – and rising costs (and, I bet, bureaucracy – as was the case with the previous internal market reforms).

When the NHS is at its best, it’s because of co-operation & collaboration. Fragmenting those kind of working relationships will prove to be expensive, IMO.

Thank you NHS. My Mrs would be dead by now without you.

So anyone want to have a chat about this?

Looks like the Tories are playing games again,

So anyone want to have a chat about this?

OK. The Taxpayers Alliance, which as everyone knows is a Tory front organisation, makes no secret of its close links with the Tea Party movement in the US. It openly states that it wishes to replicate the success of the Tea Party movement here in the UK. As a consequence, right-wing Tory politicians have forged close links with the Republican Right.

Liam Fox is no exception, and when he was Shadow Health Minister he worked closely (along with Adam Werrity of course) with the Republican Right who are very strongly opposed to “socialised” healthcare.

Apart from the Tea Party movement, Liam Fox, as Shadow Health Minister, has worked with other US neo-con organisations. One of them was the Galen Institute. The Galen Institute’s stated mission is “advancing free-market ideas in health policy”. It is the “only free-market think tank solely dedicated to…putting individuals rather than corporate or government bureaucrats in charge of health care decisions.” In other words it supports the American healthcare model.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen_Institute

Something which Liam Fox also clearly supports. And the proof is here :

International Health Systems.Health & the UK

You’ll note that the article dated May 9, 2003, states :

I’m writing this from London where I am meeting with our colleagues in the free-market policy community here and taking notes on the success that Dr. David Green and his colleagues at the Institute for the Study of Civil Society are having with their UK Consensus Group. They and their colleagues from other market-based think tanks here are injecting free-market ideas into a health system that is 90% controlled by government.

Even though the health sectors in Britain and the U.S. are very, very different, the similarities in policy recommendations are surprisingly similar. For example, the 15 signatories to the UK Consensus Group statement calling for reform of the National Health Service have recommended a consumer-choice model based upon the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program in the U.S.

I’m here to talk about President Bush’s framework for Medicare reform and discuss ways that we can learn from each other about making this idea a reality – on both sides of the Atlantic.

Creating a bridge for an exchange of ideas that empower individuals also is the mission of the Atlantic Bridge, a new organization founded by Dr. Liam Fox, the courageous and market-savvy Shadow Health Minister here. The Atlantic Bridge is holding its first major conference this Saturday in Oxford and I’ve been invited to speak to explore the question: “How much health care can we afford?”

It’s very exciting indeed to see the energy and enthusiasm around free-market ideas here.

But wait ……Liam Fox supports “socialised” healthcare in the UK. He doesn’t support free-market reforms to the NHS – no Tory politician would do that. The Tories have clearly stated that they will not introduce privatisation into the NHS. They have no mandate to do that. And they wouldn’t mislead the British public, as the BMA has stated.

The right-wing of the Tory Party doesn’t have a “hidden agenda”.

Only they have.

As that article clearly shows.

As their actions clearly show.

FTFY