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Political deception and the NHS
Topic Started: Jan 6 2015, 11:16 AM (2,168 Views)
krugerman
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FIrst of all, the very phrase "National Health Service" has always conjoured up the idea of "National" joined up, connected, interlocking service, and one which has served the vast majority of us very well over several generations since its conception almost 70 years ago.

The "Health & Social Care Act 2012" has changed everything, the future of the NHS is now one of many different providors, many of them private companies, the future is no longer as a single, connected, joined up "National" service.

Deception number 1 - that the NHS will be better after the Tory reforms and mass privatization, how on earth can a splintered, fragmented NHS be better than a truly "National" health service.

When the data for Winter waiting times are released for A&E departments across the country, they will show the worst performance since such records began in 2004.

The lame excuses will start to come out, it is because of increased demand, it is because of unprecedented illness, its because of an aeging population, its the fault of immigrants, its because of the man in the moon, bad weather, leaves on the line.

The real reason, and there is only One reason, is because of a lack of funds, or to put it in other ways, a lack of resources, cuts, not enough money.

The real reason why this Winters A&E figures will be the worst on record, is because (1) people cannot get to see their GP, waiting times to see a doctor have risen, thousands of worried people dont want to wait 10 days or a fortnight to visit a GP, instead they go to A&E; (2) Doctors are under unprecedented strain, their workloads have reached breaking point, they are been asked to do more with less, treat more patients in less time for less money, more and more doctors are leaving for Australia and America.

Reason number (3) the cuts elsewhere are having a knock-on effect, in particular the cuts to social care is resulting in beds been blocked because frail or vulnerable patients cannot be released, as there is no one to care for them, or insufficient care.

Deception number 2 - I will cut the deficit, not the NHS

The current funding of the NHS was laid out in the Spending Review of October 2010, in which the NHS was given a promised increase, or at least thats how it looked on paper, and a real terms increase is what the government want you to believe happened.

So the actual real terms increase amounted to a staggering and monumental sum of 0.1%, it is an increase, but only just, and about the lowest figure that the government could get away with.

But wauit a minute, lets look at the small print of the Spending Review of October 2010, the NHS Budget will contribute to the "Social Care" budget by handing over £1 Billion each year, oh dear, there goes the 0.1% increase, and as Professor John Appleby, chief economist of the King's Fund think-tank said at the time "I think this is a case of double counting".

In the final years and months of the last Tory government we saw the annual "Winter Bed Crisis", with patients lying on trolleys in corridors, unacceptable waiting times - and rising, the term "Deja Vu" comes to mind, here we are again.

The Health and Social Care Bill 2012 has been a broken promise, the promise of "no top down reorganisation of the NHS", it is deeply unpopular, it was unwanted by every professional body within the NHS, the general public are overwhelmingly opposed to the splintering and privatization of the NHS.

Worst of all - the massive reorganisation has cost billions of pounds, money that should have gone into the front line services, into easing the presures of A&E departments which are in crisis through lack of sufficient resources.

We must save the NHS - we must get rid of the Tories





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krugerman
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Well first of all this statement is a blatant lie: "Best you look at the official records and then you will find that only Labour have cut the NHS budget in real terms, the first time by Healey the second time by Brown."

I bet that you cannot provide any link or evidence that Gordon Brown cut the NHS budget

This is how the BBC reported the NHS budget settlement in October 2010: "Analysis,
The funding settlement is one of the worst since the creation of the NHS in 1948.
It is the first time there has been such a sustained period of small rises."

But apart from anything else, it is what actually happens on the ground, and the general public s personal and direct experience of the NHS, and to say that the NHS was somehow worse under the last government is an absolute denial of reality.

The term "out of control" is a fair assessment of waiting lists under Thatcher and Major, because not only were waiting lists and waiting times unacceptably high, they were continuing to rise, infact it took several years for Blairs government to turn them around.

As for the ill treatment and / or poor treatment of patients by individuals, or by individual wards in hospitals, no it was not common or widespread, it did happen, and I am absolutely certain that somewhere it will probably still be happening, because in such a large organisation with thousands of hospitals and hundreds of thousands of staff, its a probability, but the vast and overwhelming majority of NHS staff provide excellent, first class care.

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krugerman
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Financial year 1979-1980 NHS expenditure £34.9 billion
Financial year 1996-1997 NHS expenditure £61.5 billion

Increase over 18 years of £26.6 billion or £1.48 billion PA or a 75% increase over 18 years

Financial year 1997-1998 NHS expenditure £63 billion
Financial year 2009-2010 NHS expenditure £137.2 billion

Increase over 13 years of £74.2 billion or £5.71 billion PA or a 118% over 13 years

Now - what was it that RJD stated about Gordon Brown cutting the NHS budget ?

http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/data-and-charts/history-nhs-spending-uk
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