I think that it is universally accepted that the NHS is in trouble despite the £billions poured into the dear old lady over the last ten years or so.
There is of course the £350 million wasted on “Management Consultants” the ubiquitous “Foundation Trust” farce that has only succeeded in providing outrageous salaries for the myriad of managers while there aren’t enough nurses on the wards.
The ill advised “target” policy where meeting the required numbers have become more important than patients, the total failure of the pay deal to modernise pay and conditions for a million health service workers in England which has failed to make the NHS more cost-efficient, say MPs.
Even the fall in vacancy rates that have been trumpeted as a sign of progress was more likely to be linked to post closures than a sign the contract had been effective, the MPs said.
Committee chairman Edward Leigh said he had doubts the promised savings of £1.3bn over five years - the equivalent to between 1.1% to 1.5% each year - could be achieved.
"There is no evidence of the increased productivity and other savings in the NHS that were going to be achieved."
He urged the Department of Health to issue guidance on how the NHS should manage the contract from now on and what targets they should be aiming for.
Then there is the Stafford hospital thing, the Gosport memorial hospital thing, and the fragmentation of the health service into “specialist” units, which are away from hospitals, and make patients travel twice as much as they used to, to get treatment.
GPs have to do the work that Consultants would have done a few years ago, and then are being told to cut back on referrals to consultants to save money.
The whole system is failing, because of piss poor policy; the patient is no longer at the top of the pile but is reduced to a statistic, there purely for the number crunchers benefit.
The NHS is no longer a “National Health Service” but has become a semi-privatised money maker for those at the top and the drug companies.
The sooner this powerless Government is ousted the better, but we must be very careful to pick a new administration that will protect the original ideals of the NHS of free treatment based on need and not on targets.
Angus
Angus Dei on all and sundry
NHS Behind the headlines
Angus Dei politico
There is of course the £350 million wasted on “Management Consultants” the ubiquitous “Foundation Trust” farce that has only succeeded in providing outrageous salaries for the myriad of managers while there aren’t enough nurses on the wards.
The ill advised “target” policy where meeting the required numbers have become more important than patients, the total failure of the pay deal to modernise pay and conditions for a million health service workers in England which has failed to make the NHS more cost-efficient, say MPs.
Even the fall in vacancy rates that have been trumpeted as a sign of progress was more likely to be linked to post closures than a sign the contract had been effective, the MPs said.
Committee chairman Edward Leigh said he had doubts the promised savings of £1.3bn over five years - the equivalent to between 1.1% to 1.5% each year - could be achieved.
"There is no evidence of the increased productivity and other savings in the NHS that were going to be achieved."
He urged the Department of Health to issue guidance on how the NHS should manage the contract from now on and what targets they should be aiming for.
Then there is the Stafford hospital thing, the Gosport memorial hospital thing, and the fragmentation of the health service into “specialist” units, which are away from hospitals, and make patients travel twice as much as they used to, to get treatment.
GPs have to do the work that Consultants would have done a few years ago, and then are being told to cut back on referrals to consultants to save money.
The whole system is failing, because of piss poor policy; the patient is no longer at the top of the pile but is reduced to a statistic, there purely for the number crunchers benefit.
The NHS is no longer a “National Health Service” but has become a semi-privatised money maker for those at the top and the drug companies.
The sooner this powerless Government is ousted the better, but we must be very careful to pick a new administration that will protect the original ideals of the NHS of free treatment based on need and not on targets.
Angus
Angus Dei on all and sundry
NHS Behind the headlines
Angus Dei politico
No comments:
Post a Comment