Tag Archives: NHS

Links

It has been brought to my attention….

Leave a comment

My weekly round-up of links and miscellany.

Whatever they said their intentions were when they decided to “reform” the NHS the Tories didn’t improve it and they didn’t save money, quite the opposite in fact

Watch how the measles outbreak spreads when kids get vaccinated – and when they don’t

““When you immunize your child, you’re not only immunizing your child. That child’s immunization is contributing to the control of the disease in the population,”.

 
A bunch of protesters trapped Nigel Farage in the UKIP office in Rotherham. Apparently he was forced to stay inside by a breastfeeding mother who refused to sit in the corner.

In the internet age it isn’t quite so easy to keep your stumbles under wraps as Robert Mugabe has discovered. He obviously hasn’t’ heard of The Streisand Effect.

What exactly are Mike Ashley’s plans for Rangers?


Sign Mugabe?

Does the Green Party unerringly prefer grandstanding and protest to the serious business of Government? Neil Schofield seems to think so.

Over 200,000 young people have gone missing from the Electoral register. It’s National Voter Registration Day today and time for the young people hit by the system changes to sign up. If you aren’t already registered you need to be. This upcoming General Election is crucial and if you don’t vote you are saying you don’t care.
Click on the link to register – you will need your National Insurance Number – and it will take about five minutes.

Domestic (UK), Politics

A letter to my MP #NHSBILL

Leave a comment

Below is the text of a letter (well email actually) that I have sent to my MP. He is Tom Brake (Lib Dem) Carshalton & Wallington.

Mr. Brake,
I am writing to you as a constituent who believes that the purpose of the NHS bill is not to improve the National Health Service but to facilitate its systematic destruction.

Given that all the Royal Medical Colleges, and everyone who has thought about the NHS bill consider that it will be disastrous for the National Health Service and ultimately for the majority of the people in this country.
This is the introduction to a piece in the British Medical Journal:

“Entitlement to free health services in England will be curtailed by the Health and Social Care Bill currently before parliament. The bill sets out a new statutory framework that would abolish the duty of primary care trusts (PCTs) to secure health services for everyone living in a defined geographical area. New clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will arrange provision of fewer government funded health services and determine the scope of these services independently of the secretary of state for health. They may delegate this decision to commercial companies. The bill also provides for health services to be arranged by local authorities, with provision for new charging powers for services currently provided free through the NHS (clauses 1, 12, 13, 17, and 49), and it will give the secretary of state an extraordinary power to exclude people from the health service. Taken together the measures would facilitate the transition from tax financed healthcare to the mixed financing model of the United States. We provide an analysis of the key legal reforms that will govern policy development and implementation if the bill is enacted.”

The full article can be found here I strongly recommend you read this.
As you can see the authors consider that the Bill will allow charging for NHS services currently provided free at he point of delivery and allow the exclusion of groups of people from receiving treatment under the NHS completely.

I would urge you read it consider the opinions set out in it and vote against the bill.
Regards
John Manderson

If you care about what this bill proposes, which in my opinion is the dismantling of the National Health Service and its replacement with something along the lines of the American health care model, I would urge you to write to your MP expressing your opposition.
If you aren’t sure who your MP is or how to contact them this link http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ will help you find them.
As Ben Goldacre (@bengoldacre) tweeted

NHS is a historical aberration, built at a time when ppl better than us gave a shit. When it goes, it won’t be rebuilt

Write to your MP especially if he or she is a Liberal Democrat. They are all seriously worried that they will be out of a job come the next election when the Labour supporters (like me) that have elected them since 1997 decide to vote Labour again – even if it does mean I end up with Tory MP.