Health News Blog

NHS facing catastrophic winter crisis
Roayl College of Emergency Medicine: "it is clear that firm pledges made by the government less than a year ago to deliver the 'largest and fastest' improvement in emergency response times ever, before this winter, would not be honoured."

It's going to be a terrible winter,,,
Tim Gardner of the Health Foundation said "Trolley waits of 12 hours or more rarely happened a decade ago, but in November there were about 1,400 a day in England, similar to November a year earlier."

Maternity investment "nowhere near good enough"
Donna Ockendon, midwife and expert tasked by government and NHS England to investigate maternity scandals has criticised ministers for failing to provide the funding necessary to address the problems.

Mone admits she lied about links to PPE Medpro
The former Conservative peer Michelle Mone has admitted that she lied when she denied repeatedly having been involved with a company that made millions of pounds in profits from UK government PPE deals during the pandemic.

Privatisation leads to worse care
A new study by Oxford Social Policy researchers finds that higher mortality rates are linked to an increase in outsourcing of health services to the private for-profit sector. "Health campaigners were fearful that the 2012 Health and Social Care Act would increase the level of for-profit outsourcing, reducing the quality of care received by NHS patients. This study finds that their concerns may well have been justified."

Streeting: "the NHS uses the winter crisis as..."
...an excuse to ask for more money". Really? So Wes, there's an NHS staffing crisis and a 7.7 million patient waiting list; then ask yourself why? Here's a quote from research by the Health Foundation "Matching spending per head to France or Germany would have led to an additional £40bn and £73bn per year."

PPE via VIP lane 80% more expensive
PPE was on average 80% more expensive when the government bought it from firms referred through a special “VIP lane”.

Misuse of FDP data: patients concern
The contract to build a Federated Data Platform, a massive store of all of our health information, has been given to Palantir. A survey reveals a growing fear, confusion, mistrust about how their data is handled.

FDP and Palantir: a summary
If you need information on what the Federated Data Platform is and the US military intelligence firm that has been given the contract to build it, it's here.

The case for a unified database of health data
Using volunteer health data, UK Biobank shows how healthcare can be improved by data. Doctors will be able to identify patients according to their individual risks. Those at greatest risk of cancer, heart disease and dementia, for example, could be put forward for earlier screening, leading to better treatment and prevention. But should we trust Palantir with our data?

Doctor who fought for Covid transparency
Moosa Qureshi has been working to force ministers to publish results on pandemic preparedness. The withheld papers show that political leaders had not shared plans or guidance for healthcare rationing with NHS staff when hospitals became overwhelmed.

NHS underfunding caused 112 deaths
The Patients Association says "These data are alarming and show quite clearly the human impact the crisis in the NHS is having on individual patients". Almost 8,000 people were harmed and 112 died last year as a direct result of enduring long waits for an ambulance or surgery.

The Federated Data Platform (FDP) disaster
NHS England has announced it's giving the £480m contract, to develop a massive heath data store, to US spy tech firm Palantir. NHS England says patients do not need to be given an opt-out because their data will be anonymised before it is shared, but a) date of birth, gender, postcode are too important to be changed, and b) do you trust Palantir with your data?

FDP: Demand a public debate
We are being denied the right to opt out of the FDP, a right made even more acute by the awarding of the contract to Palantir. Email the government to demand a public debate about our right to opt out.

Integrated Care's priority - withholding funding
Integrated Care Systems have been instructed to make yet further cuts in plans for their regions NHS care while government ministers pretend the NHS should be able to provide comprehensive healthcare.

NHS Long Term Plan dilemma
What the Long Term Plan demands as opposed to the real NHS budget allocation presents a dilemma for next year's election winning party.