Health News Blog

Cameron years left UK 'totally unprepared'
The TUC says what we all know, that austerity wrought by Cameron and Osborne left the UK unprepared for the pandemic. They brought not only unsafe staffing in public services and a broken safety net, but funding cuts that caused poverty and therefore greater risks of exposure to Covid-19.

UK spent less on health than rest of Europe
In every year between 2010 and 2019 the UK would have had to spend an additional £73 billion more to match Germany’s spending per person, and £40 billion extra every year to match France.

A decade of neglect
40 new hospitals would be built in England by 2040 was a key manifesto pledge by Boris Johnson in 2019. But the £20 billion so far committed by ministers is only just over half of the estimated need of £37 billion and this doesn't take account of spiralling building material costs.

Stop Palantir's NHS data take over
The government intends to let Palantir create a huge ‘Federated Data Platform’ of patient records; but Palantir's recent history tells us they are totally unfit to be trusted with our health data. Sign the petition and pass on.

Private sector can't solve the waits
John Lister summarizes how the use of the private sector can only have only a limited impact on tackling NHS backlog.

Fortunes earned on PPE contracts
This businessman has made a fortune supplying PPE during the pandemic even though the NHS may be unable to use millions of the gowns his company delivered. And here's a US banker who was paid a £73 million dividend in 2021 after his firm won hundreds of millions in Covid contracts.

A fair analysis of Starmer's NHS policy
There's some promise but a) he reiterates a commitment to private sector delivery b) there must be a substantial funding increase and c) to deliver on increased staff numbers he must offer restorative pay increases. 

Barclay admits to 40 new hospitals lies
He admits not all the hospitals are "brand new", and some are merely new wings or refurbishments. Many won't be built by 2030 as promised.

Capitalism and the rise in mental illness
We live in a social and economic system at odds with both our psychology and our neurology ....what if it's not us who are sick but a system at odds with us as social beings?

23000 deaths in A&E's in 2022
Here's the facts for 2022: 1. more than 1.5 million people were left waiting in A&E for over four hours; 2. nearly 350,000 had to wait more than 12 hours; 3. 23,000 people had died, an increase of more than 20% on 2021, and nearly 40% on 2020.

Third of ICSs fail to balance their budgets
Integrated Care Systems (ICS) are first and foremost about making organisations within an ICS work together in order to reduce patients’ use of NHS services and save money. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2022 each ICS must submit financial plans to NHS England to meet the funding NHSE provides. A third of the 42 in England have failed to do so.

NHS still waiting for £1 billion promised in 2017
In 2017 the NHS was promised £2.7 billion for capital spending, primarily on buildings. Now 5 years later, the NHS is still waiting for more than half of it. Still, it got a media headline, didn't it!

Hancock: emails reveal Tory donor contacts
WhatsApp messages and emails between Tory donors and Matt Hancock reveal the extent of ministerial access they enjoyed when government Covid contracts were being awarded.

Nurse: 'Here's why I'm striking'
Been a nurse for 40 years, Carol is "..striking because l am tired, frustrated, and exhausted. The emotional and traumatic pain of working every day without many things you need to do a good enough job is so hard".

'Patients are getting sicker with waiting'
Prof Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the Royal College of GPs says she has serious concern that some patients see their health deteriorate as a direct result of the delay in accessing hospital care.

Another privisation failure
The parliamentary and health service ombudsman, responsible for investigating patients' complaints, has been warned repeatedly about problems with Sciensus, a private company paid millions to deliver vital medicines. Want to read more privatisation failures, go here.

Maternity crisis: Babies are dying
A joint report by two baby loss charities says the government is failing in its stated aims. Stillbirths are increasing, babies dying before and during delivery are rising and rates of newborns dying within the first four weeks of birth are also rising. Staff are working in an increasingly under-resourced and overstretched system.

"Where are the 40 new hospitals?"
Dr Ruth Charlton, chief medical officer of Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, writes "Only last week we had to close one of our wards because the lift wasn’t working. When our lifts break down we can’t even get the parts to repair them because they are no longer manufactured."