Health News Blog

An absurdist NHS fantasy
A wonderfully absurdist NHS fantasy has been doing the rounds on social media. It stemmed from a case vignette in a government document, Reforming Elective Care for Patients. This BMJ letter explains all.

Labour's imagined 'private health spare capacity'
Now read this follow-up letter in the BMJ. Private sector spare capacity sitting waiting to be used for the benefit of the NHS is a myth.

'No evidence to support privatisation'
"...our Review provides evidence that challenges the justifications for health-care privatisation and concludes that the scientific support for further privatisation of health-care services is weak."

3 ways Starmer could expand NHS capacity
Starmer's plan is bad for patients and good for private health firm's profits. Here's 3 ways to really increase NHS capacity.

How you stop the abuse of your GP data
If you don't want your health data to be handed over to US spyware firm Palantir then here' s the way to do it.

'Outright dangerous' rundown hospitals
Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said some hospitals were so rundown “patients are being treated in unsafe and sometimes outright dangerous facilities”.

If you oppose NHS privatisation ...
....then read Dr Julia Patterson here, and print an Every Doctor poster for your window here.

It's budget cuts that they seek
A PriceWaterhouseCooper team has been sent into the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System to make cuts, otherwise known as 'a review', because it will fall into a £350 million deficit. This is what Integrated Care, brought in by the Tories' Health and Care Act 2022, is really about - financial control. Regardless of geniune healthcare need, most ICSs are required to make cuts.

Stop Palantir getting your data - opt out here
Our NHS data is unique and very valuable. The government is planning a database of all our health data, called the Federated Data Platform. However it is  refusing to give guarantees that your health data will only be used for genuine research purposes and not commercial gain. This link provides two separate means to prevent your GP data and your hospital data being grabbed and copied into the FDP.

Palantir: How to opt-out
The site MedConfidential says "We cannot guarantee that you will have any more information in future than you do now" about whether you can opt out of your data being collected for the Federated Data Platform (FDP). So you might as well complete a form to give to your surgery, to refuse consent for your identifiable information to be collected for the FDP.

The Data (Use and Access) Bill
This is passed into law it will a) reduce data protections and increase access to our personal health data for the private sector and public authorities; b) redefine ‘scientific research’ to include commercial activities; c) change the meaning of ‘consent’ so that agreeing to the use of your data for one research project means also consenting to future but yet unknown projects. Write to your MP and ask them to vote against the Bill. Here's a briefing for MPs and a letter template.

"Ban PAs from seeing patients 1-to-1"
The Royal College of Physicians has called for a rethink of government plans to increase the number of PAs from 3,000 to 10,000 by the mid-2030s. They should not be allowed to run clinics on their own, without a senior doctor present, because left unsupervised they could pose a risk to patients’ safety.

Streeting's definition of anti-semitism
Israel is bombing Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Wes has said no one in the NHS is allowed now to say I oppose this, or say, 'I am an Arab, my people are being wiped out'. Is he right, do you think?

Doctors in Unite's submission...
Here's the trade union group Doctors in Unite Primary Care submission to Streeting's 10 year Health Plan for England. In summary it says a) the stronger the primary care system, the more the health system can improve health outcomes, b) investment in public health improves life expectancy when delivered at community levels c) Market failure in primary care delivery must be recognised and addressed.

KONP's submission ...
Here's Keep Our NHS Public's response to the 10 year Health Plan for England. "We would like to see a commitment to the founding principles of the NHS. We would like to see more investment in our publicly provided NHS, not an increase in the use of the private sector. The successful tackling of very long NHS waiting lists in the 2000s was through building [publicly-run] NHS capacity."

Write to your MP...
...about the Data (Use and Access) Bill. New powers will enable the Secretary of State to introduce, redefine or change conditions for the use of ‘special categories of data’. It makes it easier to share data, so that information collected for one reason, such as healthcare, may be shared with public authorities and private companies who may use it for other purposes, such as immigration control or predictive policing.

New nurses are quitting in 5 years
The number of newly registered nurses and midwives leaving the professions has jumped by almost 50% at a time when nurse recruitment is slowing.