Health News Blog

Royal Colleges:"review needed into PAs"
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has called on Streeting to commission a review into the role of medical associate professionals (MAPs) in GP practices as well as secondary and community care, in order to establish an evidence base. Concern has arisen about safety issues - a patient has died when wrongly diagnosed by a PA, and supervision - do they really free up a doctor’s time?

What Darzi didn't say
Yes, the Health and Care Act 2022 repealed Section 75 (compulsory tendering of clinical services) of the hated Lansley Act; but it did not remotely eliminate the role of markets. Reports by the Centre for Health and the Public Interest and the Keep Our NHS Public show how the private sector has penetrated the NHS from service provision through to commissioning. Further, Darzi ignores other important issues.

Trust selects CEO's wife's firm for contract
To run its Urgent Care Centre a hospital trust has selected a company whose chair is the wife of the trust's CEO. Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust has selected a GP-led co-operative company, FedBucks, as its preferred provider to run urgent care and out-of-hours services.

Racism leads to health inequality
A review conducted by the UCL Institute of Health Equity led by Prof Sir Michael Marmot, found that people who are repeatedly exposed to structural racism during their daily lives experience worse physical and mental health as a direct consequence.

Nurses reject pay offer
The pay of an experienced nurse fell by 25% in real terms under the Conservative governments between 2010 and 2024. It's no surprising that the government's 5.5% offer was rejected. Royal College of Nursing  general secretary Prof Nicola Ranger said nursing staff were determined to “stand up for themselves, their patients and the NHS”.

The short-comings of Darzi
A campaigner agrees to Darzi's analysis of the causes of the NHS crisis, but exposes the poverty of his recommendations. "AI and apps won’t prevent asthma for a child living in damp and mouldy private rented accommodation".

Medics have concerns on new MAP roles
Senior consultants and professors on medicine sign a letter to the Health Select Committee on the subject of the safety and supervision of (MAPs) Medical Associate Professions.

Health and its relationship with economic growth
Better health is Britain’s greatest, untapped resource for happiness, economic growth and national prosperity. Tackling Britain’s growing ill-health crisis holds the key to increasing growth.

Darzi shows need for more funding
The Darzi report identifies the appalling state of the NHS, but doesn't state the obvious solution - more funding.  He accuses "consecutive Conservative administrations from 2010 to July 2024 of inflicting “unforgivable” damage on the NHS".

We can afford the NHS
"When it [the government] needed money to prevent a collapse in the banking system – via the Bank of England’s Quantitative Easing programme – simply created around £445 billion of new money. Money that it had been saying it did not have. And again, during the COVID lockdown, the Government created around £450 billion more to prevent a collapse in household finances when people would otherwise have had no income."

Child spent 44 days in A&E
This is the state of our health and social care. This article has a pay wall. In effect the child was waiting for a care placement, illustrating the national emergency that is the state of the NHS and social care system.

Primary care in crisis too
Primary care is described by some as at breaking point, as is the rest of the NHS and social care, resulting in higher levels of mortality, illness, pain, and anxiety. However, this crisis was not inevitable, nor the consequence of the pandemic, but the result of successive political decisions, a government made crisis.

Labour and private sector
Excellent article on the government's intention of greater use of private healthcare. A recent systematic review concluded that “outsourcing of services to the private sector does not seem to deliver both better care and cheaper care.”

Lansley Act 'seriously weakened' the NHS
Britain was hit far harder by the Covid-19 pandemic than other developed countries because the NHS had been “seriously weakened” by disastrous government policies.

NHS campaigner's view of way forward
"Simplistic view that technology, apps and AI are the solution wasted billions and ended in failure". The NHS, when funded to succeed, has been and would be again, one of the very best, safest and most cost-effective health services in the world.

Untrained strike breakers
A trust has been accused of putting patients at risk by bringing in ‘untrained strike-breakers’ from hundreds of miles away and paying for their hotel accommodation to ‘disrupt’ a week-long walkout by facilities management staff. There is no doubt that when out-sourced workers will get poorer terms and conditions of work, for example they will lose their NHS pension rights.