Health News Blog

Nurses have lost over £1500 in pay
After taking inflation into account nurses have lost over £1500 in annual pay since 2011. Here's a chart of the different groups of NHS workers showing how they have fared since 2011.

NHS leaders dismayed: they have to fund pay rise
Hospital trusts, already massively underfunded compared with nearly every other developed nation, will have fund most of the nurses' pay rise; from existing budgets. This must impact the levels of care they provide.

Is 3% an adequate reward?
The inflation rate for this year is 3.7%. Is a 3% rise for nurses a fair reward for their efforts through the pandemic? No wonder the NHS is struggling to recruit staff.

NHS data grab: September target dropped
Even the revised September deadline has been cancelled as the government says it is  "committed to improving the way patients can see how their data is used, including publishing which organisations have used what type of data." Do you trust them?

GPs refuse to hand over data
Some GPs are refusing to hand over patients’ data to NHS Digital unless the Department of Health and Social Care for England commits to a list of demands about patient consent and confidentiality.

NHS Bill will add risks due to Covid and winter flu
There's an HSJ paywall but in this article an ICS leader says there are demanding changes that will take place in the second half of 2021 that are difficult for NHS partners who will need to transition large numbers of staff. What "transition" does she envisage I wonder?

Hostile environment left fearful NHS patients avoiding treatment
Patients at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust faced bills of thousands of pounds while living on benefits or without any income. The trust referred 1,085 debts more than any other trust. Under government rules all NHS Trusts have a statutory obligation to identify patients who are not entitled to free NHS treatment and to charge them.

The NHS Bill: Treasury power grab and more privatisation
The bill imposes an iron grip on costs in terms of cash for local NHS services, whilst dramatically watering down the public’s rights to what healthcare we have a right to receive.

Trust chief told by NHSE not to warn of 19th July unlock
There's a paywall here, but in essence three CEO of NHS trusts have been refused permission to warn that unlocking risks putting unsustainable pressure on the NHS by increasing the number of covid positive patients.

Firm with links to Hancock given VIP treatment
Emails between Department of Health officials appear to contradict denials of a VIP or “fast track” process for firms with political connections. The Animal Health Trust based in Newmarket, Hancock's constituency, was given a contract.

12 questions on GP 'data grab' answered. From ‘who owns my data?’, ‘can government force GPs to hand over data?’ to the misleading claim that opting out will affect your medical care, OpenDemocracy gives the answers.

“NHS” – a logo for partially privatised healthcare. The principles underlying the creation of the National Health Service exemplify solidarity: comprehensive care for all, without charge, publicly owned and provided, funded from taxation. Now we have an underfunded system bent on saving money and denying care. How did we get here? 

NHS 73^rd birthday protests. NHS campaigners call for end to underfunding. Chair of KONP said “The weakened NHS has been stretched to breaking point by Covid and the population has suffered. Staff are underpaid, overworked and their health put in danger. The new health bill threatens further large scale private contracting.”

Open letter from BMJ to Sajid Javid on pandemic. The British Medical Journal published an open letter advising our new health secretary on handling Covid. Llifting restrictions is a “colossal natural experiment which will put wave three into a super-exponential growth phase”, and the “chaos and waste that has been NHS Test and Trace show no sign of abating, with the government refusing to properly support people who need to self-isolate”.

Mass infection is not an option. A letter in the Lancet explains population immunity is unlikely to be achieved without much higher levels of vaccination than can be reasonably expected by 19^th July 2021. More than 17 million people have no protection against Covid, particularly we must do more to protect the young.

NHS England to control ICS procurement
This gives us an insight into how ICS will operate. The article is behind a paywall but tells that NHSE considers many ICSs are "struggling to make key changes ....[owing to] the scale and complexity of the change required for ICS procurement."

Outsourcing experiment proves a failure
This article is behind a pay-wall, but in essence, a fifth acute hospital in London has brought hospital cleaning and catering in-house - time and again privatisation gives a poorer service with staff exploited on poverty wages. Sign a petition in support of workers in Airedale hospital demanding their trust brings sub-co cleaning and catering workers in-house.

Open letter on GP data grab
Here's an open letter to all GP Practices working in the NHS to highlight data concerns that have been planned by NHS Digital. Patients should be aware of the how their data is used. It questions whether NHS Digital has publicised the data transfer, what will actually be shared and with whom?

Is a Tory storm brewing over new NHS bill?
An assistant editor to The Spectator tells us that the new NHS bill with give huge new powers to the Health Secretary, he can control NHS England, interfere in local reconfigurations and abolish arm’s length bodies. And is it going to integrate health and social care as formerly claimed? Where's the plan Johnson?

Nurse's petition for a decent pay rise gets three quarters million signatures
Matthew Tovey works in the Cwm Taf health board and started the petition to raise support for a 15% pay increase for health workers across the board. So far it has amassed three quarter of a million signatures.

Number of doctors retiring early trebles
When you hear government claims about the number of doctors joining the profession, ask yourself is this a net increase? While 401 GPs and hospital doctors took early retirement in 2007-08, that number had soared to 1,358 in 2020-21 – an increase of 239% in 13 years. Doctors who quit before they are due to retire are also getting younger, the average age is now just 59