Health News Blog

Non-surgeon removed a gall bladder
The Royal College of Surgeons has expressed alarm that a non-surgeon has removed patients’ gall bladders at Walsall Manor Hospital. A research paper shows that 175 surgeries were carried out by a Surgical Care Practioner at the hospital during a four-year period.

Cost cutting in the NHS
A cost-cutting project is replacing paediatricians with medically unqualified "associates". A secondary care doctor has been suspended for inadequately supervising a physician assistant.

PAs and GP employment crisis
The government has failed on a manifesto pledge to deliver 6,000 new GPs  by 2024, but has allocated £1.4 billion to fund other roles in primary care like physician associates. The replacement of qualified doctors with PAs has resulted in locum GPs unable to find work.

NHS funding lags behind election pledge
In 2019 the Conservatives pledged to increase spending by £34 billion a year by the end of the parliament. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said increases in funding from the government had been eaten up by higher than expected inflation.

Kings Fund: "You get what you pay for"
Siva Anandaciva, Chief Analyst at the Kings Fund: "We spend below average on our health service compared to our peers, so it’s not surprising that we have fewer hospital beds, doctors, nurses, MRI/CT scanners."

Killings spotlight poor mental health services
The Hainault tragedy is the latest in a series of high-profile killings that have focused public attention on the adequacy of mental health treatment and care. NHS mental health services are struggling to cope with resource shortages and increasing demand for care.

Cuts will result in patient deaths
After recruiting staff to address the increasing waiting lists hospital trusts are being forced to cut medical staff, threatening their ability to care for patients, senior health leaders have warned.

Private company in contract breach
Private providers requested authorisation for a change of control and a due diligence exercise began to assess the new owner, but they went ahead anyway without it.

Hospital ceiling falls in
Ceilings have fallen in at two key units of an NHS hospital, forcing it to evacuate patients and cancel X-rays and scans. Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport is plagued by leaks and major structural defects, prompting claims it is dangerous for both patients and staff.

NHS crisis: its causes and its remedy
A university proferssor tells us "...The [NHS] crisis is manufactured by the government... advocating real cuts in wages and public services....The healthcare crisis is a political choice not an economic necessity. Governments which can fund wars, bailout banks and subsidise corporations can also save lives and improve the quality of life of their citizens."

Private equity & NHS privatisation
Private equity, partnerships of rich investors who buy and manage companies for a relatively quick return, run over half the NHS inpatient beds for children and teenagers with mental health problems, and almost all of the secure beds for adults.

"Only Labour can restore the NHS"
...says Dan Poulter, Labour's new MP. But will it? From what Wes Streeting says it seems unilkely. Here are two recent comments by Streeting "NHS uses winter crisis to ask for more money" and "Labour will use private healthcare" and criticised 'middle class lefties".

The way physician assistants will be used?
Such is the state of our education service that teaching assistants regularly cover for teachers. Is this how physician assistants are, or are going to be, used?

Privatised ugent treatment centres
It's likely you have a clinic within your local A&E set up to take minor injuries. These are UTCs and it's also likely that it's run by a private company. One such company, Totally PLC, runs 11 urgent treatment centres, including at London’s King’s College, West Middlesex, Woolwich Queen Elizabeth and Orpington Princess Royal hospitals.

The NHS is deliberately under funded
Yes it is, read here. The government confuses people  by saying the NHS gets record funding. But this isn't enough. We must fund the NHS to the level of comparable economies and rebuild health services. Raising taxes by equalising capital gains with income tax rates could raise £15.2 billion a year.

NHS: a jewel of socialist solidarity
The principles underlying the creation of the NHS continue to exemplify social solidarity; comprehensive health care for all, publicly owned and provided, funded from progressive taxation. Prior to the Thatcher governments there was a broad consensus regarding the nature of the NHS.  Since then there has been a slow conversion to market principles, leading to its fall in international comparison of health systems.

Scale of NHS problems facing Labour
"The social destruction of austerity has created a health deficit that may prove more onerous to shift than the national debt.Labour people admit it may take more than one term to restore the NHS to its peak state of 2010, when it recorded its shortest waiting times and highest satisfaction".