British Medical Association rips into the Tories over NHS reforms.

Do we have a government that really gets the NHS?

Imposing policies that force us to do the absolute opposite of what our patients need.

Making cuts to frontline services that eat away at the fabric of care and destroy innovation....
... and when everything goes wrong, blaming those who provide the care.

I’m not giving up hope, even though I fear some of our politicians are more interested in the next government than this one.

It’s not too late for the government to change.

But first, they must face up to the damage that they have done.

It all began with a broken promise.

Four years ago, the coalition said in its programme for government, I quote: ‘We will stop the top-down reorganisations of the NHS that have got in the way of patient care.’

No-one’s perfect. We’ve all made the odd promise we couldn’t keep. But has a promise to the NHS ever been quite so needlessly, recklessly broken as that promise not to impose change from the top?

A broken promise that imposed in England a new NHS without evidence, without mandate and without support.

A broken promise that cost at least £1.6 billion, possibly much more, to implement. One that continues to consume the energies of thousands of NHS staff who never even wanted it, just to stop it unravelling.

We have now experienced the first full year of the Health and Social Care Act.

It’s been a bumper year for the multinationals. For their armies of lawyers and accountants who find the curative so lucrative.

That's just a start. You can read it all here....

http://bma.org.uk/working-for-change/arm-2014-info/chair-of-council-speech

Exposing the Tories as liars, cheats and a government rotten to the core on the NHS.

A bumper year right enough with more to come. Get them out before there is nothing left.

CASH-strapped NHS chiefs spent nearly £300,000 on a “study tour” to the US last month for just 28 staff. Managers and medics travelled to New York, Miami and Pennsylvania for a week-long fact-finding mission.

It cost the four medical groups – all in Surrey – £281,100, an average of £1,434 per person, per day. The astonishing sum could pay for 10 nurses for almost a year. Campaigners hit out at the massive bill at a time jobs when are being axed.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/484199/NHS-Staff-USA-US-Money-Taxpayer

Tesstacious wrote:CASH-strapped NHS chiefs spent nearly £300,000 on a “study tour” to the US last month for just 28 staff.  Managers and medics travelled to New York, Miami and Pennsylvania for a week-long fact-finding mission.

It cost the four medical groups – all in Surrey – £281,100, an average of £1,434 per person, per day.  The astonishing sum could pay for 10 nurses for almost a year. Campaigners hit out at the massive bill at a time jobs when are being axed.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/484199/NHS-Staff-USA-US-Money-Taxpayer

Hi Tess,

You didn't comment on anything that was contained in the speech. And the article you linked to doesn't say what the purpose and the objectives of the trip to the USA were.

Have we nothing to learn from advances in medical technology, new treatments and how to apply them to achieve better healthcare outcomes for our patients? Maybe it was about things like that,,,,,,I don't know. Do you?

Irn Bru wrote:

Tesstacious wrote:CASH-strapped NHS chiefs spent nearly £300,000 on a “study tour” to the US last month for just 28 staff.  Managers and medics travelled to New York, Miami and Pennsylvania for a week-long fact-finding mission.

It cost the four medical groups – all in Surrey – £281,100, an average of £1,434 per person, per day.  The astonishing sum could pay for 10 nurses for almost a year. Campaigners hit out at the massive bill at a time jobs when are being axed.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/484199/NHS-Staff-USA-US-Money-Taxpayer

Hi Tess,

You didn't comment on anything that was contained in the speech. And the article you linked to doesn't say what the purpose and the objectives of the trip to the USA were.

Have we nothing to learn from advances in medical technology, new treatments and how to apply them to achieve better healthcare outcomes for our patients? Maybe it was about things like that,,,,,,I don't know. Do you?

There's such a thing as the internet nowadays. You can learn about new technologies etc in internet conferences. This was a staff jolly, one which would have paid for ten nurses! You seriously justifying that and at the same time moaning about how money's short in the NHS?!

Woman who had boob job on NHS now getting taxpayer funded taxis worth £6,000 a year

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/484255/Woman-who-had-boob-job-on-NHS-getting-taxpayer-funded-taxis-worth-6-000-a-year

Tesstacious wrote:

Irn Bru wrote:

Tesstacious wrote:CASH-strapped NHS chiefs spent nearly £300,000 on a “study tour” to the US last month for just 28 staff.  Managers and medics travelled to New York, Miami and Pennsylvania for a week-long fact-finding mission.

It cost the four medical groups – all in Surrey – £281,100, an average of £1,434 per person, per day.  The astonishing sum could pay for 10 nurses for almost a year. Campaigners hit out at the massive bill at a time jobs when are being axed.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/484199/NHS-Staff-USA-US-Money-Taxpayer

Hi Tess,

You didn't comment on anything that was contained in the speech. And the article you linked to doesn't say what the purpose and the objectives of the trip to the USA were.

Have we nothing to learn from advances in medical technology, new treatments and how to apply them to achieve better healthcare outcomes for our patients? Maybe it was about things like that,,,,,,I don't know. Do you?

There's such a thing as the internet nowadays.  You can learn about new technologies etc in internet conferences.  This was a staff jolly, one which would have paid for ten nurses! You seriously justifying that and at the same time moaning about how money's short in the NHS?!

Get real Tess. Do you think we can teach a pilot how to fly a new JSF fighter aircraft just by reading how to d it on the internet? Or teach a surgeon or a medical professional how to use a more sophisticated process involving new advances in technology recently developed which involves processes not previously used before? Of course you can't and I think you know that.

I'm sure there must have been a business case justification for going to the United States that was approved at Board level otherwise this would no have taken place.

The article you have linked to offers no background whatsover in what advantages may have been gained from this trip and merely tries to pass it off as a jolly for all those that attended. I just don't believe that and until I see any evidence that it was just a trip for people to have a good time at the expense of the taxpayer then you will have to come up with something to prove that's exactly what it was.

Any comment on the content of the BMA article?

Tesstacious wrote:Woman who had boob job on NHS now getting taxpayer funded taxis worth £6,000 a year

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/484255/Woman-who-had-boob-job-on-NHS-getting-taxpayer-funded-taxis-worth-6-000-a-year

What does that have to do with standards provided by medical staff. Not really their decision that she gets that, is it?