The government will try and blame the failure of Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust on the NHS. The public won't buy it.
Last week was a momentous one for the NHS. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s announcement on Lewisham Hospital occupied all corners of the press.
Added to this we had the action of Lord Owen, who joined the March to save Lewisham Hospital and launched his Amendment Bill to re-instate the core principles of the NHS and protect services from marketisation.
The Labour Party and the National Health Action Party have declared their support – and in the face of the current assault on the health service by the coalition it is a much needed move from within the parliamentary portals.
To return to the outside world, now that the reality of Hunt’s decision about the Lewisham hospital #Lewishambles has started to embed itself in the national reality it’s time to cast our eyes further afield.
Not only have we witnessed the government announcing their decision to dismantle a brand new, successful and solvent A&E and accompanying acute facilities in Lewisham, but we can now see that the whole A&E system is about to be dragged into it’s very own emergency situation.
To look at the specifics: The coalition has missed its own reduced waiting time targets for the last 17 consecutive weeks, with an extra million patients waiting more then four hours.
Even worse, the ambulance back-up situation is nearing breaking point, with patients waiting for up to 11 hours in ambulances before entering A&E (moreover, I have just heard of one elderly patient waiting in an ambulance for over 18 hours).
In some regions, fewer than seven in 10 ambulance calls are reaching the most serious cases within the eight minute target – and more than 11,138 ambulances are waiting over 30 minutes outside of A&E departments.
Far from protecting the NHS – 5,000 nursing jobs have been lost since David Cameron became PM and one in six hospitals now have inadequate staffing levels in A&E – the government is plowing on with a wholesale destabilisation of the NHS and lying about it.
Tomorrow we will see the release of the long awaited Francis Report, which is sure to reveal shocking levels of maladministration and malpractice in Mid-Staffordshire Trust – which was overseen by the current NHS CEO, Sir David Nicholson.
With the pressures which the current regime are placing on the system it’s likely there will be more rather than less terrible instances like that seen in Mid-Staffs.
However, if the government see fit to try to use this to smear the NHS, they may find the public aren’t so easily duped.
38 Responses to “The public won’t be fooled by the government on the NHS”
blarg1987
To answer your point directly, no. it is right to reduce deaths however to play your logic it is funny how the right are unwilling to make comparisons with other countires are they afraid in real terms that although deaths do happen in all countries due to accients, incompetnance etc that the NHSmight have the lowest per head of population? I am not saying it does but to dismiss the argument out of hand without asking that question is a little bit concerning.
“So of sound mind, are the relatives allowed to collude with doctors to bump the patient off?
So of sound mind, are the doctors allowed to bump them off with or without permission?”
I notice you did not counter my point as i said If the patient is of sound mind and does not want to be recusitated should the medical sytaff be prosecuted not the above two scenarios you mentioned which are different.
LB
You’ve answer the question yourself.
What other countries do is irrelevant for the NHS. What’s relevant is why they are killing 20,000 plus a year, and what to do about it?
1. Why no prosecutions?
2. Why the under reporting – cover ups.
3. Why bugger all compensation to the victims?
4. Why didn’t they feed and give people fluids?
….
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/03/17/Investigation_into_Mid_Staffordshire_NHS_Foundation_Trust_Summary.pdf
You don’t need to go overseas.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15897345
Just compare the rates for different hospitals.
Look at the low risk conditions, since that’s risk adjusted. It’s not that one hospital gets the serious cases and so has a higher death rate, because its taking the risky patients.
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 0.21
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust 1.99
Why do we need to look at hospitals in the Third world to see that there’s a major issue in the UK?
blarg1987
On the countrary it is relevent you don’t say something is rubbish unless you have something to compare it to.
How did I answer my own question All I said is that it is right to try and reduce deaths as it is right for all organisations and groups to try and improve, do you say all companies are rubbish as they are always trying to be better by reducing complaints or cock ups?
And where did I say third world countries? I said we should compare generally like where we are world wide on list of death per head of population, unless you are admititng all other health care providers around the world are third world in comparison?
LB
My guess, and I’ve no references, is that we are below the US, for people who have insurance, well below Switzerland.
However, from the link, I’ve hard evidence that Brimingham is 500% worse than London.
The advantage of that estimate is that it is a consistent methodology, like for like. If you start comparing different countries you don’t know if the statistics have been collected to the same standard and definition.
So what’s you’re evidence that the NHS is a great service compare to other countries? Prove it.
What I’m going on is UK research, NHS research, Stafford report, reports in to Maidstone, Basildon, ….
Pretty clear from that its crap. Too many killed. Too many covered up.
If you want one explanation. Consider airline pilots, and doctors. Who reports errors, and who doesn’t? Ask yourself why one group reports and the others don’t.
blarg1987
I have no research in front of me to say the NHS is a great service copared to other countries, but at the same time you do not have the ebvidence to support that the NHS is rubbish compared to other countries.