"The billions of our pounds that have been used to subsidise the weapons going to #Israel, that have been used to slaughter people in #Gaza, should be going into social housing, into our schools, into our #NHS", says #AndrewFeinstein
Is the answer to 'dental deserts' to force newly trained dentists to work for the NHS for the first years of their career (or to pay back the costs of their training)?
Well, unless Labour adopt such an approach we may never know, but the crisis in NHS dentistry might be alleviated by some form of national service requirement from dentists (alongside a better funding model!)?.
It may not be the best answer, but these are desperate times in dentistry.
#BBCLauraK just stated that there are terrible problems with the #Scottish#NHS. What's she on about - of course there are problems after 14 years of Tory mismanagement and corruption but we haven't even had strikes here unlike the rest of UK.
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So, the theory being put forward by #ReformUK is a 20% tax relief on all private healthcare and insurance. The inference being that if more people take up private healthcare, there will be less demand on the #nhs. Sounds logical, right? The only problem is that we all know what will happen. If demand falls, so will the funding. Another "innovative?" idea is: "𝘊𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘜𝘒 & 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴." so basically shipping our sick and injured to another country. #politics
You'll be unsurprised that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed 'extra' NHS spending promised by the Tories was eaten up by inflation;
this is what happens when the focus is no nominal not real (inflation-adjusted) values.
Its been obvious that the defunding of the NHS was at least partly achieved by being publicly obscure (with media collusion) about inflation-adjusted funding & instead trumpeting absolute/nominal funding increases.
The NHS is great but it has limits: yesterday was the first time I've ever heard a GP drop their official demeanour to let their anger at a lack-of-resource situation show.
My local area has very limited provision for mental health services related to Autism or ADHD; he got angry that they were failing patients, having to tell them to go private. (Meaning me in this instance, and another two people last week).
Camilla Cavendish is too cynical about the BMA & its handling of the doctors' strike.
But she's right on the button when she points out much of 'junior' Doctor disquiet is not about wages but about working conditions.
And this, local Trusts can do something about by offering subsidised meals, free parking & better rests facilities (as has been done in Milton Keynes).
As she concludes, if we want Doctors 'to take care of us, we need to look after them'
Its not just the availability of staff, or of beds/equipment that lies behind the NHS crisis, its a shortage of drugs too....
The Tories wrecking strategy has been multi-dimensional & has come together compounding each element to put us in the position where the political clients of private healthcare can ensure they can profit from the chaos (see earlier post on agency nurses)
The NHS is in real & present danger... and (now) not just from the right!
Another aspect to the staffing crisis in the NHS; the excessive billing for nurses (check out the surplus kept by the agency) providing flexible, emergency shift cover.
The mismanagement of the health service is draining cash out of the system & putting it in private firms' pockets....
And no, its not a bug in the system, its a feature; its classic Tory wrecking.
And any claims by the Tories they're going to end such 'profiteering' should be ignored!
“An agency providing last-minute freelance nurses to NHS hospitals is routinely charging up to £2,000 a shift.” Excellent business model for privatised NHS services. #NHS
Ghost sign for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children on Old Dumbarton Road in Glasgow. The city's first dedicated children's hospital, it originally opened in 1882 in Garnethill. In 1914, it moved to new premises in Yorkhill in the West End of Glasgow where it remained until it was replaced by the new Royal Hospital for Children on Govan Road in 2015.
So now cash-strapped NHS trusts are being required to balance their books, and as such are being forced to choose between repairing buildings or retaining staff.
This engineered crisis of the NHS looks to be accelerating as the Tories use their last months in Govt. to squeeze the health service some more & ensure the maximum mess for Labour to deal with on gaining power (a mess so big the Tories will soon start blaming Labour for not clearing it up).
Before you give too much credit to Dan Poulter (MP & doctor) for abandoning the Tories to join Labour, don't forget he's been an MP for 14 years & been working as a doctor all that time.... so one might have expected him to notice the Tory engineered crisis in the NHS quite some time before now.
No, he's defecting because he can see the Tory electoral meltdown coming & wants to preserve his happy position of having two well-paying jobs.