Vocal Voices

If anybody doubted the Conservative's ability to blow the next election: read on.

A report shows that the NHS is underfunded by some £23bn. In order to correct this the NHS has put in place some 44 sustainability and transformation plans (STPs). These plans include ward closures, cuts in beds, changes to A&E and modifications to GP practices.

These savings (cuts) were put in place by Osborne when he was chancellor, but they have never been open to consultation or public or political scrutiny.

The annoying thing about all of this is that the cuts are to front line services when it has been known for years that the NHS has too many managers and that procurement is inefficient. These things have not been addressed, but that is not surprising as management tends to protect itself as its first priority.

Will government step in and do a proper review of how the whole NHS operates, as it should, or will it allow the cuts to be signed off in October? My bet is the latter.

Frank, we got the news around here yesterday that children's A&E services at Stafford are temporarily suspended as of yesterday, although the night time full closure of the whole department was supposed to be temporary and that was back in 2011 and to this day it's closed between 10pm and 8am.
If you need emergency treatment now for a child it means a trip up to Stoke or either Walsall or Wolverhampton. All in areas where any problems (and there frequently are) on the M6 result in local roads becoming jammed solid.

From your post, I'm betting on the latter too. Just as I'd bet that the temporary closures I mentioned become permanent.

Our area is about 300 beds short already. The new hospitals in Wakefield and Ponte were built with a disastrously expensive PFI deal; the new Wakefield hospital was built with fewer beds than the old one! At a time when the population is going up and up.

I don't know what else they can cut tbh.

It has just been on the BBC national news reporting from Leeds. That is not surprising as the area is to take some big hits.

Leeds has the two major trauma units at St James' and LGI, Wakefield has the regional burns unit at Pinderfields. There are lower level A&E units at Bradford, Calderdale, Huddersfield and Pontefract, but they all send major cases to Leeds or Wakefield. These serve a population of about 2.5 million people.

Huddersfield, extra urban population of 212,000, is to lose its A&E completely.

Out-patient services have already been moved away from general and cottage hospitals to hubs or 'Health Centres' dotted around the place, but not all centres cover all out-patient services. So, for example, if you live in Otley and need physio you cannot go to the Wharfedale as used to be the case. When it was rebuilt (PFI) it lost that department, as well as its two permanent ambulances, they moved five miles away. No, for physio you now need to go to Leeds or Harrogate.

The whole thing has become a mess, but rather than sitting down and doing a proper analysis they have gone for the modern default position that if things are not working following changes then change things some more.

Thanks Cromwell, you made my point perfectly.

The whole NHS needs a good shake-up, but I can't see this happening with the present
bunch of politicians. It is quite obvious that the Conservatives are incapable of doing
anything positive about the problems. I think we need a good old Labour Government
to put things right again.

AggersAgain wrote:I think we need a good old Labour Government to put things right again.

Unfortunately it was 'good old Labour' that introduced PFI in the NHS and education. Those projects are now proving costly to upkeep and finance.

Sometimes it is better for the State to be in control and provide the funds for these things. That, of course, assumes that the State knows what it is doing. Sadly, all the evidence is that the State, Labour or Conservative controlled, does not have a bloody clue. The country is now run by focus groups, think tanks, lobbyists and civil servants, who all have their own agendas.

The tax payers, who stump up the cash, are always ignored.

More chance of Theresa May creating change Aggers, we have seen what has happened under "Labour" B'Liar...and from there onwards.. Foreign doctors taken on plus nurses whose command of the English language is abysmal the birth rate of immigrants is rated four to one in some towns and cities. We have some of the most brilliant foreign doctors and consultants but we also have the need to worry with the situation we are all facing as a nation and the situation that will get worse not better.,I am sick of being blamed as a pensioner for the "ills" this country is facing metaphorically and unjustly. There is not ONE MP or individuals in top positions who have not got private insurance, also paid for by the good "old" tax payers in their time. I am more afraid having necessary investigations that are in the offing (brain scan) and more biopsies etc over the coming weeks following a disastrous experience and well over two years of problems. Cannot fault my wonderful doctor sadly the care ends there, hospitals and treatment are the luck of the draw and some doctors "not all foreign" are part of the problem . It starts at the top.

We have to decide what we want from the NHS. Do we want care on the point of need from cradle to grave and everything to remain the same as usual. If so we have to pay a lot more in taxes to keep the service going.

Do we want services for the sick to be at the point of need, and less essential services like IVF, transgender operations, reversal of breast reductions and botched operations from the private sector etc only available if paid for by the patient.

If we have to make savings, do we need to cut down on essential services like A&E, or should we refuse to treat health tourists and make more strenuous efforts in recovering costs from those not entitled to NHS care. Some hospitals seem to do this successfully, so why not them all.

There are savings to be made but there undoubtedly will be an outcry. I agree with Kate about the elderly. The majority will have put into the NHS pot over a lifetime, and when they eventually need some sort of care, perhaps longterm, they are called bedblockers because there are no beds available in affordable nursing homes.

Also when Nigel Farage mentioned NHS hepatitis and HIV care for all, it caused an outrage. Of course it is better to treat these patients to prevent infection spreading, but what about the World Health Organisation contributing to NHS Hospitals who are able to offer this very valuable service.

And lets stop handing over foreign aid to countries without knowing how the money is going to be spent. We should only give foreign aid to support schemes like provision of clean water, vaccination, and education, natural disasters etc. And there should be a system in place whereby this aid is monitored.

Well posted, Meds, you have asked some questions that have slipped past the 'experts' or been ignored by them because they are the hard ones to tackle. There would be outcries from the PC brigades if the things you mention were excluded from the NHS; and it would surely be some sort of 'ism' to go after foreigners to pay for their treatment if they come from places with no reciprocal agreement with the NHS.

No doubt savings can be made, but it is the type and the methods used to achieve them that has got people worked up.