13 January
Junior Doctors’ strike
Commentary from Owen Jones in the Guardian:
18 more stories
Steve Bell cartoon on Tories and the NHS, Guardian:
Nearly half of doctors worked during strike, Guardian:
Sympathetic report from the Bristol Post (local);
Sandwell Hospital ‘bullying’ tactic by declaring ‘major incident’ minutes before strike starts:
http://news.sky.com/story/1621243/hospital-ends-call-for-striking-doctors-to-return
[Local contacts have confirmed that patient numbers that morning were no higher than on Boxing Day, when no such incident was declared but staffing levels were the same as 12 Jan. This is being taken up locally via the KONP group.]
Insightful analysis of Hunt’s true tactics by the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dave-prentis/junior-doctor-strike_b_8962314.html
Analysis of strike in the Financial Times (paywall):
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/503a72e8-b915-11e5-bf7e-8a339b6f2164.html#axzz3xJ544dAe
Even-handed ‘for/against’ cover by Southend Echo, including quote from KONP contact Norman Traub (local):
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/14197602.Are_junior_doctors_right_to_strike
Support for strike at Salford: sympathetic piece (local)
Salford Star: http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=3087
…and Merseyside KONP’s Sam Semoff’s words to the pickets at the Royal Liverpool Hospital – from inside the hospital as an inpatient – were widely reported. By local BBC radio, The Liverpool Echo:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/junior-doctor-strike-liverpool-heart-10730733
OurNHS: https://opendemocracy.net/ournhs/sam-semoff/heart-of-matter-patient-addresses-junior-doctors
The Daily Mirror: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/junior-doctors-strike-theyre-fighting-7166845
Also on this site: https://keepournhspublic.com/blog/from-the-bedside-liverpool-campaigner-backs-junior-docs
Agency spend doubles (local)
Portsmouth News
2016 ‘make or break’ time for NHS
Appeal for longer-term planning
Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2016/jan/13/2016-make-break-nhs-health-service
14 January
Junior Doctors
Supporters offered strikers pizza
Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/junior-doctors-strike-people-offer-pizza-to-picketing-doctors-in-show-of-support-a6809706.html (includes a quote from local KONP group)
[This could well indicate a measure of desperation as reporters cast around for ‘new’ angles on the strike, especially if the second one goes ahead: this presents opportunities for local groups to approach their local press before the strike and remind them of KONP’s position.]
GPs quit in Essex because of insufficient funding
BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-35295343
Virgin win hospital contract in Kent (local)
But encouraging use of ‘privatisation’ in headline, at least; Kent Echo: http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/14/privatisation-of-nhs-continues-as-hospital-contract-awarded-to-richard-branson-5622396
Healthwatch challenges CCGs in Norfolk (local)
Questioning why area needs so many. Eastern Daily Press: http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/health/nhs_scrutiny_why_does_norfolk_need_five_clinical_commissioning_groups_1_4377600
15 January
A&E patients waiting too long
STOP PRESS: There’s a Better Way…
You can now get alerts sent about health stories yourself. This is much better than a regular, ‘supplied’ service because you can choose what key words trigger the alerts: “Keep Our NHS Pubic”, “NHS”, “health” – your choice. Then you can adjust the settings to improve the coverage. This has the added advantage that local stories to you can be searched for, as well as national. Alerts can be set up to send you an e-mail as a story breaks, or summarise them under headings you decide once a day.
This is done through Google news and Google alerts: free services anyone can set up. To find out how to do this, go to the Steering Group, News & Events section and look for the “starter set of instructions”.
… and please don’t forget, your smartphone or tablet will have free apps that look for and filter news, too: try configuring those for health stories, or the NHS, as well.
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