The following stories were selected from those sent as daily alerts under the search term ‘NHS’, and ‘Keep Our NHS Public’ from the Google alerts service. Please send any comments to Alan: [email protected]
29 March
Lambeth and SW London KONPs meeting publicity (local)
Trailed in local free ‘micro-press’ blog: a growing outlet for local news that is not written under mainstream constraints so is often more sympathetic and even handed towards campaigners on local issues. Well worth checking to see if your area has any, if you haven’t already. Well done Lambeth and SW London. Brixton Blog: http://www.brixtonblog.com/keep-nhs-public-meeting/36578
[12 more stories]
30 March
Private contract costs NHS nearly £30 million before it was cut (Local)
Another example of a private company taking its money, falling short on quality, and sent packing after great waste of public funds. Liverpool Echo: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/revealed-30m-nhs-bill-controversial-11130240
31 March
Leave campaign backed by senior anti-NHS Tories
Morning Star: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-7da8-Vote-Leave-run-by-the-anti-NHS-camp#.VwJKEscryLU
Also echoed in Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/29/brexit-campaigners-have-track-record-of-hostility-to-nhs-say-mps
2 April
Child community healthcare privatised, handed to Virgin (local)
A pattern to be repeated throughout England, unless it’s stopped. Local GP Helena McKeown spells out the risks and is quoted before the Virgin PR, which is encouraging. This can be the case often with local press, if a relationship is cultivated with them: they start to regard the NHS campaigners as ‘legitimate’ sources and the corporate, faceless, national quote as less worthy. Worth the effort!
Salisbury Journal: http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/14398374.Child_community_healthcare_privatised_from_today_as_Virgin_Care_takes_over_contract/
3 April
Labour force figures inflated
Doubly insulting, as cuts hit deeper, figures massaged to hide the damage. Observer:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/02/nhs-staffing-crisis-70000-go-missing
Leaked Brexit e mail claims Cameron has starved the NHS
Claims that Brexit could save the NHS are dangerous, according to 4 Labour ex-health secs
Office of National Guardian Deputy quits after 6 weeks
Throwing doubt on the workability of Hunt’s plans to safeguard whistleblowers by running the NGO as part of the CQC. Daily Mirror: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/second-nhs-whistleblower-tsar-quits-7683601
And if you want a more typical example of the way whistleblowers are actually treated by an NHS ever-more likely to resort to blame and fear to save money, face or both: Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3522138/Whistleblower-pharmacist-told-honest-work-NHS.html
4 April
Migrants ‘bringing NHS to breaking point’
Would be entertaining were it not so sinister, in effect condoning a lack of funding and xenophobia.
Southport 38 Degrees to stage anti-privatisation protest (local)
Champion (Stockport): http://www.champnews.com/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=GN4_ART_98487
Primecare gets £165,000 for making a single home GP visit in private contract
A perfect example of what happens to NHS efficiency when you try to marketise it: obscene waste of public money. Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3522459/NHS-pays-165-000-just-ONE-GP-home-visit-8-months-deal-private-company.html
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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