Next KONP Annual Meeting & AGM!

KONP’s next Annual Meeting for members will take place on Saturday 15 June at the London Regional Office of Unite the Union, at 33-37 Moreland St, EC1V 8BB in Central London (nearest tube is Angel).

The short AGM will start the day.

Registration: We are asking everyone who plans on attending to please fill out this online registration form in advance, which only takes a few seconds.

A registration fee applies of £5 (unwaged / low pension) or £15 (waged / good pension). There are two ways of paying this: online in advance, using a link that is included in the registration form linked above, or in cash on the door. (We may be able to take card payments on the door but we cannot guarantee this.)

We cannot process payment of registration fees by BACS, cheque or over the phone.

To attend the AGM, you need to be a registered KONP member and up-to-date with your subscription payments. If you know you are not currently registered as a member and up-to-date with subs, you can join easily by using this link. If you are not sure whether you are currently a registered member or not, contact Max at [email protected] to clarify.

Deadlines for motions

Members are very much encouraged to submit motions and discussion papers.
The deadline for sending in motions is the end of Wednesday 5 June.

We will assemble these into a provisional agenda document and circulate this by the end of Friday 7 June.

It will then be possible to submit amendments to motions until the end of Wednesday 12 June. This is also the deadline for discussion papers that do not require a vote or a scheduled discussion.

The final agenda, including motions, amendments and discussion papers, will be produced in print copy in time for the AGM and also circulated as a PDF.

We look forward to the usual range of excellent contributions from members, and hope to see as many of you as possible there on the day!

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In other NHS news

General practice across the UK is in deep crisis

Here we launch a discussion on general practice, the crisis it faces in the context of NHS England’s proposals. We propose a campaign with a charter of demands to restore the best of the general practice model in order to deliver the excellent primary care our population deserves.

Here are extracts of our discussion paper written  by Dr Louise Irvine, GP in Deptford, South East London and chair of the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign – this can be read in full here.

General practice across the UK is in deep crisis. Over the past decade funding for General Practice has fallen in real terms; there are fewer GPs because of reduced recruitment and retention, in part due to impossible workloads and soaring stress levels; and many practices have been forced to close.  Patients are unable to get appointments to see a GP for weeks, and are even less likely to see a GP that they know and who knows them personally. Read more

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Hancock must apply the brakes – technology in the NHS needs careful consideration

Former Culture Secretary Matt Hancock is fundamentally in the wrong job. This Health Secretary pays precious little mind to the real and fundamental issues of under-staffing and underfunding, the positive resolution of which would solve the majority of the NHS’ problems. But instead Hancock chooses to spend his time (and your money) on blindly pursuing digital innovation and ignoring the pressing issues that matter. Read more.

Circle in court action against the NHS to protect their profits – Nottingham KONP fights on

Circle Healthcare, the private company currently running the Treatment Centre on the Queens Medical Centre hospital campus has begun court proceedings against the Rushcliffe Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to protect its profits.

Having lost out twice to the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust in the new contract to run Treatment Centre services, Circle is now going to court for a second time, claiming the Trust can’t possibly treat NHS patients for less money and that bringing the contract back in-house would be “unrealistic” and “not in patients’ interests”. Read more.

On Wednesday 15 May, 30-40 KONP supporters from 10 groups joined a rally outside The Rolls Building, Royal Courts of Justice, London for the court hearing in the Business and Property Courts of England & Wales. Their presence was to highlight the disgust shared by so many that this private company, Circle was wasting public money and time suing the NHS, a point made in the leafletting on the day.

 

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