8 February
Nuffield Trust says delayed discharges far higher than official figures
Guardian
[16 more stories]
Guardian letter: health tourism claims a distraction
Signed by doctors. But drew some criticism from this week’s New Statesman about the impression this gives of a ‘metropolitan elite’. Can’t win if you stay silent, can’t do right if you don’t sometimes
10 charts that show why the NHS is in trouble
Interesting analysis from the BBC’s Nick Triggle. Ignores the corrosive effect of privatisation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38887694
Senior doctors call on PM to increase NHS spending
Which she promptly ignored. BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38906914
Corridor nurses now in place
Independent. Speaks for itself. There was a time when staff meetings in corridors were all about being OUT of earshot of anyone else…
‘Two tier’ GP fears as ‘pay to see me’ service brought in by practice
Guardian.
Newcastle rally against STPs (local)
Credit given to KONP North-East. Well done. The Shields Gazette
Talk to be given by campaigners (local)
Pre-publicity about a KONP organised gig! Well done Southend KONP. Basildon Echo
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/15078970.A_E_talk_by_campaigners/
10 February
Worst A&E waiting stats on record
Sky news
Hundreds of serious incidents that should not be happening
Independent. What anyone should expect with massive under-staffing, over-working, increased bullying and a culture of fear essentially. Which the Indy missed completely. Falling straight into the Chomsky agenda by doing so: under-fund, wait for people to complain, privatise
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/nhs-mistakes-never-events-surgery-patients-fatal-a7566936.html
Hunt: NHS problems unacceptable
Adding there is no excuse for some of the problems. He just missed out the ‘I am determined to provide…’ at the start. Tactic to deflect the criticism as it was becoming hard to ignore. Guardian and elsewhere.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/10/jeremy-hunt-nhs-problems-completely-unacceptable
11 February
NHS experience and druid surgeons
On the face of it, an attempt at irony which compounds tourism and the NHS. But it subtends to a much darker narrative of xenophobia and decrying the NHS as ‘old fashioned and bureaucratic’ which is the government’s line: ‘look at our creaky, old, quaintly British yet not working too well NHS – on a par with Stonehenge, which those dastardly foreigners are determined to visit’. PR spin via sarcastic humour exploiting stereotypes: a classic tool for appealing to those already on side. Ugly.
Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/11/welcome-great-nhs-experience-druid-surgeons-await/
When Labour said it can’t trust the Tories with the NHS it was a fact
A far more direct opinion. Mirror
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labour-said-you-cant-trust-9802090
Most Brits blame NHS tourists for poor state of the NHS
Which was of course the whole point in making such a fuss about retrieving money off them. Chomsky again: the point of most PR is to manufacture (uninformed, irrational) consent. [Some of us are trying to stop that! AT] Mirror
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/health-tourism-blamed-poor-nhs-9802486
Interesting analysis of this in the context of ‘fake news ala Trump’ by the Chronicle:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/comment-how-government-uses-fake-12590710
And refreshingly countered by the Independent:
12 February
£850 for a roller blind
Mail. Which to its credit does lay the blame on pirating private companies as much as NHS incompetence. This is an increasing trend as NHS procurement is deliberately changed from a system whereby the NHS procures the best goods and services at value to one where the NHS is procured by an increasingly predatory number of private companies.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4215944/NHS-spends-850-23-roller-blind.html
15 February
Norfolk and Norwich trusts criticised for hiring private accounting consultants (local)
Cites KONP Norwich as the source for this. Well done Norwich.
The Great NHS gamble (local)
Peterborough Telegraph’s take on the Johnston Group’s investigations unit’s look at the NHS. See below. Also taken up by the Yorkshire Post, the Independent, and others in the group. Dialogue continuing.
KONP received several enquiries nationally, including the Morning Star (published quotes several times this week), Channel 4 News and the investigations unit of the Johnston Group (who produce many local titles as well as the Independent, competing with Trinity Mirror nationwide), for advice and for quotes. Several calls relating to local stories were fielded to the respective group contact or dealt with directly. The Johnston enquiry has lead to ongoing dialogue about developing further ideas
Several branches are sending in press releases – thank you. We need more! Local successes are at least matching national ‘presence’, which is to be expected – but it helps to know of any successes, or even unsuccessful attempts. Please send to Alan Taman: [email protected]
This service is provided as a guide to the main stories, but you can get alerts sent about health stories yourself every 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 on the KONP website (https://keepournhspublic.com/support-konp/steering-group-page/news-events/ ) and look for the “starter set of instructions”.
Mobile devices also have free apps that provide news, which you can filter with varying degrees of control.
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