The growing salience of ‘health tourism’ is at the forefront of the public’s mind, since it has been revealed it costs the NHS some £2bn a year.
The introduction of mandatory health insurance for visitors and migrant workers will be a visa requirement. This will be checked at the point of visa application, so the NHS is not burdened with further bureaucracy. £200 million of this saving will be used to abolish hospital car parking charges across England.
There are some governance initiatives, where ‘county health boards’ will replace the current bodies ‘Monitor’ and the ‘Care Quality Commission’, run by clinicians instead of politicians and giving further protection to whistleblowers.
But it is the Ukip promise of keeping the NHS free and the re-direction of more cash to frontline services that will worry Labour.
Ukip will remind voters that it was Labour who supported the Private Finance Initiatives which by the time they have run their course will have cost the NHS £300bn.
Ukip argue that this money could have been used to transform the NHS rather than the fortunes of shareholders and hedge fund managers is designed to make Labour squirm.
The growing salience of ‘health tourism’ is at the forefront of the public’s mind, since it has been revealed it costs the NHS some £2bn a year. The introduction of mandatory health insurance for visitors and migrant workers will be a visa req
Not a single official has been disciplined over the worst-ever NHS hospital scandal, it emerged last night. Up to 1,200 people lost their lives needlessly because Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust put government targets and cost-cutting ahead of patient care. But none of the doctors, nurses and managers who failed them has suffered any formal sanction.
Indeed, some have either retired on lucrative pensions or have swiftly found new jobs. Former chief executive Martin Yeates, who has since left with a £1million pension pot, six months' salary and a reported £400,000 payoff, did not even give evidence to the inquiry which detailed the scale of the scandal yesterday. He was said to be medically unfit to do so, though he sent some information to chairman Robert Francis through his solicitor. The devastating-report into the Stafford Hospital-shambles' laid waste to Labour's decade-long obsession with box-ticking and league tables. The independent inquiry headed by Robert Francis QC found the safety of sick and dying patients was 'routinely neglected'. Others were subjected to ' inhumane treatment', 'bullying', 'abuse' and 'rudeness'.
The shocking estimated death toll, three times the previous figure of 400, has prompted calls for a full public inquiry. Bosses at the Trust - officially an 'elite' NHS institution - were condemned for their fixation with cutting waiting times to hit Labour targets and leaving neglected patients to die. But after a probe that was controversially held in secret, not a single individual has been publicly blamed. The inquiry found that: • Patients were left unwashed in their own filth for up to a month as nurses ignored their requests to use the toilet or change their sheets; • Four members of one family. including a new-born baby girl. died within 18 months after of blunders at the hospital; • Medics discharged patients hastily out of fear they risked being sacked for delaying; • Wards were left filthy with blood, discarded needles and used dressings while bullying managers made whistleblowers too frightened to come forward. Last night the General Medical Council announced it was investigating several doctors. The Nursing and Midwifery Council is investigating at least one nurse and is considering other cases.
Ministers suggested the report highlighted a dreadful 'local' scandal, but its overall conclusions are a blistering condemnation of Labour's approach to the NHS. It found that hospital were so preoccupied with saving money and pursuit of elite foundation trust status that they 'lost sight of its fundamental responsibility to provide safe care'. Health Secretary Andy Burnham accepted 18 recommendations from Mr Francis and immediately announced plans for a new inquiry, to be held in public, into how Department of Health and NHS regulators failed to spot the disaster. But Julie Bailey, head of the campaign group Cure the NHS, condemned his response as 'outrageous' and backed Tory and Liberal Democrat demands for a full public inquiry into what went wrong.
From schoolgirls in Rotherham to the NHS in mid Staffs, the result is the same when Labour run anything and that is the weak,poor and vulnerable are forgotten while Labour tell us how fair they are.
Not a single official has been disciplined over the worst-ever NHS hospital scandal, it emerged last night.Up to 1,200 people lost their lives needlessly because Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust put government targets and cost-cutting ahead of patient car
The crazy thing is spending over £100 billion a year and employing 1.7 million people in an organisation which is beyond reasonable debate. Not saying Farage's solution is right, but other parties are petrified of talking about health in such a way.
The crazy thing is spending over £100 billion a year and employing 1.7 million people in an organisation which is beyond reasonable debate. Not saying Farage's solution is right, but other parties are petrified of talking about health in such a way
imagine if we all had to go private like the US....we are way more expensive than most of europe in premiums as it is....
imo the uk is well and truly ****ed
imagine if we all had to go private like the US....we are way more expensive than most of europe in premiums as it is....imo the uk is well and truly ****ed
It SHOULD be run as a business. Focus should be on quality control to provide a better product (healthy patients) whilst also keep an eye on areas of needless duplication and waste. And make damn sure that your suppliers give you the product they promised.
It SHOULD be run as a business. Focus should be on quality control to provide a better product (healthy patients) whilst also keep an eye on areas of needless duplication and waste. And make damn sure that your suppliers give you the product they pro
It needs a businessman to run it more efficiently. The huge sums spent by the NHS should be getting better deals with their purchasing power.I am mildly surprised it hasn't become just another quango employing failed politicians after an election like the Environment Agency.
It needs a businessman to run it more efficiently. The huge sums spent by the NHS should be getting better deals with their purchasing power.I am mildly surprised it hasn't become just another quango employing failed politicians after an election lik
Tristram Hunt (?) on telly this morning - '75% of the cost of the NHS is its staff.'
Interviewer: 'How many of those are managers?'
Hunt: waffle waffle, blah blah etc
No positive answer.
Tristram Hunt (?) on telly this morning - '75% of the cost of the NHS is its staff.'Interviewer: 'How many of those are managers?' Hunt: waffle waffle, blah blah etc No positive answer.
Response to Hospitals paying over the odds waste billions every year http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/news/article4234754.ece
As the person quoted in the Article I would like to provide some background.
We have a global benchmark of over $ 750 billion and the NHS is the best buyer that we have seen in the World. It regularly buys at 40% below other health services.
Yes it can be even better, and it took a team of 12 people 3 years to create a new Artificial Intelligence system to recreate the best manual analysis and automatically identify the same items being purchased at different prices from complex free text descriptions.
The NHS savings are less than 2 percent of the total spend, and can be quickly achieved through breakthrough technology developed by UK Universities that has resulted in 2 PhD's and 3 Professorships.
Part of the reason that the NHS is world class is that this year is the 40th anniversary of creating the product coding system as part of the NHS implementing one of the first electronic purchasing systems in the world, and for those in the private sector that suggest contract management the NHS implemented this 50 years ago!
The NHS is vast, complex and the best in the world in a large number of areas. There are some dire areas, and they need to be improved, but generally you are looking at making the best in the world better.
We have created some ground breaking technology that both identifies and then more importantly realizes the savings, and it is now being used around the world. Our technology is recognized as the best in the world by a number of organizations including Visa who are helping us roll it out to their customers.
The NHS also leads the world in sustainability, and there are much larger savings that can be achieved through partnering with NHS suppliers to improve their sustainability, and reduce wastage in the NHS and its supply chain. Again this is ground breaking, and the NHS is leading the way. The NHS advantage in this area is now 6 years ahead of private sector and the rest of government and growing.
The NHS is a super tanker with a small rudder, but despite this it normally is good at steering an accurate course. I am fortunate enough to have had excellent care from the NHS, and like most people wish to help keep an excellent health service.
I do find it disappointing when people assume that the NHS is poor. It is not. It is the best of any government organization that we analyze, and up with the very very best in the private sector.
Any organization can improve including the NHS, but it is starting from a very good point in its procurement, and we would like to ensure it stays in the lead.
Ronald Duncan
http://www.cloudBuy.com
Why are they not acting on this?
Response to Hospitals paying over the odds waste billions every year http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/news/article4234754.eceAs the person quoted in the Article I would like to provide some background.We have a global benchmark of over $ 750 bill
Maybe it would be best if politicians were not running it. What do they know about it.They move from one post to another.Defence experts one day, then expert on the NHS the next. Dont suppose any of them have ever worked in nursing.
Maybe it would be best if politicians were not running it. What do they know about it.They move from one post to another.Defence experts one day, then expert on the NHS the next. Dont suppose any of them have ever worked in nursing.
Farage hits the nail on the head every time. No wonder the voters are going over to UKIP in their droves.
Miliband must cry himself to sleep every night. Has there ever been a leader of a major party so completely out of his depth as Miliband is? Why doesn't he do the decent thing and simply step down?
Farage hits the nail on the head every time.No wonder the voters are going over to UKIP in their droves.Miliband must cry himself to sleep every night. Has there ever been a leader of a major party so completely out of his depth as Miliband is?Why do
Miliband stabbed his brother in the back,it is only right and proper that he suffers the same fate.It would be great ih he lost his seat in 2015,how would the Labour party handle that if they were the largest party ?
Miliband stabbed his brother in the back,it is only right and proper that he suffers the same fate.It would be great ih he lost his seat in 2015,how would the Labour party handle that if they were the largest party ?
My next door neighbours are doctors , (both Indian ), she's an A&E doctor at whipps cross hospital he's a GP in east London ,she told me that the NHS is being totally destroyed by health tourists, Pakistanis , Eastern Europeans and Africans ,who rarely speak english, sit up there all day with small ailments, as they aren't registered with any doctor, they just take up the spaces in A&E.
My next door neighbours are doctors , (both Indian ), she's an A&E doctor at whipps cross hospital he's a GP in east London ,she told me that the NHS is being totally destroyed by health tourists, Pakistanis , Eastern Europeans and Africans ,who rare
The NHS is not a business and shouldn`t be run as one. If the poor are seriously ill they should be treated accordingly and money should not even come into it. There should be no budget. Denying people treatment to save money is immoral imo, yet they spend trillions every year on Nuclear weapons and the Royal Family. It`s ok for the likes of Farage who have money and can buy the best of treatment if required. The guy is a complete buffoon.
The NHS is not a business and shouldn`t be run as one. If the poor are seriously ill they should be treated accordingly and money should not even come into it. There should be no budget. Denying people treatment to save money is immoral imo, yet they
My sister-in-law trained to be a midwife in Whipps Cross.
She's a senior midwife now at Queens in Romford.
they just take up the spaces in A&E.
They certainly do in Newham, due to closures over the years, despite the population increasing every year, there is just one hospital left in the borough, for all 300,000 residents.
Nice bit of cheap land though, they built it on the site of the old West Ham rubbish dump, and it was running alive with rats when it opened.
My sister-in-law trained to be a midwife in Whipps Cross. She's a senior midwife now at Queens in Romford. they just take up the spaces in A&E.They certainly do in Newham, due to closures over the years, despite the population increasing every year,
yet they spend trillions every year on Nuclear weapons and the Royal Family.
With no Royal Family the profits from tourism would drop considerably.
Try having a go at the low ages which force Londoners to apply for housing benefit even when in full time work.
The Housing Benefit bill for the UK is £28 billion a year. Most of that will be paid out in London and the south, where rents are too high.
yet they spend trillions every year on Nuclear weapons and the Royal Family.With no Royal Family the profits from tourism would drop considerably. Try having a go at the low ages which force Londoners to apply for housing benefit even when in full ti
but I don`t agree with your argument regards the Royal Family being a asset to the country. Bunch of parasites the lot of them. Get them all out on Community work to earn their crust.
but I don`t agree with your argument regards the Royal Family being a asset to the country. Bunch of parasites the lot of them. Get them all out on Community work to earn their crust.
Unfortunately none of the parties are prepared to face that fact. More concerned with short-term platitudes like maintaining the NHS budget.
But, during the next parliament, ignoring the supply and demand issues will be impossible.
Some sense, at last.Unfortunately none of the parties are prepared to face that fact. More concerned with short-term platitudes like maintaining the NHS budget.But, during the next parliament, ignoring the supply and demand issues will be impossible
call me a taxi 13 Oct 14 17:17 Tristram Hunt (?) on telly this morning - '75% of the cost of the NHS is its staff.'
Interviewer: 'How many of those are managers?'
Hunt: waffle waffle, blah blah etc
No positive answer.
The govt need to watch Holby City
The CEO is a neurosurgeon.
The deputy CEO is cardio-thoracic surgeon.
Apart from the board of directors, there are no 'managers' whose only skill is to push a pen.
call me a taxi 13 Oct 14 17:17 Tristram Hunt (?) on telly this morning - '75% of the cost of the NHS is its staff.'Interviewer: 'How many of those are managers?' Hunt: waffle waffle, blah blah etc No positive answer.The govt need to watch Holby C