Buying Influence and NHS Reform

[Rupert_Baehr]

Page 15 of their public sector manifesto ...

 

 

 

http://media.conservatives.s3.amazonaws.com/manifesto/cpmanifesto2010_publicsector.pdf (3mb)

 

Which is hardly the same as : "If we discover a problem in the NHS we won't do anything to fix it."

 

Your quote is selective and takes one small section out of context. The section before the one you quoted says:

 

"A major problem for staff in the public sector is that their hard work, initiative and new ideas too often go unrecognised and unrewarded.

The reason is Labour’s top-down, Whitehall -knows- best form of management, which allows too little space for the initiative of workers."

 

If you read that sentence before the one you quoted, then it's impossible to interpret your quote as saying 'we will not do anything to reform the NHS'.

[Mecky]

Which is hardly the same as : "If we discover a problem in the NHS we won't do anything to fix it."

 

Your quote is selective and takes one small section out of context. The section before the one you quoted says:

 

"A major problem for staff in the public sector is that their hard work, initiative and new ideas too often go unrecognised and unrewarded.

The reason is Labour’s top-down, Whitehall -knows- best form of management, which allows too little space for the initiative of workers."

 

If you read that sentence before the one you quoted, then it's impossible to interpret your quote as saying 'we will not do anything to reform the NHS'.

 

 

So what's the Tory idea then? A minor staff grade thinks of a good idea, informs their line manager and the line manager takes all the credit for it? A reward eh?

[anywebsite]

Which is hardly the same as : "If we discover a problem in the NHS we won't do anything to fix it."

 

Your quote is selective and takes one small section out of context. The section before the one you quoted says:

 

"A major problem for staff in the public sector is that their hard work, initiative and new ideas too often go unrecognised and unrewarded.

The reason is Labour’s top-down, Whitehall -knows- best form of management, which allows too little space for the initiative of workers."

 

If you read that sentence before the one you quoted, then it's impossible to interpret your quote as saying 'we will not do anything to reform the NHS'.

 

They were criticising the previous government for reforming/reorganising too much & too often. Which strongly implies that they weren't going to do the same.

 

Why did they not discover the problem in the NHS before the election & put this policy in their manifesto?

 

How come there was no problem with the NHS before the election, change was bad & it was all ring fenced, then a few weeks later they decide they need the biggest reorganisation of the NHS ever?

 

I could've picked other quotes from their manifesto that implied they didn't want to dramatically change or cut the NHS before the election, it's full of it, but that all changed after they got voted in.

[sharrowman]

Nobody wants to answer the OP question,

"Having pocketed over £100,000 is it now a coincidence that private sector companies such as Care UK will now be eligible to bid for NHS contracts? Should companies such as this really be allowed to buy influence over and above everybody else?"

 

Strikes me this is no coincidence at all.

[sharrowman]

Rupert Baehr, what is 'the problem with the NHS' and how do recent policy announcements fix this problem?

[Berberis]

As the Tories announce the reform of our NHS, something which they explicitly rules out in their manifesto, it is interesting to note that the health secretary has been accepting donations from the directors of Care UK since 2006, a private sector health provider.

 

Having pocketed over £100,000 is it now a coincidence that private sector companies such as Care UK will now be eligible to bid for NHS contracts? Should companies such as this really be allowed to buy influence over and above everybody else?

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1243579/Andrew-Lansley-embroiled-cash-influence-row-accepting-21-000-donation-Care-UK-chairman-John-Nash.html

 

And the Labour party is partially funded by the trade unions. I'm not judging either side here, but no party is able to exist without funding, while the NHS has been reformed by every government and these reforms coming in were in part already put in place by Labour.

[dell12]

Nobody wants to answer the OP question,

"Having pocketed over £100,000 is it now a coincidence that private sector companies such as Care UK will now be eligible to bid for NHS contracts? Should companies such as this really be allowed to buy influence over and above everybody else?"

 

Strikes me this is no coincidence at all.

 

Indeed. In fact I would have thought that most Tories would oppose Cameron's suggestions, given the increase in the percentage of people who think the NHS is doing a good job over recent years? Perhaps that is why he kept it all very hush hush until after the election?

[Berberis]

Rupert Baehr, what is 'the problem with the NHS' and how do recent policy announcements fix this problem?

 

We spend more for less care than our EU neighbours and survival rates are lower.

[dell12]

And the Labour party is partially funded by the trade unions. I'm not judging either side here, but no party is able to exist without funding, while the NHS has been reformed by every government and these reforms coming in were in part already put in place by Labour.

 

I agree and I certainly don't claim that Labour haven't been influenced either. In fact I seem to remember a £1 million donation to the party from a Tobacco company involved in motor racing which saw Labour ban tobacco advertising in all places apart from F1.

 

I don't like this sort of influence one little bit whichever party it is from. Politicians are representatives of the people who voted them into power, not those who pay them the most money.

[sharrowman]

"And the Labour party is partially funded by the trade unions. I'm not judging either side here, but no party is able to exist without funding, while the NHS has been reformed by every government and these reforms coming in were in part already put in place by Labour. "

 

This is not a partisan issue, all of our political class are cosied up to lobbying interests, sniffing for lucrative contracts outside of the commons. Strikes me this reform is the visible part of an otherwise clandestine effort to profiteer from the dissolution of the NHS.

The mantras of choice and efficiency are just illusions.