Funky_Gibbon Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 (edited) Hunt is basically trying to pretend that you can run a full NHS service 7 days a week. Currently emergency is 7 days a week, elective (non emergency) services are 5 days a week. He wants us to believe that he can do this with exactly the same number of doctors, who he says will be working shorter hours per week and be better paid (unless they're the unlucky 25%) and it's not going to cost any more money at all... Total nonsense of course. The same number of doctors and the same cost means that either these doctors are either: 1) having a substantial pay cut forced upon them and are going to be made to work for longer hours (watering down of the punishment for Trusts overworking doctors suggest this will happen) or 2) working the same hours (still for less pay) but spread more thinly over 7 days instead of 5, meaning fewer doctors doing elective surgery during the week. Fewer doctors means fewer operations on those days and NHS facilities suddenly free for the kind of profitable privately paid (queue-jumper) operations that the 2013 Health and Social Care Act allows Trusts to make money out of via arrangements with private health providers. Of course running a full 7 day service doesn't just need doctors. It requires everyone else from Allied Services and administration to also be working too so I full expect they'll be forcing a lot more staff to work days/hours they've never had to before with no regard to what that does to their personal lives... There have been a number of trials of weekend elective services in the last few years and all of them have found that there is very little demand for them. He also keep misquoting some statistics on stroke deaths etc at weekends (against the explicit advice of the authors of the stats) to 'prove' we need more doctors at weekends. I've yet to hear him explain how more doctors doing elective surgery at the weekend is going to make the blind bit of difference to stroke deaths, which are 100% emergency cases and have nothing to do with elective care. Edited February 12, 2016 by Funky_Gibbon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hauxwell Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I wonder how far the 55 million quid a day we give to the failed EU would go to helping solve this problem. Angel1. I definitely think it would go towards solving the problem of funding the National Health, instead of going towards rebates for other countries. I agree on the failed EU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFKvsNixon Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Yes, that was a gaffe on his behalf; though all the names on the letter do support the current contract being offered. Hunt is basically taking their approval of the contract to another level, imposition, which is not what they signed up to. Even I agree that's silly. If this was a one off, I'd be happy to give him the benefit of the one doubt. His record with the pay rises for the nurses and midwives where he said he'd agree to the findings of an independent pay review body that looks at public service workers, who recommended a 1% increase in line with the government's own pay policy. Hunt then reneiged on it. His quoting of the research of the death rates in hospital at the weekends, is wrong. The research was looking at the outcomes of people who were admitted during the weekend, not those who died at the weekend. The death rates at the weekend are actually lower than the weekdays. He's either disingenuous or incompetent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crosser Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Jeez! Can't anyone see yet that this is the back door into another privatisation? It's almost the same MO as the miners... Christ! even a blindman should have seen this coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Jeez! Can't anyone see yet that this is the back door into another privatisation? It's almost the same MO as the miners... Christ! even a blindman should have seen this coming! So very true. Hunt's actions are going to plunge the NHS into an ongoing crisis. He will degrade the service and the solution will be more private provision. Our taxes won't be enough to pay for the private provision so private insurance schemes will be introduced. It will be one of the biggest industries in the country accounting for 10%+ of our GDP and the fact that is currently an untapped highly profitable goldmine because provision is through the NHS is a major irritant for Tory ideologues. It's all about turning the provision, and the financing of that provision, into vehicles for private profit. Our health spend as a % of GDP will grow, coverage will become patchy and we'll pay through the nose for it. I can confidently predict that in the future a big proportion of the right wing posters on here will regret they ever backed Hunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomoney Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Doctors surgeries should be open at the weekend,how many tossers go to A&E at the weekend with a headache,or with a hangover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Doctors surgeries should be open at the weekend,how many tossers go to A&E at the weekend with a headache,or with a hangover. It's a good idea. GPs being more available (evenings, weekends) would massively reduce the pressure on hospitals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sutty27 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 (edited) It's a good idea. GPs being more available (evenings, weekends) would massively reduce the pressure on hospitals. It would also mean that workers don't have to take time off work to visit the doctor. ---------- Post added 14-02-2016 at 07:53 ---------- So very true. Hunt's actions are going to plunge the NHS into an ongoing crisis. He will degrade the service and the solution will be more private provision. Our taxes won't be enough to pay for the private provision so private insurance schemes will be introduced. It will be one of the biggest industries in the country accounting for 10%+ of our GDP and the fact that is currently an untapped highly profitable goldmine because provision is through the NHS is a major irritant for Tory ideologues. It's all about turning the provision, and the financing of that provision, into vehicles for private profit. Our health spend as a % of GDP will grow, coverage will become patchy and we'll pay through the nose for it. I can confidently predict that in the future a big proportion of the right wing posters on here will regret they ever backed Hunt. Why blame hunt, he didn't come up with the new contract and the BMA forced his hand and he didn't scupper any chance of a negotiated deal. Edited February 14, 2016 by sutty27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Cid Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 It's a good idea. GPs being more available (evenings, weekends) would massively reduce the pressure on hospitals. My GP(a GP) has been out after office hours, there are also minor injuries units nearby, then there is the 101 service that will tell people what to do. I believe my own GPs practice operates from 7am-7pm, weekdays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Why blame hunt, he didn't come up with the new contract and the BMA forced his hand and he didn't scupper any chance of a negotiated deal. Because he is choosing to impose a contract that clearly has a lot of problems. He has chosen to turn it into a battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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