Saturday, December 30, 2006
NHS battle goes on
Some points at the turn of the year about the NHS campaign from Cllr. John Beanse who is Vice-Chair of Health Scrutiny in Waltham Forest:
"As people up and down the country fight to “save our NHS”, protesting about damaging cut-backs, such as the prospect or reality of closure of wards, whole departments or even hospitals in some places, we would do well to question with determination the current buzz-words of “reconfiguration” , “Fit for the Future” and "more care in the community" which so suspiciously and “conveniently” from a Government standpoint coincide with the current crisis. Trusts up and down the country are enabled to cite clinical justifications for their actions: for instance the supposed desirability of fewer people being sent to A & E; fewer GP referrals to hospitals; and pushing people in and out of hospital quicker. There are indeed arguments to support such strategies in many individual cases, but there are also clinical risks attached which are receiving little or no attention. For example, there are dangers if someone is not referred swiftly enough to hospital; and for patients to be returned home in a shorter span than previously there has to be in place a much improved infrastructure in the community (whereas the reality is that in this area, there are in fact cutbacks in community services). It is also vital that after an individual’s stay in hospital we do not place an impossible burden on carers or have people living on their own in a vulnerable position without adequate help. Also, we absolutely must retain adequate capacity in our hospitals to cope with every eventuality. The attitude of the Trusts seems to be too often that they know best and will pay attention to the voice of the public only when it suits them.
These issues require urgent and expert analysis and the voices of doctors, clinicians, nurses, etc must be listened to. Meanwhile it is vital that we keep up the fight for our NHS.
Let's carry on campaigning for our local health services in 2007!"
"As people up and down the country fight to “save our NHS”, protesting about damaging cut-backs, such as the prospect or reality of closure of wards, whole departments or even hospitals in some places, we would do well to question with determination the current buzz-words of “reconfiguration” , “Fit for the Future” and "more care in the community" which so suspiciously and “conveniently” from a Government standpoint coincide with the current crisis. Trusts up and down the country are enabled to cite clinical justifications for their actions: for instance the supposed desirability of fewer people being sent to A & E; fewer GP referrals to hospitals; and pushing people in and out of hospital quicker. There are indeed arguments to support such strategies in many individual cases, but there are also clinical risks attached which are receiving little or no attention. For example, there are dangers if someone is not referred swiftly enough to hospital; and for patients to be returned home in a shorter span than previously there has to be in place a much improved infrastructure in the community (whereas the reality is that in this area, there are in fact cutbacks in community services). It is also vital that after an individual’s stay in hospital we do not place an impossible burden on carers or have people living on their own in a vulnerable position without adequate help. Also, we absolutely must retain adequate capacity in our hospitals to cope with every eventuality. The attitude of the Trusts seems to be too often that they know best and will pay attention to the voice of the public only when it suits them.
These issues require urgent and expert analysis and the voices of doctors, clinicians, nurses, etc must be listened to. Meanwhile it is vital that we keep up the fight for our NHS.
Let's carry on campaigning for our local health services in 2007!"
# posted by John Beanse @ 8:50 PM 
