PPlog

The mails posted last time and these following up also appear to chime with the press reports about NHS managers allegedly using delaying strategies for surgery to save costs. Hocus pocus anyway. The next mail was from PALS: Good Morning I have had your e-mail forwarded to me, I have confirmed with my colleague - orthopaedics are not exempt from national policy as patients are offered choice and have an 18 week target. Orthopaedic triage facilitates the national policy for patients to be seen within the timescale. If I can be of any further assistance, please let me know. Kind regards Susan Rixham PALS Manager – NHS Norfolk Freephone: 0800 587 4132 **************************************************** I replied straight away: Hello Susan Rixham. I have to disagree. Choice should begin with the GP: "Choice of Hospital" DH July 2003. Para 1.1.2 "Delivering the NHS plan sets out the requirement that patients and their GPs will be able to book appointments at...

This is a recent exchange of e mails between myself and local NHS. The point is self explanatory: To my GP: From a patient experience group for JPH I got this:   You and your GP will choose a number of clinically appropriate hospitals. He or she will then print out an Appointment Request letter for you to take away with you.  Your Appointment Request letter lists your Unique Booking Reference Number (UBRN), your NHS number , a list of hospital or clinic options for you to choose from and how to book your appointment.  Your GP practice will also give you a password with your Appointment Request letter.  You can then book your appointment later from home using The Appointments Line (0345 608 8888). the internet or, in some cases, by contacting the hospital directly. You must have your Appointment Request letter and your password if you want to book your appointment after leaving the surgery. Does any of this apply to my knee surgery referral? I did get a curs...

I think it's worth quoting Brendan Barber (TUC leader) from his speech in Exeter yesterday. He said: The brutal truth is simply this - that the living standards of millions of low and medium paid public service workers are being hammered in the name of reducing the deficit. As the cuts begin to scythe through our public services more and more jobs are under threat, and as the pay freeze bites - while inflation roars ahead - real wage cuts are making it ever harder to make ends meet. On top of that now they are coming for your pensions. Meanwhile those who caused the crisis are getting off scot free. Let's be clear the real villains today are not the teachers and civil servants - they are the greedy City traders and bankers who got us into this mess. Pithy - and accurate. =-=-=-=-= Powered by Blogilo

Here it is; the beginning of the consequences for adult social care Norfolk County Council is creating by their cuts: EDP report I was at the rally in support of the strikes today but didn't get an opportunity to speak. If I'd had that opportunity I would have shouted from the rooftops the fact that by making vulnerable people scapegoats for the banking failures, this coallition government is killing people. How can these malignant millionnaires get away with patricide? =-=-=-=-= Powered by Blogilo

I only regret that getting to see my constituency MP, Richard Bacon has been so fraught with difficulty and barriers. In the language of tax matters I'm not sure if it was by means of 'avoidance' or 'evasion' that, at the end of May, he failed to agree to meet me at Methodist Central Hall like others' MPs did - as part of the Hardest Hit March. One of the barriers too has been the telephone attitude of his secretary/receptionist (see the RADAR posting 30/05/11 and That Damned Elusive Mpernel on 08/06/11). The other social barriers are having to travel the round 60 miles to see him in my own car, with the concomitant fuel cost - and the lack of disability access to his 'office,' the Diss Conservative Club. All that is regrettable too, because after a twenty minute wait (I was on time) in the hallway of the Conservative Club and after a secretary had, wordlessly, and accompanied by another woman (for protection?) had come down the stairs, unlocked a l...

Referring to the NHS Future Forum report, this extract is from the ‘Ekklisia’ online newsletter: “Meanwhile, at least half the board members of some GP consortia have links with a single private healthcare company, a joint investigation by Pulse and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed. Medical, majority controlled by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, has links with 50 per cent or more of the board members at three of the 52 first-wave GP pathfinders.”

It is known that since the processes around the work capability test began, several people involved in the assessments have killed themselves. It would be a powerful symbol of their suffering and demise to set up an internet cenotaph with the inscribed names of those who have died as the result of this sociopathic government policy. It would not be easy - it would of course require the permissions of the relatives of the deceased. But it would be worth the effort. What do you think? =-=-=-=-= Powered by Blogilo