Tag Archives: NHS

Opinion – NHS Reforms: It is not too late to pull back from the edge

By Issan Ghazni | Published 9th February 2012 - 6:56 pm

If the Party is still licking its wounds and reeling from the catastrophic loss of public support over student tuition fees and the kicking received in the May 2011 local elections, then please be in no doubt, that the punishment it will receive from the electorate for its perceived co-operation in, and reluctant endorsement of, the demise of a much loved and unified national health service, will be on another planet entirely! And that will be despite the valiant efforts and guerrilla warfare carried out by our Peers led notably by Shirley Williams and others.

Essential to Cameron’s election campaign was …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged nhs reform | 1 Comment

£1.5 billion needed to sort out Labour’s PFI mess

By NewsHound | Published 6th February 2012 - 1:54 pm

The Guardian reports:

Seven hospital trusts struggling with crippling private finance initiative debts are to receive £1.5bn in emergency funding from the government to help them avoid cutting patient services to pay their bills.

The Department of Health is making the £1.5bn available – in grants, not loans – to the seven hospital trusts in England with some of the heaviest PFI debts through a “stability” fund. Trusts will be able to use the money to meet PFI repayments, rather than their usual budgets, as long as they meet four conditions set out by the department.

The move will help trusts such

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Posted in News | Also tagged andrew lansley, pfi | 1 Comment

Shirley Williams’ campaign against NHS reforms wins new concessions from Lansley

By The Voice | Published 29th January 2012 - 12:30 pm

Here’s how The Guardian reports today’s news that the Coalition will offer further concessions to the NHS reform bill in an attempt to head off a revolt in the House of Lords led by Lib Dem peer Baroness Williams:

… ministers will table a series of amendments to the health and social care bill that will oblige Andrew Lansley to maintain the NHS as a national public service and, his critics say, limit his ambitions to expand the role of the private sector. The changes will also spell out the kind of services that must be offered by GPs and

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Posted in News | Also tagged andrew lansley, health, shirley williams | 9 Comments

PMQs: The importance of Doncaster, almost to the exclusion of everything else

By Paul Walter | Published 26th January 2012 - 12:56 pm

At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, David Cameron and Ed Miliband first clashed on the subject of economic growth (or, indeed, contraction). That entanglement was, more or less, a score draw. But Ed Miliband was much stronger during a later exchange on the NHS reform bill, culminating with this belter:

I shall tell the Prime Minister what is happening in the NHS: waiting lists up, morale down. What does the majority-Conservative Select Committee on Health say about his reorganisation? It says that it will be a “disruption and distraction that hinders the ability of organisations to” release savings.

Let us be frank: this

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Posted in PMQs | Also tagged david cameron, economy, ed miliband, eleanor laing, malcolm bruce, sir robert smith | 3 Comments

Opinion: Before the debate – What’s the evidence?

By Chris Nicholson | Published 16th January 2012 - 10:54 am

The relaunch of the Beveridge group featured in Lib Dem Voice on 10th January, said that it hoped to generate debate amongst Liberal Democrats about how public services are best delivered.

Liberals in general are clear that public services should be democratically accountable at the lowest possible level. Where there is far less agreement is the role of choice, competition and the private and voluntary sector in provision of these services – particularly in relation to health and education. Inevitably many people’s reactions are heavily influenced by their own personal experience as a service user, public service employee or indeed …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged centre forum, education, public services | 14 Comments

Andrew George writes… A veil of initiatives

By Andrew George MP | Published 16th January 2012 - 9:53 am

The Iron Lady cast a steely shadow over the Westminster village last week.

Memories of Baroness Thatcher’s reign of heavy metal terror still strike fear in those who inhabited the place in the days when she would mercilessly handbag anyone who dared to cross her path.

Last week, of course, her major Hollywood biopic was released. Fearing unfavourable comparisons, the PM appears to have gone into manic overdrive; launching an overlapping series of popular-sounding and eye-catching initiatives.

Having spotted that City fat cats are still awarding themselves performance-related perks, which bear no relation to their performance, the PM has become quite cross. …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged andrew george, david cameron, margaret thatcher | 6 Comments

Paul Burstow MP writes… Time to Care: patients not paperwork

By Paul Burstow MP | Published 11th January 2012 - 12:53 pm

Being a nurse is a tough job, and we all admire those who have a calling to care for others. But when a loved one is sick in hospital we quite understandably worry and want the best for them.

One of the most important tasks of government is to ensure that good standards of hospital care are maintained wherever people live and whatever their needs. To make progress on this key issue we must free-up nurses from red tape and allow them to carry out the work they’re trained to do.

As a Liberal Democrat health minister I have seen and heard …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged releasing time to care, royal college of nurses | 11 Comments

Tim Farron’s Christmas message

By Tim Farron MP | Published 23rd December 2011 - 12:57 pm

Well that was quite a year, wasn’t it? It was a good one too!

I know, I know, after the referendum and the horrible results in May you’d be forgiven for believing we were sinking faster than Blackburn Rovers (how it pains me to write that), but you know what, it’s not true.

This year we did some amazing things, things you and I have wanted to do for years but never had the power to actually get done.

For one, we put an end to the horrific practice of locking up innocent kids behind bars for months on end in immigration …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, blackburn rovers, pensions, pupil premium, tax | 10 Comments

Julian Huppert MP writes: promoting innovative science and technology, safeguarding NHS data for research

By Julian Huppert MP | Published 13th December 2011 - 11:00 am

Science and research are absolutely key to our economy, both now and in the future. That’s why I and others have been pressing the Coalition Government to protect the £4.6 billion revenue budget for science and research programs. And we’ve managed more; since January, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills has announced £495 million of investment in capital projects to maximize our research capacity.

This funding is extremely welcome. But it is how this money is spent – not just how many millions are pumped into the economy – which will determine whether the economy recovers and whether we will be …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged julian huppert, life sciences, privacy, research, technology innovation centre | 3 Comments

Paul Burstow MP writes… A Future-proof Health Service

By Paul Burstow MP | Published 9th December 2011 - 11:53 am

The Liberal Democrats have always recognised that if we want the best health service in the world, we must continue to innovate and invest.

That is why I want to highlight how new funding announced on Monday will ultimately support life-saving research and help to protect millions of vulnerable people living with long-term conditions at home.

I have long championed the benefits of telecare and telehealth (home-based alarm and monitoring devices), so I want to highlight the fact this high-tech equipment will now be accessible to another three million people over the next five years.

This week I met a care …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged life sciences | 7 Comments

The Independent View: Selling our NHS data is not putting us in control of our health records

By James Baker | Published 5th December 2011 - 2:55 pm

Back in 2010 there was a wave of optimism amongst civil liberties campaigners, especially those of us concerned with protecting privacy from an over-bearing database state. Not only did the coalition agreement set out a promise to scrap ID cards and its associated population register, there were other promises too: “We will end the storage of internet and email records without good reason” and then on page 25 of the coalition agreement the statement that “We will put patients in charge of making decisions about their care, including control of their health records”.

In our briefing document ‘Privacy Under Threat’ …

Posted in Op-eds, The Independent View | Also tagged civil liberties | 25 Comments

Norman Lamb MP writes: Why we need to keep an open mind on Hinchingbrooke

By Norman Lamb MP | Published 17th November 2011 - 11:53 am

Last week’s announcement that the management of Hinchingbrooke Hospital would be transferred to Circle Healthcare was always going to be controversial – a hospital with debts approaching £40million, whose situation had become so perilous that it had to be rescued by an external provider. Both Labour and Unison quickly exclaimed against this as ‘privatisation,’ despite the fact that the Labour Government had initiated the tendering process.

Circle is a 49% employee-owned organisation, different from the traditional private company. It makes them a part-mutual organisation run in the same manner as John Lewis. Put simply, they are part-owned and part-run …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged hinchingbrooke hospital, jo grimond, mutualism | 13 Comments

A trio of Tory / Liberal Democrat disagreements in government

By Mark Pack | Published 26th October 2011 - 11:55 pm

Like London buses, Tory / Liberal Democrat disagreements are coming along all bunched together at the moment:

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has criticised “climate sceptics” and others who he argues are decrying the UK’s potential for renewable power … His comments are being interpreted by some as a riposte to Chancellor George Osborne who is believed to be more sceptical about the investment needed. (BBC)

Vince Cable rejects proposal to abolish unfair dismissal laws: Business secretary said plan devised by strategist Steve Hilton was unnecessary and unlikely to improve labour market flexibility (The Guardian)

In order to safeguard the NHS, free at

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Posted in News | Also tagged chris huhne, climate, george osborne, nhs reform, steve hilton, tom watson, vince cable | 2 Comments

LibLink: Paul Tyler – The Lords are listening, but not to rent-a-mob email campaigns

By Nick Thornsby | Published 26th October 2011 - 12:58 pm

Over on the Guardian’s Comment Is Free, Lib Dem peer Lord (Paul) Tyler has a piece on the (not particularly successful) campaign by 38-Degrees to lobby members of the House of Lords over health reform.

Here’s a sample:

As a peer who received many 38 Degrees-inspired communications in the runup to the debate over the NHS bill, I can say with some confidence that their lack of influence was strongly linked to the unduly polarising approach they took to this issue. They picked the wrong battle, and the wrong argument.

Their battle was essentially on whether to

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged 38 degrees, nhs reform, paul tyler | 12 Comments

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