Author Archives: Jamie Hewitt

Jamie Hewitt

The Independent View: The case for ending unfair, out of date prescription charges for people with long term conditions

By Jamie Hewitt | Mon 11th March 2013 - 10:15 am

We are now just over two years away from the next general election and political parties are starting to develop their manifestos.

In this age of austerity, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s team has already identified “alarm clock Britain” as a key demographic in need of help – these are the basic rate taxpayers who get up early, take their children to school and then go to work only to find their living standards squeezed by current economic circumstances. If Liberal Democrats are indeed committed to helping this section of the population, they need look no further than delivering reform on …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Jamie Hewitt

Thoughts on this World Arthritis Day

By Jamie Hewitt | Fri 12th October 2012 - 4:21 pm

To mark World Arthritis Day, Jamie Hewitt, Government Affairs Manager at the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) peers into Norman Lamb MP’s ministerial inbox and takes a look at the forthcoming Long-Term Conditions Outcomes Strategy.

Things move on quickly in politics. Just shy of one year ago today I posted a blog for Liberal Democrat Voice on the subject of a live webchat we had conducted with the Minister for Long-Term Conditions at the time, Paul Burstow MP.

During our public tête-a-tête the Minister was challenged squarely about the merits of introducing a musculoskeletal strategy and indicated that the Coalition Government …

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged | 4 Comments
Jamie Hewitt

The Independent View: World Arthritis Day

By Jamie Hewitt | Sun 16th October 2011 - 11:50 am

I suspect few of you know this, but Wednesday was actually World Arthritis Day. For charities in the musculoskeletal sector this can be a pretty big deal, as we jostle to publish new research and try and ensnare policy makers in dialogue.

And so it proved to be when NRAS participated in a live webchat with the Health Minister, Paul Burstow MP, the man with responsibility for long-term conditions, like Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

Needless to say we were cock-a-hoop that the Minister agreed to participate. He could have quite easily cancelled on us due to all the palaver surrounding the passage of

…

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
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