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‘Fixing’ the NHS – Why Labour’s Plan Won’t Work

By
Eve Turner
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2025 has certainly started with a raft of Government announcements and frankly they have not been good news.

Our NHS is clearly in crisis but instead of providing emergency funding for the NHS, Keir Starmer’s Government has agreed a long-term deal with the private health sector worth an estimated £2.5 billion of public money to help reduce waiting lists, rather than expand the NHS, much better placed, to do this. 

It was hard to ignore the damning and distressing report from the Royal College of Nursing that dominated the media recently.  It certainly revealed the depth of the crisis in the NHS, where treating patients in corridors has become the norm in A&Es. 

Despite Health Secretary Wes Streeting, saying he feels “ashamed” by the experience of some patients of the NHS this winter, he refused to commit to immediate resources in a recent debate – “We cannot and will not promise that there will not be patients treated in corridors next year.”  

Ironically, the worse it gets in A&Es, the more resources are taken away from elective care and waiting lists go up!

You might like to read this excellent and very powerful article from Dr Emma Jones, an A&E Consultant based in the Midlands.

 

WAITING LIST PLAN LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS WORSE:

John Lister, long time national campaigner and co-editor of ‘the Lowdown NHS’ explains in his latest article why the Governments ‘Elective Reform Plan’ will actually make thing worse.  Instead of expanding the NHS, which provides the overwhelming majority of elective care as well as emergency and diagnostic services, the Government’s focus is on cutting waiting lists by using private providers. 

The private sector is being asked to provide an extra 1 million appointments a year, on top of the 5 million appointments and treatments it provides now – no wonder they are happy! The Guardian estimates this means an extra £2.5 billion flowing out of the NHS.

However, this will undermine the NHS by diverting both funds and staff, since the private sector relies heavily on using NHS trained doctors, and will undermine other core aspects of the NHS – 

It is bad news for those with more complex health issues on the waiting list who only the NHS is equipped to treat – they will have to wait longer; 

It does nothing for beleaguered emergency services;

It does nothing to address the gaps in mental health care;

It does nothing to address the chronic state of many hospitals, in danger of falling down, and now Wes Streeting has said that hospitals like St Marys and Charing Cross will have to wait until 2035 for desperately needed rebuilds!

You can read more on this story here 

 

JOIN THE PROTEST – PATIENTS NOT PROFITS:

Nationally, Keep Our NHS Public is stepping up its campaigning against privatisation of our health services and in particular the Government’s New Deal with the private sector.

Please join Ealing Save Our NHS and other campaigners outside Parliament for a Rally for the NHS to tell Keir Starmer to invest in the NHS – not the private sector!  We will be hearing from MPs, health campaigners, and others – please come and spread the word.

The Rally takes place after PMQs at 12pm on Wednesday 26 February, opposite the Houses of Parliament.

 

UPDATE ON EALING HOSPITAL:

We recently met with Mark Titcomb, the London North West Trust Managing Director for Ealing & Central Middx Hospitals who save us an update on services in Ealing Hospital and the Trust. 

A&E waits and Pressures:  Luckily, London hasn’t been hit as hard by flu and other viruses as other hospitals around the country so it was reassuring to hear that Ealing Hospital is managing to cope with winter pressures, although it’s very busy. Ealing has extra winter beds – a small silver lining from the previous closures of paediatric services.  

On the bad side, the waits for mental health treatments are worsening due to the shortage of acute beds (33 beds closed in Ealing and 13 lost overall). In one case it meant a mental health patient waited in A&E for two days until a suitable bed was available. 

The new Ealing Community Diagnostic Centre is now pretty much at full tilt and welcomed its 2000th patient just before Xmas. They are getting great feedback and provide CT MRI, Dexa scans, Ultrasound, X-Ray, cardiology, lung function and blood tests – with more to be added in Spring. Referrals are mostly from GPs directly.  It covers North West London but is based at Ealing Hospital so is especially good for us in Ealing.

North West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre: This Central Middlesex based service has now been running for a year to shorten the wait for surgery and reduce stays in hospital. Over 3,000 patients from across North West London have passed through this ‘fast track surgical hub’ mostly having knee and hip replacements – without the need to use the expensive private sector Mr Streeting!

Shortages of Staff have meant that the Trust has had to use radiologists, anaesthetists and ENT staff from the private sector as well as to farm out test analysis abroad.  Hopefully planned recruitment will alleviate this.

History of Ealing Hospital Exhibition – A free public exhibition about the history of Ealing Hospital and its predecessors including Ealing Cottage Hospital is now on show in the hospital’s Galleria area on Floor Three.

You can get a flavour of it here 

 

BACK ON THE STREETS IN EALING:

Ealing Save Our NHS took our colourful street stall to Ealing Broadway last week, our first in 2025.  February is a month of action for ‘Keep Our NHS Public’ groups, like us, so we gave out lots of KONP’s latest leaflet, which calls on the Government to fund the NHS, not the private sector!  

We also collected lots more Postcard to MPs. Quite a few people expressed disappointment with Keir Starmer’s Government on the NHS and were expecting a commitment to properly fund it. 

 

‘COMPASSIONATE CARE FOR ALL’ – GOOD NEWS FOR SOME BUT NOT OTHERS:

NHS North West London NHS (ICB) is currently consulting the public on options to improve adult community specialist palliative care services. These are services to provide relief and support for people with serious or life limiting illnesses. Care can be in a hospice, at home or elsewhere in the community such as care homes.

NHS NW London’s stated aim is to deliver services that meet people’s needs, are fair and accessible and provide better care and outcomes for patients and their families.

Some of the service improvements being proposed are: –

  • 24/7 specialist phone advice – currently only 9 -5pm for Ealing residents
  • Hospice at home, provided by specialist teams – we don’t have this in Ealing, only general support from GPs, District nurses etc
  • 46 new enhanced end of life beds, for those who don’t need hospice inpatient care, across all Borough. Ealing we will get around 9 of these beds. They will also be used to provide respite care.
  • Dedicated bereavement and psychological support – very patchy in Ealing.

In Ealing we are fortunate to have Meadow House, an NHS funded hospice that provides excellent specialist palliative and end of life care and 15 inpatient beds. These services will be on top of that.

Unfortunately, the preferred option (Option A) for NHS North West London is to permanently close the 13 specialist inpatient beds at the Pembridge Hospice in North Kensington – despite an aging population and growing numbers of people living alone. Therefore we support Option B which includes reopening these beds.

ESON has submitted comments and questions and our supporters have participated in the consultation meetings, which were better than previous consultations. 

However basic questions remain about the funding and staffing needed to deliver the services, which are not addressed in any of the documents.

The Consultation closes on 24th February 2025 – you can still have your say by filling in the survey here

More details on the plans here –

 

STOP PATIENTS DYING IN CORRIDORS – PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION’ by ‘We Own It’

This is a call  on the Government to respond to the emergency in our hospitals and re-open the 100+ urgent and emergency centres, including 24 A&Es that have been cut.

Please sign the petition here –

GP Crisis – Why Patients should support GPs in their Collective Action

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admin
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The crisis in the NHS is now very much in the news following the publishing of Lord Darzi’s review into the NHS. 

In July national figures for bed occupancy were on average at 92%, worse in North West London, at 93.2% and in our local Trust at 94.6%.  The safe level is 85%.  The primary reason for these high figures, as we know, is the unforgivable lack of adequate community and social care to support discharge, which has a knock on effect on A&E waits etc.

Pressure on our GPs has reached crisis point after years of underfunding so they are taking ‘collective action’ to try and protect their patients and the viability of their practices.

Only the kind of investment which took place over the previous Labour Government can begin to address the problems. Yet more re-organisations and use of the parasitic private sector will make things worse – but that’s exactly what lobbyists are aiming for.

The signs are not good, but thankfully the new Government has at least quickly settled the Junior Doctors dispute.  Let’s hope they will also give some justice to other staff especially our hard working GPs.

GPs ARE TAKING ‘COLLECTIVE ACTION’ AND WE SHOULD SUPPORT THEM:

Years of underfunding and diminishing GP numbers has taken its toll on GP practices. Patient satisfaction has plummeted and GPs believe that the quality of care they provide has declined.  General Practice is the foundation of the NHS and it’s now at a crisis point. Our GPs are saying enough is enough and taking ‘collective action’ –  it’s technically not industrial action as they are not employed by the NHS, like nurses or hospital doctors.

So how did things get so bad?

    • There are now 1,700 fewer full-time equivalent GPs in England then in 2016, while patient numbers have risen by over 6 million.  
    • GPs workload has become more complex and keeps increasing as extra work is passed down from other parts of the NHS.
    • An additional pot of funding for GP practices staff did not allow surgeries to employ extra GPs, leaving thousands of locum and newly qualified GPs without jobs.  
    • Below inflation funding rises have cut GP budgets in real terms and the 6% rise offered by the new Government still leaves funding below its value in 2018-19. The core funding for each patient per year is now just £107.57 – just 30p a day.
    • General Practice gets just 8.4% of NHS funding for handling up to 90% of direct patient contact with the NHS – pretty astonishing – it is no wonder that GPs have had enough!

What action are  GPs taking:

Under the banner of ‘Protect your Patients, Protect your GP Practice’ the doctors union, the BMA, has listed 10 actions that GPs may choose to take. 

These include; no longer doing unfunded work to plug local service gaps; not using time-consuming online or other referral forms; not allowing themselves to be used to ration care or medicines or participating in pilot schemes aimed at changing General Practice without proper agreement.

Some GPs are also limiting patient consultations to the recommended safe limit of 25 per day, instead of the current 40–50 per day, but aiming to see almost everyone face-to-face. They are sending other patients who need to be seen to Urgent Care settings instead.

They plan to continue their collective action until they get a new general practice contract that is right for patients and fair for GPs

WE SHOULD SUPPORT THEM.

More information on the BMA website here 

A LIVELY AND SUPPORTIVE STREET STALL IN ACTON:

At the end of last month Ealing Save Our NHS took our colourful Stall to the Acton Market place and as usual had a great response. Lots of people queued up to sign our postcards to MPs, calling for emergency funding and an end to privatisation. It’s great to hear about peoples experiences of the NHS and GPs and some of the problems – as well as hearing about fantastic treatment, some of it life saving. 

We have a new leaflet, which you can read here

Our next Stall is on Saturday 12th October from 11.30 – 1.00pm in Ealing Broadway outside Marks & Spencers – please come and join us if you can.

DARZI REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS MANY OF THE PROBLEMS FACING THE NHS:

Last month Lord Darzi published his independent investigation of the NHS, commissioned by Wes Streeting, Health & Social Care Secretary. 

Darzi identifies the NHS re-organisation as part of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 – ‘a calamity without international precedent’ and the years of austerity, as the cause of the current state of the NHS and its lack of capacity to deliver surgeries and tests, resulting in over 7 million people currently being on NHS waiting lists.

However what he fails to identify is the other key impact of the 2012 Act , which has had a disastrous impact on the NHS , namely privatisation. 

So what does Darzi say is the solution?

Darzi points to the decade of restorative funding in the 2000s as evidence of a well-run health service, when patient satisfaction was high, for both GPs and the NHS . The targets for A&E and hospital treatment were well met by 2010.

Although the remit given to him by Streeting prevented him from making funding recommendations, he is absolutely clear in his findings on the damage of underfunding since 2010:

‘The 2010s were the most austere decade since the NHS was founded, with spending growing at around 1 per cent in real terms.  (Since then) the NHS has been starved of capital and the capital budget was repeatedly raided to plug holes in day-to-day spending.’

How has the Government responded:

When Secretary of State Wes Streeting, announced the Darzi Review was being held, he said that it would aim at ‘diagnosing the problem’ so the Government could ‘write the prescription’.

Sadly’ so far the ‘prescription’ doesn’t sound very promising, with no new money in the short term to alleviate any of the problems as we head in to Winter, an over-reliance on the private sector to treat more patients and bring down waiting lists, and yet even more reforms.

As ‘Keep our NHS Public’ say in their response to Darzi –‘ Will the Government rise to the challenge, or mistakenly conclude that the wrong treatments – ‘reform’ and further austerity – are just what the doctor ordered?  …this would be a rebuff to Lord Darzi and – more importantly – a huge tragedy for patients, staff and the NHS.”

More on the Darzi Report from Keep Our NHS Public here

What Lord Darzi review missed, from anti privatisation campaign ‘We Own It’ here

JOIN US TO DISCUSS THE DARZI REPORT ON TUESDAY 15TH OCTOBER: 

You are very welcome to join our discussion on Darzi at our next online Meeting. We have an excellent guest speaker, Dr Coral Jones from ‘Doctors in Unite’. She is a campaigning GP and member of Hackney Keep Our NHS Public.  Coral will be giving us some more insight on the implications of the Darzi Report, Labour’s response and where next for campaigners. There will be plenty of time for questions and comments.

7.30pm on Tuesday 15th October on Zoom. Link here

Meeting ID: 876 2793 0568
Passcode: 403395

UPDATE ON GP SAME DAY ACCESS:

Earlier this year we reported on plans by NW London NHS bosses (ICB) to remove same day emergency care from GP practices and replace it with ‘Same Day Access Hubs’ covering a group of surgeries and staffed mainly by non–doctors, such as Physician Associates. The plans caused outrage among GPs, campaigners and other residents and the plans were temporarily put on hold.  

Over 14,000 residents signed the petition strongly opposing the move away from GPs crucial role in diagnosis and making decisions on treatment. 

Whilst the NW London NHS bosses (ICB) have not formally withdrawn the idea of Hubs, they have admitted that improving access is ‘multi-faceted’ and that ‘one size does not fit all’.

They are now embarking on an engagement exercise, to be led by Primary Care Networks, which are local groups of GP practices. This engagement exercise mainly involves sending patients a survey and one or two face to face events.

The ‘engagement’ was supposed to take place between September and the end of October, but it seems a number of GP practices have not even seen the survey and were unaware they were expected to send it out – and they control patient lists, not the PCNs. 

We look forward to hearing the outcome of this exercise and whether it actually provides a coherent picture of access needs and best practice, which we doubt.

COME TO THE SOS-NHS NATIONAL CONFERENCE:

SOS NHS is an alliance of over 50 groups including many of the NHS unions such as the BMA, Unison and Royal College of Midwives, national NHS campaigns such as; Keep Our NHS Public, We Own It and Just Treatment and many more.

The organisers say – ‘There is a deep crisis in the NHS. Hospitals are crumbling, waiting lists are millions strong, and more services are being outsourced with NHS staff overworked and underpaid’.

‘Join us at Hamilton House on November 2, along with key activists, trade unionists and politicians to examine the state of the NHS and how we might go about saving it’.

You can book tickets here

Goodbye Tories – Hello Labour – What’s in Store for the NHS?

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admin
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We now have a new Government and although Ealing Save Our NHS is not party political, its fair to say that none of us had any time for the Tory Government’s policies of the last 14 years – policies of cuts, privatisation, exploitation of staff and cronyism. So their departure is very welcome!

ESON and other campaigners have certainly played their part in highlighting the facts, exposing what was happening in the NHS and ensuring it was the top issue on voters’ agenda. 

Labour began its first day of office on the 76th Birthday of our NHS.  It has made a commitment to ‘fix’ the NHS and there were some welcome things in the Manifesto like recruiting more midwives and mental health staff, more GP appointments, addressing the growing waiting lists and restoring NHS dentistry.  

But there are also some serious concerns amongst campaigners, including the lack of commitment to increase funding, an over reliance on the private sector to fix things, and no concrete policies at all on Social Care. 

Secretary of State for Health, Wes Streeting, has asked Lord Darzi (NHS Surgeon and former Labour Minister)  to carry out an independent review of NHS performance.  He is also talking to the BMA and other unions, which is an improvement on his predecessors.

Clearly time will tell, but ESON and other campaign groups will keep campaigning for the NHS we want and need. It’s well worth reading John Lister in the Lowdown here

GREAT SUPPORT FOR ESON STALL AT SATURDAY’S NORWOOD GREEN VILLAGE DAY:

We had a very warm welcome from the public on Saturday, with lots of people engaging in discussion and 70 more postcards signed for MPs calling on them to support – 1) Restoration of the NHS,  2) Emergency Funding for the NHS and 3) Ending Privatisation. 

Local Councillors and the new Ealing Southall MP, Deidre Costigan, also visited our Stall. 

A very enjoyable and worthwhile day – thanks to the Norwood Green Residents Association for inviting us. 

EALING HOSPITAL – THE NEW COMMUNITY DIAGNOSTIC CENTRE WILL OPEN IN AUGUST:

This month we met with Pippa Nightingale, the CEO of London North West Trust and Mark Titcomb, the Managing Director for Ealing & Central Middlesex Hospitals for an update on services at Ealing Hospital and in the Trust. 

  • The Community Diagnostic Centre will be fully open in Ealing Hospital on 12th August. GPs will be able to directly refer patients for a wide range of diagnostic tests including CT scans, MRI, Ultrasound and Heart & Lung function tests, so speeding up diagnosis and treatment – great news for Ealing residents.  There will be a Community Launch event in October.
  • Another good news story is the new Homeless Pathway Team, based at Ealing Hospital with an initial three years funding. The Team, which comprises of GPs, nurses, housing support officers and an occupational therapist, picks up many of its referrals from A&E at both Ealing and Northwick Park and inpatient teams, seeing up to 50 people a month. As well as support on health issues, the team also provides practical support and advocacy on issues including GP registration, benefits, housing and immigration – a really good initiative. You can read more on Ealing News here.
  • A&E waits have  improved and there is less pressure on beds so the Trust have been able to close some of their ‘Winter beds’.
  • Waiting lists have risen across London by 4%, but the Trust are doing their best to provide more appointments using enhanced rates for NHS staff and of course the new diagnostic centre should certainly help.
  • The Trust has recently adopted the ‘Doctor Doctor’ appointment system. Patients are unable to opt out and have raised concerns about protecting patient information as well as the inability to respond.  It’s  a one way only communication, overloading GPs with queries as a result. The Trust is aiming to address these concerns and improve communication.
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THE GP CRISIS – THEY NEED OUR SUPPORT:

It won’t come as a surprise to anyone that our GP Practices are under immense strain, so you can imagine how shocked we were to hear that there are 1000 unemployed GPs in London and 1600 less GPs overall then 2016!

This is disgraceful given the problems many patients have in getting a GP appointment.

You might also be shocked to hear that only a very small part of the NHS Budget goes to primary care – only 9%, and this had led to continual underfunding and GP practices closing under the financial and workload pressures.

The doctors union, the BMA, is formally in dispute with NHS England after the 2024/5 GP contract was imposed with only a 1.9% increase for inflation and population growth. Currently BMA GP members are being balloted on industrial action, which would mean if successful they won’t be doing all the things they do now.  The ballot closes on July 29th.

Our GPs definitely need our support, so we hope that the new Government will enter in to talks soon and start to address the crisis.

More on the dispute here

SAVE OUR COMMUNITY PHARMACIES:

Many local NHS pharmacies are on the brink of collapse, despite having proven during the pandemic that they are more needed now than ever. Since 2015, their funding has been cut by 40% and 1400 pharmacies have permanently closed, putting vital NHS services at risk. 

Community pharmacies provide vital health and social care in communities across the country, including the most deprived neighbourhoods.

Without fair funding from the Government, many more pharmacies will be forced to close.

Please sign the Petition here and support the campaign to save our community pharmacies

ESON is having a break over the Summer but we’ll be back in full swing in September with a Stall in Acton High Street and our Campaign meeting in Northfields Community Centre on Tuesday 17th September.

The General Election: it’s time to get the NHS we want and need!

By
admin
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1

The NHS is definitely a big election issue.

After 14 years of Tory cuts, underfunding and privatisation  the NHS desperately needs a new Government.  It will need to address the growing waiting lists; ambulance and GP waits; lack of NHS dentists, inadequate mental health provision, crumbling buildings, staff retention and low morale, fix social care and more ( IT’S A LONG LIST!)

Unfortunately neither Labour on any of the main parties have made a commitment to give the NHS and Social Care the funds they so urgently need. So, whoever gets elected it will be up to campaigners, unions and the wider public to pile on the pressure to achieve this.

Our postcards to the newly elected MPs are very timely indeed – and we won’t let them off the hook!

‘Keep Our NHS Public’ have produced an excellent Election Statement for voters so please do take the time to read it. (See below)

IT WAS CARNIVAL TIME  IN HANWELL ON SATURDAY :

One of ESON’s favourite events of the campaigning year took place on Saturday 15th June.   

Our postcards to MPs calling for emergency funding and an end to privatisation were very popular, with around 125 filled in, despite the awful weather and our poor location. These were posted in ‘our huge postbox’ and will be sent to our newly elected MPs after 4th July ( thanks to Arthur our Treasurer for the postbox). 

HANWELL CARNIVAL

Oliver, our Chair, had also designed some new posters with the same election message calling for urgent funding and ending privatisation.

We also collected lots of signatures for the ‘Doctors Not Call Centres’ campaign  in North West London and had nice posters to go with this too

Overall a good day for us campaigners.

GENERAL ELECTION: RAISE THE CALL – ‘RESTORE THE PEOPLE’S NHS’

There is without a doubt huge public support for the NHS and for a new Government with policies that will address the Crisis.

‘Keep Our NHS Public’ will be highlighting the record of those in government and  asking voters to select those who will best support a public and well-funded NHS, and move to establish a publicly funded national care, support and independent living service. 

“This requires a fundamental change in perspective – one that regards funding of public services as an investment in human well-being and an underpinning of a productive economy. Good public services maximise the ability of people to participate in society and a productive economy – they are not simply a cost to be grudgingly accepted”.

The full statement is on the KONP website here

 

ASK YOUR LOCAL CANDIDATES TO SUPPORT THE  ‘WE OWN IT’  NHS PLEDGE:

This is a great initiative from ‘We Own It’.

They are asking us, the public, to use the power in our hands to save our NHS this general election and join tens of thousands of people – including celebrities – to demand our local candidates take the ‘Pledge for the NHS’.

By taking the ‘Pledge for the NHS’ candidates will be promising that if elected they will demand the new government,

  1. Reinstate the Health Secretary’s legal duty to provide healthcare to all
  2. Give the NHS £40 billion more per year to catch up with equivalent European countries
  3. End outsourcing – bring services back in house as contracts end

You just have to click here to send a letter to local candidates. Let’s bombard them because so far only three candidates from the whole of Ealing have signed the pledge!

RESTORE THE PEOPLES NHS

With an Election coming up, the ‘Restore the People’s NHS’ London conference is a big opportunity for NHS campaigners, newcomers and all those passionate about ending the NHS crisis and saving it for future generations to come together.  

NHS activists, health workers, politicians and respected experts will be speaking about how and why we should be fighting for a full restoration of the founding principles of the NHS.  

The impressive line-up of speakers includes; Johnbosco Nwogbo (We Own It); Dr Pallavi Devul (Green Party Health Spokesperson); Andrew Matheson (A&E Doctor & SOSNHS) John Puntis (KONP) Diane Abbot (ex- Labour Shadow Health Spokesperson) Mark Thomas (99% Organisation and Rational Policy Makers Guide to the NHS)  

You can book via  Eventbrite here

Some Good News but GP Access Service still under threat

By
Eve Turner
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0

Whilst our GP services remain under threat from the NHS bosses’ plans to hive off same day emergency care in to ‘hubs’,  in our Hospitals  there is good collaborative working to improve services for patients.

On Monday 13th May the North West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre was formally launched at Central Middlesex and is proving to be a big hit with both patients and staff, as well as helping to bring waiting times down – so definitely a good new story. 

Here in Ealing the Community Diagnostic Centre is on course to open on 24th June in Ealing Hospital allowing GPs to directly refer patients for scans and other diagnostics – definitely another good news story. 

GPs STILL UNDER THREAT FROM ‘HUBS’ PLAN:

Plans by NW London NHS bosses (ICB) to remove same day emergency care from GP practices and replace it with ‘Same Day Access Hubs’ staffed mainly by non – doctors were leaked in January and caused outrage among GPs, campaigners and other residents-  none of whom had been consulted. 

‘Hub’ call handlers, like NHS 111, would divert almost all callers to non–doctors such as Physician Associates, Pharmacists and Nursing Associates – with a token GP to “supervise” the handling of calls.  

Our GPs have raised huge concerns about the risk to patients safety of diagnoses being carried out by non-doctors and the loss of continuity of care and undermining the patient GP relationship – and we agree! 

A campaign was launched and publicised in our March Newsletter, which has resulted in the bosses plans being ‘paused’, but the threat to our GP practices still remains.

No pressure from NHS England to introduce Hubs!

NW London bosses pretend these Hubs are driven by national policy and instruction, yet only NW London and one other ICB are pushing these proposals. As for national instructions, Amanda Doyle, NHS England’s Primary Care Director has stated that its ‘up to local systems’ what they implement. 

The ‘Hubs’ were tested in ten Primary Care Networks in NW London, but there has been no evaluation or any data published on their effectiveness. You can be sure if they had been successful it would have been well publicised! 

Downgrading GPs and saving money

It is very much part of Government Strategy to deskill and devalue the role of GPs and by doing so, save money.  There is a £1.4 billion pot available for Primary Care, but only to employ Physician Associates and other non doctors, not to employ the staff we most want to see – nurses and GPs. 

We now have a bizarre situation around the country, that fully qualified GPs are unable to find locum and full-time posts, or are being made unemployed, with their work being increasingly done by less qualified and much cheaper staff!!

So where are we now?

Unfortunately there has been no agreement reached with the Local Management Committee (GPs). Councillors from various Boroughs have joined the opposition along with some MPs.

NW London NHS bosses are trying to deflect opposition by claiming  ‘it’s not a top down process at all’ and claiming it’s up to Primary Care Networks (groups of GP practices) to decide how best to improve access – supposedly in conjunction with patients!  

However, you can be sure there will be a big carrot (money) for those PCNs that adopt Hubs, as well as a threat of loss of funding if they don’t. To date there has been no consultation with patients that we are aware of!

John Lister’s latest article on the NW London plans is well worth a read here

Ealing Save Our NHS and other NW London campaigners will continue to campaign against these plans and defend our GP services. 

Check out our latest leaflet here 

Please sign the Petition to oppose the Hubs here

 

ELECTIVE ORTHOPAEDIC CENTRE – ‘MUCH BETTER THAN A PRIVATE HOSPITAL’ 

That was the verdict of the Medical Director for North West London’s new Elective Orthopaedic Centre (EOC) at Central Middlesex Hospital, at the formal launch on Monday 13th March, which we attended along with staff, councillors and local MPs. We particularly enjoyed Dawn Butler MP’s “No more NHS Cuts” comment  – she’s in the photo above with the scissors!

The Centre aims to see around 4,000 patients a year who need routine bone and joint surgery. It is   a result of a collaboration between the four hospital trusts in North West London and is managed by our local trust, London North West.  

When you are referred to the Centre your local hospital consultant will ‘follow you’ and do the surgery. All follow up care will be back at home, in the community or at your normal hospital.

It’s had £9 million pounds of investment, recruited over 100 staff and has state-of-the art purpose-built theatres, purely for orthopaedic surgery. 

There has also been genuine consultation and involvement of staff and the public, in particular to deal with travel difficulties across North West London. Free patient transport is available for those with either long, expensive or difficult journeys and for those who need medical support or have difficulties walking – pretty unheard of in the NHS.

It shows what the NHS can do when it listens to clinicians, patients and the public, such a contrast to the approach of the NW London bosses over GP Access! 

Let’s have more of this innovative and collaborative working – not gimmicks and use of private hospitals as favoured by both the Government and unfortunately Labour too – they don’t work!

You can read more about the EOC here 

ROUND UP FROM EALING HOSPITAL:

This month we met again with London North West NHS Trust Chief Executive, Pippa Nightingale and Mark Titcomb, the Managing Director, for Ealing & Central Middlesex Hospitals for an update on services at Ealing Hospital.

Here are some highlights:-

  • The Community  Diagnostic  Centre is on course to open on 24th June. GPs will be able to directly refer patients for diagnostic tests such as CT scans, MRI, Ultrasound and Lung Function, speeding up diagnosis and treatment ( hurray)
  • A&E waits are still up and made worse by ambulances dropping off patients without triaging them first.
  • Although there is less capital this year, some long-standing and unseen maintenance issues are to be addressed. The building of a new A&E will need a business case for funding.
  • Ealing Council’s Local Plan, which includes building flats in front of the hospital on the car park is not supported by the Trust who actually own the land.
  • Improvements are to be made to signs and direction around the Hospital as they acknowledge they are not good – we agree!

 

OTHER CAMPAIGNING NEWS:

POSTCARDS TO LOCAL MPs GOING WELL:

Hundreds of postcards have been sent to our local MPs with a very clear message – support the restoration of our NHS, emergency funding to help with the crisis and an end to privatisation. With a general election on the way we need to keep up the pressure.

It is Carnival season soon and we have booked a Stall at Hanwell Carnival on Saturday 15th June which is always a big boost for our campaign. We get to talk to loads of supportive people and hope to get lots of postcards signed too, with a giant postbox for posting them. Our much loved skeleton face-in the-hole photo opportunity will once again be there for the kids. 

You can read our postcard here

With an election coming up, the Restore the People’s NHS London conference will be an important opportunity for NHS campaigners, newcomers and all those passionate about ending the NHS crisis and saving it for future generations to come together.

NHS activists, health workers, and respected experts will be speaking about how and why we should be fighting for a full restoration of the founding principles of the NHS.

There will also be workshops about a range of issues including influencing decision makers, building alliances, working with the press, and campaigning on the streets to win over the public.

You can book here

‘EALING CARELINE’ CLOSES LEAVING VULNERABLE PEOPLE POTENTIALLY AT RISK

Ealing Council’s ‘Careline’, which provided an emergency call button alert service to help vulnerable residents in need has now closed.  

At a recent campaign meeting organised by Ealing Reclaim Social Care Action Group and others we heard from Careline users that the ‘replacement service’ provided by Harrow Council is not a like for like service at all and most importantly does not provide a responder service. This could mean some people could receive no help at all if they fell – disgraceful! 

Careline was provided to eligible social services clients and at night and weekends to sheltered housing residents. The ‘Campaign for Action in Sheltered Housing’ told the meeting that residents were getting confusing messages and in April only 35 out of a 1000 residents have taken up the new service. Many of them were presented with a list of seven providers, far more expensive than the Council or just not as good.

Up until recently the Council had claimed the changeover was going well and they were working closely with residents, but this is clearly not the case!  

Under pressure from campaigners the Council has given some assurances that problems will be addressed, but campaign groups are understandably not convinced.  It clearly it will be a worse service for many people or in some cases too expensive to take up, leaving vulnerable people at risk.

Ealing Save Our NHS will continue to support the campaign for a like for like Careline service and safety for all.

Access to our GPs is under threat!

By
Eve Turner
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0

GPs are very much in the spotlight at present and sadly not in a good way. Instead of a proper plan with funding to train up new GPs and retain the ones we have, the Government and NHS England are attempting to replace GPs as much as possible with lesser skilled ‘health care professionals’ such as ‘Physician Associates’, with only two years of medical training. 

As you will read later health chiefs in NW London have come up with a dreadful new scheme called ‘Same Day Access Hubs’, mostly staffed by non-doctors, which are supposed to replace same day appointments with our GP’s for most urgent care.

On 9th March, Ealing Save Our NHS will be joining campaigners across the country calling for our NHS to be restored and of course that includes proper funding for our GP services.

NEW HUBS WILL THREATEN GP – PATIENT RELATIONSHIP 

Doctors, patient groups and campaigners are all up in arms over NW London health bosses’ plans to remove same day emergency care from our GP practices.  Instead of seeing your GP, patients will be diverted to a ‘Same Day Access Hub’ mostly staffed by non – doctors. These plans are being introduced without consultation with local GPs, let alone the public.

So how will it work?

If you are feeling very unwell and ring your GP practice for a same day appointment an automated telephone system invites you to press option 1 and you will be transferred to the ‘Same Day Hub’. At the other end of the phone will be a ‘Care Co-ordinator’ (non – clinical),who is part of a team which includes ‘clinicians’ such as  Physician Associates (just two years training) and Advanced Nursing Practitioners, and probably only one supervising doctor (also called a ‘clinician’)

The Care Co-ordinator will decide who you should speak to, supposedly with supervision from the GP, but also relying on computerised programmes, a bit like NHS 111 or a Call Centre.

If you are invited in for an appointment you may have to travel to an unfamiliar location to be seen by staff you don’t know and who don’t know your history.

You are only likely to have the option to speak to your GP if you have a “complex long-term condition”. 

Only an estimated 7% of appointments will be with the supervising GP, all of the rest will be with other health care professionals / clinicians. Clearly safe supervision in such a situation will be very difficult for the doctor!

The new Hubs were due to be implemented on 1st April but the widespread opposition has forced the ICB to say it will only roll it out from that date – we want it dropped completely.

Management Consultants apparently know better than Doctors!

The NW London ICB would rather talk to management consultants than doctors it seems. Management consultants KPMG and Price Waterhouse Cooper were paid by the ICB to develop a primary care strategy and a ‘more sustainable model of care’ and now KPMG are to be paid to train GPs in setting up hubs – nice work if you can get it.  Shame they didn’t work out a plan with GPs instead!

GPs are united in opposing these plans:  

The BMA and the National Local Medical Committees, which represents GPs across England, have passed motions opposing the move to Hubs. NW London GP members of the Londonwide LMC have raised serious concerns with NW London ICB (the health bosses) and urged them to delay implementation until proper evaluation has taken place on the limited ‘pilots’. They have also urged the ICB not to impose the plans on GPs.

The LMC believe that patient safety could be at risk if triage is carried out by people without the degree of medical competence needed, as provided by a GP; and where possible with the prior knowledge built up as part of the GP patient relationship. Without these serious, possibly life threatening illness could be missed. 

A patient may present with a request for sleeping pills, trouble with piles, or problems with hormone replacement therapy, and we may then have a complex consultation about traumatic bereavement, bowel cancer, or depression. (Dr Helen Salisbury, British Medical Journal, 13 February 2024)  

You can read Helen Salisbury’s article here

You can read more about the LMC concerns about the new HUBs here

We have the lowest number of GPs per head in London and leaving GPs with only the most complex and time consuming patients is not going to help job satisfaction and retention of GPs, let alone the damage it will do to the GP Patient relationship.

Some great campaigning has been taking place especially by our sister campaign in Hammersmith & Fulham Save Our NHS, who have hit the national press and many local media. 

You can read the stories in the Telegraph and the BBC

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION AND HELP US CAMPAIGN AGAINST THESE PLANS

  • We need to spread the word so please sign and share the Petition with you friends, family and on social media.
  • You might like to sign the Change.org Petition as well.
  • If you can please contact your MP and local councillors – they need to know there is widespread opposition and we want them to actively oppose the plans. 
  • If you are a member of your GP Public Participation Group please ask for it to be discussed and if you can please talk to your GP.

Over the coming months we will do our best to campaign against these plans along with other campaigners across North West London so watch this space..

A PEOPLES NHS –  NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION – SATURDAY 9TH MARCH

‘Keep Our NHS Public’ (KONP) has called a Day of Action on the 9th as part of the campaign to restore the ‘Peoples NHS’  

As the local branch of KONP we will support the action with a roving stall and our very popular postcards for MPs plus lots of placards and plenty of chanting in Ealing Broadway.  

We will be joining campaigners across the country in saying that an NHS free for all, which is publicly owned, provided, and accountable is actually the model that works. It’s not the model that is broken, it’s Governments that have failed the NHS through underfunding and privatisation.

WE NEED TO FIGHT TO RESTORE THE NHS!T

PLEASE COME AND JOIN US OUTSIDE EALING TOWN HALL – Starting off at 11.30am outside Ealing Town Hall and the moving on to different locations around the shopping area.

SOME GOOD NEWS FOR EALING HOSPITAL:

In January we met with London North West NHS Trust Chief Executive, Pippa Nightingale and Mark Titcomb, the Managing Director, for Ealing & Central Middlesex Hospitals for an update on services at Ealing Hospital.

Here are some highlights from the meeting:- 

  • Work is well underway on the new Ealing Community Diagnostic Centre, which is due to open in June. Whilst only a few Ultrasound Suites are in operation,  once fully open there will be a a wide range of diagnostics including CT, MRI and Ultrasound scans. GPs will be able to make a direct referrals, speeding up detection of serious illnesses such as cancer and improving earlier diagnosis for our more deprived residents.
  • Winter has of course added to the pressure on staff, but the two extra wards that have been opened have helped. Sadly long waits on trolleys are pretty much a permanent fixture in A&E, as they are in most hospitals. 
  • The recently opened Mental Health Crisis Assessment Centre by West London NHS Trust on the St Bernard’s Site, has helped to reduce the still unacceptably long waits for those patients needing a Mental Health assessment. Frighteningly,  Mental Health beds numbers are still being cut in North West London.
  • In the pipeline there are also plans to extend the our very busy overcrowded A&E space A good job we helped to save it!

EALING COUNCIL TO CLOSE VITAL CARELINE SERVICE FOR VULNERABLE PEOPLE

The 24-hour alarm service provided in-house to elderly and vulnerable residents across the Borough looks set to be closed by Ealing Council with 15 people losing their jobs.  We were recently alerted to this service cut by Unison, the staff’s union, who say ‘the decision to cease offering an in-house careline service is a disaster waiting to happen.”

Careline is an emergency alarm system for older people and younger people with a chronic sickness or disability and their carers living in the Borough that helps people to live as independently as possible. 

Whilst there will be ‘some’ outsourcing to other agencies it is very unlikely they will be able to handle the 124,000 alarm calls and incidents over the past year.

Its all being rushed through with virtually no consultation with service users and is likely to impact on the NHS.

A good story in Ealing News with a quote from us here

SHOCKING STATE OF DENTISTRY – PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION

Every week there are more stories on the shocking state of Dentistry, but none so vivid as the pictures of people in Bristol queuing all night to register for a new dental practice!   The Government has recently announced a ‘Recovery Plan’ – so does it live up to its name?

The British Dental Association says the Government’s so-called Recovery Plan is incapable of even beginning to honour Rishi Sunak’s promise to ‘restore’ NHS dentistry or in any way to meet the Government’s stated ambition to provide access to NHS dentistry for ‘all who need it’. 

The Plan sets up a ‘new patient premium’, which will give a bonus to dentists who see a patient that hasn’t undergone treatment in two years – £15 to first see them, £50 if they need significant work done. It also raises the minimum Unit of Dental Activity (UDA) value from the current level of £25.33 to £28. The BDA says this is simply nowhere near enough.

The £200 million pledged is not really ‘new’ money and is less than half the underspend expected in this years budget. It will do little to stem the flood of dentists stopping NHS work.  

The BDA have launched a Petition to save NHS dentistry with 38 Degrees and the Mirror.

You can sign it here

Seasons Greetings from Ealing Save Our NHS 

By
Eve Turner
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And a big thanks to everyone who has supported us over the year

It has been a  a busy year and thanks to our dedicated group of supporters we have maintained our highly successful Street Stalls around the Borough. We have also had some very lively protests, including our celebrations of the 75th NHS Birthday in July, where we collected over 100 fantastic message of support for NHS staff.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Photo-2-15.12.23--1024x573.jpg

Our colourful leaflets and posters, and more recently our very popular postcards to MPs, have focused on the need for urgent funding now, ending privatisation, which is undermining our NHS and the need for decent pay, conditions and respect for our hard working NHS staff.

We end our campaigning year with yet another successful Stall in Greenford – thanks to the public for their continued support. 

 

PATIENT TRUST AT RISK AS PALANTIR WINS CONTRACT – LEGAL ACTION LAUNCHED

US spy tech company ‘Palantir’ has been awarded a £330 million contract to run the new NHS Federated Data Platform, despite concerns over the firm’s suitability for handling sensitive health records.

NHS England has rejected data privacy campaigners’ calls to allow patients to opt out of having their health data shared. It claims this is not necessary because patients’ data will be anonymised and the platform will be used for “direct care” only.

Cori Crider, the director of tech justice group ‘Foxglove’, said the lack of an opt out “puts [the] government on a crash course with people’s expectation that they, not officials, should decide what’s done with their health data.”

Dr David Nicholl, spokesperson for the ‘Doctors’ Association UK’ (DAUK), said that “basic issues of informed consent are being ignored, and this deal could lead to a loss of privacy and seriously erode patient trust”.

Foxglove, Doctors Association UK and others have launched a legal challenge and have sent legal letters to the government seeking commitments about the safeguarding of patient data and complying with the law. They could well be back in court again – WATCH THIS SPACE

SUPPORT THE COVID BEREAVED FAMILIES – THEIR FIGHT FOR JUSTICE CONTINUES:

In February 2021 ‘Keep Our NHS Public’, our national organisation launched the ‘Peoples Covid Inquiry’  which collected a wide range of shocking evidence of Government misconduct. 

Despite everything we heard at the time the official Covid Inquiry has been even more shocking! Top of the list must be the hideous comments from ‘let the bodies pile high’ Boris Johnson’ who along with other Government Ministers saw mounting deaths of older people as acceptable as they ‘had their innings’ – unbelievable. No wonder his ’apology’ caused so much outrage among the bereaved families.

None of the leading politicians have been willing to take any blame for the 233,554 deaths , the second worst in Europe. And Rishi Sunak, or as the Chief Medical Officer calls him, ‘Dr Death’ due to his Eat Out to Help Out (the Virus) policy said 24 times that he couldn’t recall details – not very impressive for a Prime Minister!

‘Covid Bereaved Families for Justice’ have been determined to get answers so that lessons can be learned and lives saved in the future. Many of them have spent thousands of pounds travelling to the Inquiry every day to make sure their presence is felt.

THEY REALLY NEED OUR SUPPORT

If you can donate to help the families continue in their fight for the facts, truth and justice please donate here –


JUNIOR DOCTORS TO STRIKE AGAIN AS TALKS FAIL TO PRODUCE A CREDIBLE PAY OFFER:

The BMA is to take further strike action after talks with the Government ended without ‘a credible offer on pay’ despite ‘more constructive’ talks.

Strikes are set to take place from 7.00 am on the 20 December to 7.00 am on 23 December 2023 and from 7.00 am on the 3 January to 7.00 am on 9 January 2024.

The BMA Junior Doctors Committee said – “It is a great shame that even though the approach was more constructive, there was not enough on offer to shape a credible deal, which we hoped would end the dispute. Without enough progress by the deadline, we have no choice but to take action that demonstrates doctors are as determined as ever in reversing their pay cuts.

Clearly neither patients nor doctors want to see any more strike action – but the Government has refused to talk to to the BMA until very recently and should have come up with a credible offer to settle the dispute and stop Junior doctors from leaving the NHS.

DOES THE NHS HAVE ENOUGH MONEY?

It has become popular these days for politicians to say that the NHS has enough money, it just needs to spend it differently, reorganise, reprioritise and stop waste. 

Unfortunately this view, which had driven years of Tory austerity and funding cuts now seems to have been adopted by Wes Streeting, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary.  He said in a recent interview in the Sunday Times: “It’s not good enough that the NHS uses every winter crisis and every challenge it faces as an excuse to ask for more money.”

No surprise that this statement has been seen as a real kick in the teeth to struggling NHS workers, especially in the A&Es and ambulance services.

More on the interview with Wes Streeting and the staff response here

SO WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

The UK currently spends £3055 per person on the NHS, 18% less than the EU average of £3655.  We have fewer doctors per head, 3 per 1000 compared with the EU average of 3.7 and fewer nurses per head with only 8.7 compared to the EU average of 9.9 – so not awash with money.

In January 2023 the Government promised the NHS there would be 5000 extra beds and over 800 ambulances this winter, in the Autumn Budget the NHS got nothing. 51 new ambulances have been planned but the bed situation has got worse with 2,675 fewer beds With nearly one in nine 152,115 patients already waiting 12-hours or more from their time of arrival at A&E – the need for more funding couldn’t be clearer.

More on the Winter Crisis in ‘THE Lowdown’ here 

Campaigners like us certainly have our work cut out to get politicians of all parties to understand that without proper funding and support for NHS staff the situation will only get worse.  With a general election coming up, our postcards to local MPs are certainly going out at the right time!

COMING UP IN THE NEW YEAR:

ESON AGM & Campaign Meeting – Tuesday 16th January 2024 in Northfields Community Centre -help us to plan our next steps in campaigning up to the General Election and beyond – ALL WELCOME

Keep Our NHS Public National Day of Action – February 2024 – Watch this space for more details

If you would like to get involved in our campaign and / or receive more regular updates please email us at info@ealingsaveournhs.org.uk

Wishing you all a very Happy Xmas and a Happy New Year

Best Regards

Eve Turner
Secretary, Ealing Save Our NHS

Time to step up the fight for the NHS that we need

By
Eve Turner
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0

While the Government focuses on reshuffles and endless re-organisations, waiting lists continue to rise, now up to a shocking 7.8 Million. Waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment have also risen, as have 12 hour waits in A&Es – up by 35% since September, and patients seen within 4 hours drops yet again to 70%.

Urgent action is needed to bring down waiting lists and ensure we have enough beds and staff for Winter.

CAN A NEW HEALTH SECRETARY AVERT A WINTER CRISIS?

So we now have Victoria Atkins the sixth Health Secretary in 5 years, replacing the very unpopular Steve Barclay, who managed to stir up even greater discontent among doctors and consultants. Atkins like her predecessors has no background in health care and her husband is the CEO of British Sugar – the largest suppliers of sugar cane and beet – not much of a recommendation really.

Read more on Victoria Atkins here

DO LABOUR HAVE THE RIGHT POLICIES?

Unfortunately recent statements from Wes Streeting, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary have not bolstered the confidence of campaigners that Labour has the right policies to tackle the NHS crisis. There is clearly not going to be a big injection of much needed funds, but instead yet further reform – “Turning the NHS on its head”, and no mention of reversing privatisation at all.

Acute Trusts have been told that should any new money become available the first call will be primary care, mental health, community care and social care, because that’s how you get better outcomes for patients and taxpayers money. Given our battle to save Ealing Hospital this doesn’t appear to be good news.

Dr Jacky Davis from ‘Keep Our NHS Public’ sets out what we should expect and need from Labour here

OUR NEW POSTCARDS TO LOCAL MPs ARE A BIG HIT!

After years of campaigning on the streets it was really heartwarming to have people queuing up to fill in our new postcards to local MPs at our recent Stall in West Ealing.

With an election coming up next year and an NHS in crisis we need to put as much pressure as possible on our MPs.

Around 50 cards were signed, supporting our three demands which call for; the restoration of the NHS, emergency funding and an end to privatisation.

We were not surprised to find that a large number of people didn’t know who their local MP was – fortunately it is easy to look up.

A copy of our postcard is here

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION – ‘We Call for A Peoples NHS’

‘Keep Our NHS Public’ has launched a new campaign to build support for a vision for a People’s NHS – our new postcards being a part of this.

They want as many trade unions, health care experts, politicians and perhaps, most important of all, us – the general public – to back their call for a return to the founding principles of the NHS, because they are what works. The vision is based on the following 5 main principles:

1. A publicly provided NHS: End private involvement

2. An NHS funded to succeed – not defunded to fail

3. Respect, recognition, and decent pay & conditions for all health workers

4. Re-invest in public health & tackle health inequalities

5. Rebuild, restore, and expand our NHS

The first step in the Campaign is to ask people to sign and share the Petition – so please do.

‘SAFE SURGERIES’ – REMOVING BARRIERS TO GP REGISTRATION:

Most of us take it for granted that we can easily register for a GP with no problem in providing proof of address and any other documentation. Unfortunately for many vulnerable people such as migrants, the homeless or those fleeing domestic abuse this is a huge barrier, despite that fact that anyone should have GP access.

In a number of Boroughs GP practices have become ‘Safe Surgeries’ which mean they have taken steps to tackle the difficulties faced by many migrants and others in accessing healthcare. At a minimum, this means ensuring that lack of ID or proof of address, immigration status or language are not barriers to patient registration.

Last month we had a great presentation from ‘Waltham Forest Save Our NHS’, who surveyed all their local GP practices and found that nearly 70% had a registration process that would unnecessarily deter migrants and others from registering.

ESON supporters have decided to conduct our own survey and campaign to encourage all our GP practices to offer access to all.

EALING SAVE OUR NHS RESPONDS TO PALLIATIVE CARE PLANS:

Over the last year a new model of care for community specialist palliative and end of life care has been developed by North West London NHS.

ESON welcomes many of the proposals and hope they will end the huge disparity and unequal provision in the services provided across the eight Boroughs within NW London NHS.

However we do have a number of concerns which include, the lack of concrete funding and a workforce plan, and the loss of inpatient beds.

We have fewer inpatient hospice beds in North West London, despite population data suggesting a 30% increase in our aging population (13 inpatient beds having been cut at Pembridge Hospice in Kensington & Chelsea). As the pressure grows on the remaining beds so might the pressure to keep people at home.

Ealing Save Our NHS has submitted our collective response after discussion and feedback from those supporters who have direct experience of palliative care and end of life services. You can read our response here

NW London residents have been invited to further share their thoughts and feedback on the care plans at upcoming webinars – link and registration here

PETITION: STOP PALANTIR GETTING ITS HANDS ON OUR DATA:

The government wants to hand US spy tech firm Palantir a £480 million contract to run a new database that will likely include huge amounts of our health data held by the NHS – the “Federated Data Platform”.

Doctors, patients and a huge range of organisations have been raising concerns about the plan and what it would mean for the future of the NHS. And it looks like the government is feeling the pressure – the former UK Health Secretary Steve Barclay reportedly delayed announcing the contract because it was so unpopular.

A new Health Secretary means a new opportunity stop Palantir getting their hands on our data

Please sign the Petition here

ESON CAMPAIGN MEETING – TUES 21ST NOVEMBER – ALL WELCOME

Our next monthly meeting is face to face in Northfields Community Centre.

We will be discussing the revelations from the Covid Inquiry and planning our campaign for ‘Safe Surgeries’, as well as hearing reports on NW London plans to improve access to GPs and what this actually means for patients; Future Stalls and Upcoming events.

7.30pm, Tuesday 21st November in Room 1, Northfields Community Centre, 71A Northcroft Avenue, W13 9SS (Tea & Coffee provided as usual)

SOME INTERESTING ARTICLES – WELL WORTH A READ:

‘Mental Health declining – What’s the plan?

On World Health Day, Sylvia Davidson published this interesting article in ‘the Lowdown’, on the state of Mental Health. After 75 years of universal healthcare, good mental health is still too often dependent on the circumstances you are born into and your ethnicity. Even when diagnosed, treatment can be difficult to access, with long waiting lists and not of a high enough standard.

Children from the poorest families are four times as likely to have a mental health problem by the age of 11 as the wealthiest children. Black people in the UK are four times more likely to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act than white people. And people with severe mental illness face a 20-year shorter life expectancy than average in the UK.

You can read more here

NHS Dentistry – where did it all go wrong?

A retired dental practitioner has written a fascinating explanation of why 90% of NHS dentists are now not accepting new patients. It seems it’s all down to changes to the dental contract introduced under Labour in 2006. Instead of being paid for the actual work you do e.g. a flat rate was introduced per filling or crown regardless of the complexity or time spent. Of course the Tory Government has done little to fix it despite the appalling state of oral health in the country.

No wonder dentists have got fed up!

You can read more here

Stop Blaming the Doctors!

By
Eve Turner
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0

To read the headlines these days you could be forgiven for thinking that all the ills of the NHS are caused by the doctors strikes rather than the Government’ failure to fund the NHS properly or to reward staff for all their dedication over the last few years!

Top photo: Roger Blackwell from Norwich, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ealing Save Our NHS (ESON) has been out on the streets again with our leaflets, to talk to local people about what is really happening in the NHS, and who are really to blame for the long waits for treatment – We think many of them already knew.

CONSULTANTS AND JUNIOR DOCTORS STRIKE TOGETHER FOR FIRST TIME IN HISTORY

Junior doctors and Consultants for the first time in their history took joint strike action on 19th and 20th September with further joint action planned on 2,3,4 October.

That this situation has been allowed to happen can be laid firmly at the doors of this Government whose handling of industrial relations has been appalling, refusing to meet the BMA at all to discuss pay, now more than 180 days.

Both groups of doctors have seen their pay erode substantially and whilst the junior doctors’ demand is for pay restoration, the Consultants have told the Government they would accept 12%.  However instead of making any meaningful offer to end the dispute, a below inflation pay award of six per cent for consultants and six per cent plus a lump sum for junior doctors has been imposed, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said is ‘final’. 

This has not just been met by more strike action but also a 98% vote for further industrial action on a 71% turn out by the Junior Doctors! 

But these strikes are not just about justice on pay; Consultant Oncologist Lucy Gossage has published a very moving account of why consultants are striking, outlining the challenges due to lack of staff and resources.

“I’m striking because so many of our workforce are burnt-out. The pressures of working in an overstretched service, balancing impossible demands, apologising for a failing system and knowing that, despite our best efforts, we’re not delivering our patients the service they deserve is soul destroying.”

The joint action came soon after Health Secretary Steve Barclay announced a consultation on minimum staffing levels in hospitals during strike days, potentially threatening staff with the SACK for exercising their right to strike. – Well that should sort it! 

The longer the strikes continue the more likely staff will leave the NHS and patients will be the worse for it.  In the meantime ESON will do our best to support them.

Junior Doctors and Consultants will be taking further joint action on 2, 3 and 4 October. The only pickets locally are at Northwick Park and Charing Cross.

You can read more from the BMA here

More from Lucy Gossage here

LETBY SHOWS WHISTLEBLOWERS IN THE NHS NEED PROTECTION:

The Lucy Letby case has propelled NHS whistleblowing into the headlines once again.  It has already been revealed that senior doctors acted as whistleblowers and reported their concerns, but these were not acted upon by management.

Whistleblowing in the NHS has over the years been an essential method for protecting patients and staff. Whistleblowers have brought to light a number of high profile scandals, including the serial murderer GP Harold Shipman, the Bristol heart surgery scandal, and the rogue breast surgeon Ian Paterson.

Despite legal protection provided by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and the creation of Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, whistleblowers continue to suffer negative consequences including dismissal, from their actions and scandals continue to be uncovered. 

Dr Patricia Mills, an anaesthetist at West Sussex Hospital who raised concerns about a doctor injecting himself with drugs on duty was subjected to a disciplinary investigation verging on victimisation for nearly 2 years. She was eventually exonerated but it has taken its toll.

Letby certainly shows us that not just the law but management culture needs to be overhauled so that staff can feel safe in speaking up and protecting patient safety.

More on this story here 

ESON BACK OUT ON THE STREETS EARLIER THIS MONTH:

ESON was back on the streets in Ealing Broadway last week with our lovely supporters and our popular leaflet here.  There was still lots of public support for striking doctor’s fighting for decent pay and a safe NHS, despite all the misinformation in the media. The growth of the private sector within the NHS, now around 25% still comes as a shock to many people. 

Most people like to sign a petition or something similar to help. We will be producing a postcard calling on our MPS to support a properly funded NHS, an end to privatisation and decent wages and condition for our lovely NHS staff.  Well there is an election coming!!  

WATCH THIS SPACE for more details.

MENTAL HEALTH WARD CLOSURES – THE LATEST

ESON Campaigners observing a recent Board Meeting of the West London NHS Trust were shocked to hear that the occupancy rate for adult acute Mental Health beds in the area is at 96%. That means the wards are way over the acceptable 85% target and that there will be considerable pressure on staff to discharge very ill patients to make room for other admissions.  

SO WHY IS OCCUPANCY SO HIGH?  During Covid the Trust closed the Hope and Horizon wards, the last two wards for acute adult mental health patients in Ealing, with the loss of 31 beds and “replaced” them with only 18 beds in Lakeside on the West Middlesex site in Hounslow. Clearly the loss of beds is having a substantial effect, along with the growing number of people in crisis. The Police and Prison Service complain they can’t substitute for professional Mental Health care – nor can the regular A&E wards.

We clearly need more beds but despite overwhelming opposition from local people to the loss of acute beds in the Borough, and the huge pressure on remaining beds, the West London NHS Trust Board Meeting agreed to permanently close the wards (subject to final approval from  the NW London NHS).

To make things even worse , another nearby NHS Trust in North West London is planning to close a whole Hospital for mental health patients. The Central and North West London Trust wants to close the Gordon Hospital with the loss of more than 60 mental health beds.

ESON along with campaigners in Hammersmith & Fulham Save Our NHS have been lobbying hard for no bed cuts to be made permanent without a proper NW London wide Strategy for the mental health needs of our population. That is taking place now.

It seems clear to us that funding cuts are forcing the Trusts to adopt ever more policies of ‘care in the community’ – even for mental health patients in severe crisis. Some people have turned to private hospitals were they have suffered neglect as well as considerable cost – see the story on Cygnet Private Hospital in Ealing 

Ealing Save Our NHS and other campaigners will continue to shout out about the need for proper resourcing for Mental Health and hope the politicians will finally listen.

PRIVATE MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITAL IN EALING HIT BY MASSIVE FINE FOR DEATH IN THEIR CARE

Private mental health services in NW London have recently been in the spotlight when US company, Cygnet, one of the biggest private mental health providers in the country, were fined just over £1.5 million in a prosecution brought by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) over failings to provide safe care in its Ealing hospital where a young woman took her own life despite multiple indications that she might self-harm. 

It is the largest fine for a mental health service as a result of a prosecution brought by CQC.   

This is only the most recent case where coroners have identified serious failings at Cygnet and other private mental health providers in recent times. Cygnet, which is owned by US company United Health Services pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment, but clearly hadn’t learnt from previous incidents!

It is worth reading the Guardian report which points out that the NHS now gives £2 billion to private mental health providers. 

END OF LIFE & PALLIATIVE CARE CONSULTATION – HAVE YOUR SAY

Over the last year a new model of care for community specialist palliative and end of life care has been developed by a group of NHS staff, clinicians, hospice staff and local residents in North West London. There is huge variation in the range and quality of services provided across all the eight Borough now covered by NW London NHS so improving care options and access to high quality care is to be welcomed. 

Ealing Save Our NHS is currently discussing our response to the new model. There are lots of things we support in principle including; 24/7 advice lines; extending days and hours of specialist teams; new common standards for psychological and bereavement support and expanding the lymphoma service. However we are concerned about the reduction of bed numbers since the closure of the Pembridge Unit in West London, and in particular, the lack of information on funding and staffing, without these being properly factored in, it could end up being just a wish list. 

HAVE YOUR SAY:

On Thursday 5th October from 6.00pm to 7.30pm  NW London NHS has an online event residents to share their views and feedback on the proposed model of care.  

The organisers say “This event is especially aimed at local people from Hounslow and Ealing as we want make sure their voice is heard as we look to develop services for adults that meet all of our diverse communities needs and provide high quality care and good patient experience when they are on their journey to the end of their life”

If you have a experience of using or providing end of life / palliative care services it would be good if you could share your views.

Link to join the meeting here

The full document of 143 pages can be read here (Page 107-8 summarises the changes for Ealing residents)

A much shorter summary 8 page summary can be read here

A GOOD NEWS STORY ON PRIVATISATION 

Earlier this year we reported that Ealing Hospital’s Urgent Care Centre, was no longer being run by private company Totally PLC, after the NW London Integrated Care Board (NHS) had terminated Totally’s contract due to concerns about performance and staffing. It was then taken back in-house to be run by the Hospital so we have had an integrated UCC and A&E.

The contract to run all six Urgent Care Centres in NW London, including Ealing has since been re-tendered and we are delighted to say that they have been won by the four NHS Trusts in NW London ( Imperial, Chelsea & Westminster, Hillingdon & London North West who run Ealing, Northwick Park and Central Middlesex Hospitals).

The separation of the Urgent Care Centres (UCC) from A&E was very confusing for patients who were often asked to repeat the same tests and provide the same information when being referred from the UCC to A&E and there were regular complaints about the service. So it’s good news for patients and bad news for the privateers!

Nice to finish on some good news!

OUR NHS -WORTH FIGHTING FOR

By
Eve Turner
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0

We had a very successful  NHS 75th birthday celebration and protest on 1st July – a big thanks to every one who supported it.  On 5th July we also took our giant birthday card packed out with messages of public support for NHS staff to Ealing Hospital, to share with them and patients too.

When the NHS was launched by then Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan, on 5th July 1948, it was based on three core principles. These were; that the NHS should be comprehensive and meet the needs of everyone; that it should be universal and free to all at point of delivery and based on clinical need, not ability to pay. 

Whilst these core principles have been undermined by Government underfunding and privatisation, we believe they are just as relevant and necessary in 2023 as they were in 1948 and well worth fighting to restore. 

GIANT BIRTHDAY CARD – A BIG HIT WITH STAFF AND PATIENTS

On Wednesday 5th July, the actual 75th birthday, we took our Giant Birthday Card to Ealing Hospital. As you can see it looks really impressive with all the supportive messages for staff which we had collected at our street stalls.

We also gave out leaflets and chocolates (not very healthy I know) and chatted to staff who really seemed to appreciate the support. Our photos have also been shared widely on Social Media and are now on the ‘Keep Our NHS Public’ website too. 

EALING MENTAL HEALTH BEDS – NOT GONE QUITE YET!

As our readers will know ALL of Ealing’s Acute Adult Mental Health beds are threatened with permanent closure. The 31 beds in Hope & Horizon Wards were ‘temporarily’ closed during the pandemic and replaced with just 18 beds at the Lakeside Ward in Hounslow. This means seriously ill patients and their families have to travel to wards based in Charing Cross and West Middlesex hospitals.

Most of the £2.6 million of revenue spending on the two closed wards is no longer being spent within the Borough and the Trust has diverted the monies to fund services like the Health Based Places of Safety in Hounslow and Hammersmith.

The West London NHS Trust had hoped to slip these bed cuts through under the radar, with a low key public engagement exercise, but Ealing Save Our NHS launched a campaign around it, including detailed objections and a 1000 strong petition and our sister campaign Hammersmith and Fulham Save Our NHS pitched in too.

Thanks go to Ealing MPs Virendra Sharma and Rupa Huq, who also registered their objections, as did Hammersmith and Fulham Council (but not Ealing Council – we don’t understand why).

Campaigners have now raised our concerns with the North West London Integrated Care Board, which holds the purse strings for the NHS in North West London.  We pointed out that there was no overall Mental Health Strategy for North West London, and yet dozens of beds were being axed in both Ealing and at the Gordon Hospital in Westminster (by Central & North West London Trust), which were also ‘temporarily’ closed during the pandemic.

Both of the NW London Trusts responsible for these closure plans implausibly claim that it’s not a money saving exercise and that the beds are not needed – but it’s been revealed that mental health beds in North West London are currently at 99-105% occupancy (the standard is 85%) and that 12 hour waits in A&E for mental health patients have increased.

So where are we now?  The Integrated Care Board have told West London Trust to put their Ealing bed closure plans on hold, whilst a Mental Health Strategy is drawn up. Meanwhile a full public consultation will take place on the planned closure of Gordon Hospital, which campaigners are preparing for, especially in the inner London Boroughs most directly affected. 

Thanks to everyone who’s supported this campaign – it’s far from over of course as we believe both Trusts have every intention of pressing ahead with their closure plans, if they can.

HEALTH SECRETARY STEVE BARCLAY GOES ON TOUR WITH ‘VIRTUAL HOSPITALS’

In their 2019 election manifesto the Tories promised they would build “40 new hospitals” by 2030.  We now know only eleven were actually brand new and a number would just involve refurbishment or alteration of existing buildings.

Following a recent report by the National Audit Office, the Government has been forced to admit that eight of the original group will not be completed by the 2030 deadline, which includes an urgently needed rebuild of St Mary’s Hospital and refurbishment of Charing X and Hammersmith Hospitals.

MPs have been invited to a “drop-in information event” hosting by Health Secretary, Steve Barclay in Parliament  In his letter to MPs, he says – “Using the virtual reality headsets, videos and model, you will be able to see the proposed design concepts for new hospitals.” 

The virtual tours will also include a “walk-through of the typical patient journey from clinical area to recovery”.

He added: “We will also be commencing a roadshow of events across England over the summer to bring these resources to staff, patients and other local stakeholders so that they can see the plans for themselves.”

Presumably the big brains in the Department of Health have decided that seeing pictures of hospitals are as good as the real thing – what a waste of money and an insult to the public’s intelligence!

You can read The Daily Mirror’s article here

THE SCANDAL OF CHILDREN DENIED DENTAL TREATMENT

Shocking new figures have revealed that in some parts of England children are waiting on average 18 months for dental procedures under general anaesthetic, primarily tooth extractions. In some cases they are waiting years in agony and delays in treatment mean many are unnecessarily losing teeth.

In a recent survey more than three quarters of School Nurses and Dentists reported seeing an increase in children’s tooth decay or damage. 

About 27,000 children were on waiting lists in January 2023 for specialist dental care assessments procedures. This includes children with special needs, children with physical or learning disabilities, children living in foster homes, children who are homeless, and children who are on “at risk” registers. 

Eddie Crouch, the chair of the British Dental Association, said: “Children are waiting in agony thanks to the indifference successive governments have shown to dentistry”.

Of course it’s not just children that are struggling to access a dentist – DIY dentistry has become a norm in some areas as people struggle to find a NHS dentist. A recent House of Commons report revealed that 90% of dental practices were not accepting new NHS patients!

There are many reasons for this crisis , the main one being the Dentists Contract which means they are grossly underpaid for carrying out NHS work.

As more and more people turn up at A&Es its also an issue for the NHS as a whole. And, dentists don’t just fix our teeth but also spot cancers, diabetes and other oral health problems.

Following our recent discussion on the Crisis in Dentistry, ESON has raised the lack of access to NHS dentists with NW London NHS, who have agreed to discuss Dentistry at their next meeting – a start at least.

 Read The Guardian’s article

MIGRANT WORKERS TO FACE A BIG HIKE IN NHS CHARGES:

After months of refusing to negotiate with junior doctors over pay, Rishi Sunak’s government has made another ‘final offer’ of 6 per cent with a one off lump sum – still well under the rate of inflation. They propose to partly fund this pay rise and that of other public sector workers by significantly increasing the cost of migrant visa charges and migrants’ access to the NHS. 

The ‘Immigration Health Surcharge’ that many migrants , including some NHS workers, are required to pay before submitting a visa application – will rise from £624 to £1,035 a year for each person, a 417% increase compared with five years ago. The fee for international students and children will rise from £470 to £776 a year. 

However, this fee hike seems to be more about playing politics than raising large amounts of money. Some Tories would like the NHS to charge everyone, so they regard charges for workers from abroad as a step in the right direction.

With migrants required to pay the surcharge up front, the increase means a person coming for five years will face paying £5,175 in health fees alone. These fees are often paid by sponsoring employers, so many are also opposed to the increase.

The BMA has not accepted the Governments final pay offer for doctors and its Chair, Phillip Bamfield said –

“The Immigration Health Surcharge is an additional punitive tax on much needed overseas colleagues. The NHS should be funded from general taxation, not charges that unfairly target individual groups – that’s why we called for abolishing this tax completely. 

“Claiming to use it to fund an inadequate pay offer is especially insulting. The Government are pitting the public against each other, targeting one group to fund below-inflation offers for another when this country needs them desperately to help get the NHS back on its feet. 

The BMA, along with other unions and migrant groups have produced a Statement opposing the pitting of workers against migrants. You can read it here – 

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