A report from online research journal “the Lowdown” highlights the current situation for our mental health services
“There are around 8 million people in England that are denied access to mental health services because they do not have severe enough symptoms to get put onto a waiting list, according to NHS leaders.”
Read more here….
There’s a national crisis in mental health – and any failure to address children’s needs is especially dreadful. Rates of depression and suicides are rising. NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) have been targeted for austerity cuts since 2010. Even the NHS Confederation says the system is at “tipping point”. (See the Lowdown on Mental Health Services)
What’s happening in Ealing? Our campaign research puts a spotlight on the situation.
Healthy Child Programme – Public Health England
First point of contact NHS services Midwifery & Health Visiting & GP services
Pathways 0-5 year element – health visiting service preventive & universal services; Identifying health needs which include physical, social and emotional for child and family
5 -19 Service led by school nursing service preventive universal services, and referral to GP for medical need and onward to other services as necessary including voluntary sector.
CAMHS Mental Health Tiers
Health visiting and school nursing services link into the Ealing Tier 1 Universal services – early
intervention. CAMHS will have children of all ages referred to their services but less likely to be under-fives but some developmental and behaviour problem can be identified in those early years.
School children may be referred into Tier 2 services, counselling, YOTs etc
Tier 3 Specialist services will have children and adolescents with moderate to severe mental health problems.
Community Nursing Staff
Specialist Public health Nurse qualification (Nursing & Midwifery Council Register)
In 2015 the health visitor and school nurse budgets were transferred to LA Public Health Department from the NHS. Both services are now managed by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust from 2018
London Borough of Ealing
Staff Whole Time Equivalent (Agenda for Change Pay Banding )
Health Visitors
Grade 2018 2019 2020
Band 6 33.21 30.2 22.93
Band 7 4.88 3.80 5.0 Team Leaders and Practice Teachers
Totals 38.09 34.00 27.93
Band 5 6.22 3.63 5.63 Skill mix registered support nurses
School Nurses
2018 2019 2020
Band 6 2.00 3.88 5.68
Band 7 1.80 1.00 1.00 Team leaders
Totals 3.80 4.88 6.6
There is DFE has also funded for Ealing pilot project (SWIS) for social workers in 8 secondary schools
Potential Workload
Total Population 2020 352,000
2020 – 5,250 births in Ealing Low birth weight 138
0-19 Population 2020 – 67,000
0-4 population 2020 – 23,615
Ealing has 91 state-funded schools and nurseries.
16 Secondary Schools
69 Primary Schools
8 Special & alternative schools
25 children’s centres
Special Educational Needs Primary 764
Secondary 389
Special School 824
Total Workforce England
It would appear that since the transfer of funding to Local Authority in 2015 the England workforce numbers appear to have declined.
Health visitors
2015 12,094 Increase in HV workforce – government investment.
2017 8497
2020 6672
School Nurses
2017 2400
2020 925
There was an increase in skill mix with registered staff nurses and nursery nurses for the school nurse service.
Access to services
There is no maternity unit in Ealing Hospital, so mothers can choose to go to the hospital of their choice. As soon as baby is born then a notification will be sent to Ealing for mothers with Ealing addresses
Access to services for Children and Families in Ealing is via Central London Community Health Trust website but parents should have contact information at the new birth assessment visit which include all the child health checks, health advice information and immunisation schedule.
Concerns
Workforce deployment during Covid-19 lockdowns
Large workloads if following the mandated Healthy Child Programme – recommended caseload per health visitor is 250 families, but caseloads now can be 500-1000 families (iHV 2020)
Reducing numbers of staff over time since 2015 – council grants reduced
Staff leaving from stress of job – unmanageable workloads
Devastating toll of the pandemic. Are we abandoning children and young people?
Not enough nurses going into training for Specialist Qualification in Public Health Nursing – having to take out education loans
COVID-19 has made it very difficult for community nurses to carry the normal programme of visiting and child health clinics due to lockdown. Many of the contacts are now telephone or on line. These might exclude those families who don’t have access to IT. In some areas, health visitors can visit if they have adequate PPE. Almost 20% of heath visitors reported that 50% or more of their team were redeployed during the first year of pandemic.
Redeployment significantly reduced the workforce in some areas, leaving the remaining health visitors to manage increased caseloads, reducing the amount of time available to support individual families. (Institute of Health Visiting 2020)
Review of Mandation of Health Visiting Services Gov. UK 2017 states that they have started to decline due to uncertainty during that year and reduced investment to LAs and possible delays in recruitment and training
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning public health services for children aged 0-19. Regulation requires all families with babies to receive five health visitor checks before their child reaches 2 and a half years old as described in the Healthy Child Programme 0-5 years.
Public health services for children aged 0-19 are predominantly led and delivered by health visitors and school nursing teams with input from other partners as appropriate.
Local commissioners should also consider the links and interface with screening programmes, mental health, sexual health, smoking, substance misuse and dental health. The core public health offer for all children includes:
Best start in life and beyond: Improving public health outcomes for children, young people and families Public Health England 2020
In this short article our campaign researchers take us through the story of how, Step by step, mental health beds have closed in Ealing as the NHS funding crisis unfolded.
We must not forget what has been taken away and we continue to campaign for vital services..
A Summary of Mental Health Ward Closures in Ealing
Photo: © Copyright J Taylor and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
St Bernard’s Hospital has been providing mental health care to the people of Ealing since it first opened in 1931. Based on the same site as Ealing Hospital, it includes beds for male and female adults with mental health conditions, as well as specialist services for older people.
Over the past ten years, St Bernard’s has lost approximately 70 beds through closures, meaning that more Ealing residents and carers are having to travel out of the borough for mental health care and treatment.
In 2013, the John Conolly Wing (JCW) was closed and demolished to make way for a new Forensic Medium Secure Unit (catering for patients who require a higher level of security). As a result, patients from acute services were relocated to four wards at Wolsey Wing on the Ealing site (Hope, Horizon, Starlight and Discovery), and others to wards at Lakeside and Charing Cross.
As part of the closure of JCW, two older people’s wards (Windemere and Coniston), which had 16 beds each, closed and the 18-bedded Jubilee ward opened (leading to a net loss of 14 beds).
Following the move to the Wolsey Wing, Starlight ward (8 female beds) and Discovery ward (17 male beds) also subsequently closed. Both wards were noted to be doing well in 2013 as you can read here.
In 2019/2020, two rehab wards (Mott House and Glyn ward) moved from the Ealing site to Lakeside, where they were amalgamated and renamed Robin ward. Mott House was a Highly accredited Adult Rehab service.
The Wolsey Wing (Hope and Horizon) closed to inpatients due to the COVID pandemic in March 2020. There is no information available at present about if/when those wards will reopen. This means that since the closure of these wards, patients from the borough of Ealing who need inpatient psychiatry admissions are being admitted in either Hammersmith or Hounslow. A freedom of information response is pending on admission of Ealing patients to private psychiatry wards.
Hope was a female admissions ward with 17 beds, and Horizon a male admission ward of 14 beds. In 2016, the CQC report mentioned that both wards could be noisy, unsettled and that the long narrow layout of the wards did not provide adequate communal space, including access to quiet areas.
Ref: https://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/AAAF9938.pdf
In the last 5 years (11/06/16 – 11/06/21), 16 and 17 year old adolescent patients with acute mental health problems were admitted to adult wards on 37 occasions across areas covered by West London NHS Trust. The Ealing Hospital site has no mental health wards dedicated to 16 and 17 year old patients, and it is unclear whether the Trust has any standard operating procedure to ensure that such young people are appropriately supported when admitted in adult mental health wards.
Campaigning is underway to oppose the rather misnamed ‘Health & Care Bill’, starting with a National Online Rally next Wednesday 8th September.
The Health & Care Bill is likely to lead to even greater privatisation with private companies being allowed onto NHS Boards, so we can expect to see even more big contracts handed out without any competition, just like the billions wasted on ‘Test & Trace’.
PROTECT THE NHS RALLY
SCRAP THE HEALTH AND CARE BILL
Register now for this webinar rally:
As well as the threat of privatisation the Bill will lead to a major loss of local accountability and control with decision making and budgets concentrated in huge new bodies called Integrated Care Systems covering millions of people. The chronic staff shortages after a decade of underfunding are barely addressed and the Mental Health and Social Care crisis is barely mentioned,
However the Bill is very good news for some health service bosses – as the Health Service Journal has just revealed that the new Chief Executives of the powerful Integrated Care Systems, like North West London can expect to earn up to £270,000!!
National Campaign, ‘Keep Our NHS Public‘, has organised this excellent online Rally with a great line-up of speakers that brings together, campaigners, NHS workers and politicians.
Speakers Include:
Julie Hesmondhalgh, Actor
Michael Rosen, Writer
Dr Tony O’Sullivan (KONP)
Jonathan Ashworth MP Shadow Secretary of State for Health
Alia Butt (NHS Staff Voices)
Steve Cowan, Council Leader
Mark Ladbrooke, Chair Socialist Health Association
Cat Hobbs, Director of We Own It
Holly Turner (NHS Workers Say No)
Dr Philippa Whitford MP (SNP)
Dr David Wrigley (BMA)
Dr Sonia Adesara (KONP)
John Lister, Health Campaigns Together & The Lowdown
This is the start of what will hopefully be a big campaign so please try and attend and spread the word.
Register for this webinar rally HERE
NHS DATA GRAB ON HOLD INDEFINITELY AFTER MILLIONS OPT OUT!
More than 1.2 million people have opted out of NHS GP data-sharing in just one month over the Summer, which is amazing and a big success for the campaign to protect our medical records. Under the proposed Government scheme, launched in May and officially called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research service, anyone registered with a GP in England could have potentially had their personal health data shared with private companies.
According to the latest Guardian report the plans have been put on hold indefinitely, but it doesn’t mean they have been totally dropped so we still need to be vigilant. We will continue to keep you updated.
‘WE WONT WAIT! – SUPP0RT THE CAMPAIGN FOR NHS FUNDING TO BRING DOWN WAITING LISTS
Anti privatisation campaigners ‘We Own It‘ are launching a new campaign this Saturday for proper funding to bring down waiting list. There are now over 5.5 million people waiting for treatment and the figure continues to rise. Instead of funding beds and staff the Government has awarded huge contracts to the private sector worth up to £ 10 billion.
Tens of thousands of hospital beds are being unused whilst shareholders rub their hands. We have recently seen figures that show that our local NHS Trust has one of the highest levels on unused beds in the country so we will certainly be asking them questions.
‘We Own It‘ are keen to hear stories from patients waiting for treatment or have been forced to pay for private treatment.
Campaign launch this Saturday 4th September , 12-1.00pm opposite Old Palace Yard, Parliament, Westminster
More details of the campaign can be found here
A SUCCESSFUL HANWELL CARNIVAL DESPITE THE RAIN:
Despite the rainy August weather lots of people visited our stall to chat, take our latest leaflets and show their support. Our latest photo opportunity was a big hit with the kids and some adults too.
Here are just a few of the children who enjoyed being skeletonized!!!
Once again the organisers of Hanwell Carnival did the community proud. Despite rain in the morning, thousands of local people turned up and we talked to lots of them. Dozens of small people became skeletal!
Obviously it is not a quiet time for our NHS, which is experiencing a huge rise in patients attending A&Es along with significant staff shortages thus placing even greater demand on our overstretched and exhausted staff. At the very least they deserve a decent pay rise not a measly 3%!
Instead of responding to the pressures on the NHS the Government is going ahead with a major re –organisation, which you can read about in this month’s newsletter.
You can also read about the latest news on the GP Data Grab, our recent visit to Ealing Hospital, New prescription charges for 60 +, sign the latest Petition and more…..
Once again Ealing Save Our NHS is joining in the festivities with our colourful Stall and some fun for the kids. We have some great new leaflets on the mental health crisis and the dangers of the Governments new Health & Care Bill, balloons and stickers too.
It has become a tradition to have a photo opportunity and this year ‘Love the NHS, dont let it be a skeleton service‘ is our theme with our ‘skeleton face in the hole’ – as you can see from the photo above.
If you are visiting Hanwell Carnival please come and say a hello, take a photo and a leaflet or have a look at our new leaflets here and here
At the end of last month ESON was invited to a walk around at Ealing Hospital to see the investment and improvements in services and meet Joanna Paul the Director of Operations at the Hospital, who was accompanied by Simon Crawford, Deputy Chief Executive, London North West Trust who run Ealing Hospital. A few photos are above.
It is once again a busy time at Ealing for Covid patients as wards have had to be reopened to see new cases but thankfully not the numbers previously seen.
Big changes have had to be made to minimise the spread of Covid so services have been be re-located, which is working well, and at the same time have been much upgraded. In particular there has been considerable investment in improving Older Peoples in-patient wards and clinics, which are very welcoming and the Paediatric Outpatient and Day Surgery Unit is frankly delightful.
Diagnostic services have been reinstated with 3 MRI scans now operating on the site and Endoscopy is set to expand. There has also been digital investment making it easier for doctors to monitor patients and access patient data.
It is very welcome to see Ealing Hospital getting some much needed investment and we hope this will continue. Thanks to the Trust for inviting us.
Ealing Hospital suspended services to be restored:
The Review of the Trust’s suspension of Emergency Overnight Surgery and the Trauma & Orthopedic Service at Ealing has recommended that both services be fully restored. We are told this won’t be instant as they have to sort out extra staffing, but it’s still good news.
Ealing Breast Care Clinic:
Ealing currently has 2 Breast Clinics (pre Covid it had 4) whereas Central Middx has 7 and Northwick Park has 5 – quite a disparity! We have been lobbying hard for the restoration of the 2 Breast Clinics that were cut due to Covid. The Trust has now told us they intend to restore these Clinics – but no date yet. We also want to see a return of surgery so that Ealing women can get a full one stop service.
Northwick Park Maternity:
Following the recent CQC inspectors report which downgraded the maternity service to ‘inadequate’ (not the service we were promised when they closed Ealing’ s Maternity) we have been pressing hard for re-assurances that Ealing mums will be safe and get a caring service. The Trust and the North West London ICS, who are now monitoring the Trust, both say the changes they have made mean it’s now safe. A huge amount of work needs to be done to improve the service and they say it will take time. We will do our best to monitor it too.
NHS workers and their unions have been protesting against the dismal 3% pay award, this Summer. In July ‘NHS Workers SAY NO’ handed in an 800,000 strong petition to Downing Street calling for 15% now and demonstrations have been taking place around the country.
Since 2010, NHS pay has failed to keep pace with inflation so staff have experienced a real terms cut of at least 15% and the 3% doesn’t even cover inflation, currently at 3.9%.
Unite, GMB, the RCN and Unison are balloting members on whether they support the 3% and considering the next steps of their pay campaigns, including possible strike action. Junior doctors, who have not been awarded 3%, and Consultants are also being consulted about industrial action by the BMA.
With demoralisation and exhaustion at an all-time high the 3% award, which in non-negotiable, will do nothing to stem the escalating recruitment and retention crisis.
ESON is supporting our NHS staff all the way in their fight for pay justice as can be seen by the photo above at our July 3rd NHS Birthday celebration.
Loss of local accountability and control, centralisation of decision making and budgets, more lucrative contracts for the private sector without competition and wide sweeping powers for the Secretary of State are key dangers facing our NHS from this Bill.
Well known national campaigner JOHN LISTER has written an analysis of the dangers in the Bill in the latest edition of Health Campaigns Together.
And we have summarised his article with some local examples in the latest article on our website, which you can READ HERE
ESON will be joining with other campaigners around the country to raise awareness about the threat to the NHS of this Bill and do our best to oppose it.
You can help by signing this Petition headed up by Dr Louise Irvine from Keep Our NHS Public and help spread the word.
Please also keep up to date by reading our Newsletter and following us on Facebook and Twitter.
YOU CAN SIGN THE PETITION HERE
The Government’s plan to take the patient records which GPs hold on everyone in England and enter them all into one massive database has been postponed again.
Government Minister Jo Churchill, has told GPs that the uploading of patient data will not take place until –
This a significant backdown brought about by pressure from GPs, like those in East London refusing to comply, campaign groups, professional bodies and of course patients who opted out in droves!
Leading Data Grab campaigners, Foxglove and Med Confidential are not convinced that all the Governments promises will happen. In the meantime we think if you have concerns the best thing is to opt out – you can always opt back in again!
Latest News from MedConfidential
The Government is trying to sneak through a so- called ‘consultation’ this Summer on its plan to introduce prescription charges for people aged 60-66.
It is all being done under the guise that as State Pension Age has now moved to 66 so should the right to free prescriptions.
All in all its pretty nasty when so many older people are struggling and women in particular were hard hit by the rising of state pension age.
The Consultation closes on 2nd September and its short and easy to complete
More information can be found here and a link to the online consultation questionnaire HERE
Written in newspaper format, with lots of well-presented and easy to read information on the NHS Bill; the Covid crisis; Maternity Safety issues; the £10bn private sector contract and much more….
You can read it online here –
As a time when our understaffed and underpaid NHS staff struggle to cope with Covid and a massive backlog of people waiting for surgery, you might well wonder why the Government is pushing ahead with a major NHS re-organisation.
The main features of the Bill are a huge loss of local accountability and control, greater centralisation of decision-making and budgets and more lucrative contracts for the private sector without any competition.
The Secretary of State, Sajid Javid is to be given wide sweeping powers including the right to impose reconfigurations that can merge and close services as happened here in Ealing with the loss of our Maternity and Children’s Ward and the threat to close our A&E.
Well known campaigner and analyst JOHN LISTER unfolds the story in the latest copy of Health Campaigns Together in his article – ‘Listing key dangers in the Health & Care Bill’
Here are is a short summary of the key dangers from his article:-
No end to privatisation:
Although the legal requirement for Clinical Commissioning Groups to have to put services out to tender is to be scrapped there is plenty of scope in the new Bill for privatisation too.
“Scrapping Section 75 also raises the question of what new system will apply to regulate the awarding of contracts. On this issue the Bill is a pig in a poke: there is no clear mechanism or commitment to prevent more of the scandalous behaviour that became normalised during the pandemic – awarding contracts worth tens of millions to Tory donors and cronies without competition”
Fewer local bodies, even less local voice:
Over the last year, decision-making about local services has been become even more inaccessible as Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), who commission our local NHS services, have merged across huge geographical areas. In North West London all 8 Borough based CCGs, including Ealing, have become a single NWL CCG meeting only 5 times in the year, with less then an hour for public questions.
This is the first step in the radical change that will further reduce decision-making and concentrate power into the hands of 42 ‘Integrated Care Systems’ (ICSs) which will cover populations of up to 3.2 million. The North West London ICS will continue to cover the 8 Boroughs with a population of over 2 million people.
“To make matters worse the new ICSs would each be collectively tied to a tightly limited single pot of allocated funding after a decade of austerity and falling real terms funding – and at a time when NHS England has already begun cracking the whip for tighter financial controls, and therefore looking for cuts to balance the books”
These new ICS bodies will have a Board with the Chair appointed by NHS England but Health Secretary Sajid Javid will have a veto over appointments and removals!
Charter for Cronyism
Given that the Chair has the power to make appointments – “On recent form, a rampant expansion of cronyism into the new bodies seems inevitable”.
This is further born out by the lack of any criteria or guidance for the appointments to the Board or their role or responsibilities.
“Nor is there any explicit requirement that the Boards must meet in public or publish their board papers, although NHS England has stated their preference for this: nor is there any commitment, given the wide geographical spread of some ICSs, for meetings to be made accessible online”
“And while local authorities have been weakened by a decade of brutal cuts in spending, and get just one seat on each ICS, the private sector could find itself gaining a stronger voice”.
Powers on reconfiguration:
New powers are to be given to the Secretary of State to intervene directly to either block local plans or enforce reconfigurations such as the dreadful ‘Shaping a Healthier Future’ here in North West London which would have closed our A&Es and beds at both Ealing & Charing Cross Hospitals.
But these powers are but a few of the 138 new powers in the Bill that are to be given to the Secretary of State.
Discharge to Assess:
Despite the title of the Bill including ‘Care’ and all the talk of integration there are hardly any concrete proposals for addressing the Social Care crisis. Instead we have increased CQC inspections of local authority services and the removal of the legal requirement for local authorities to assess the care needs of vulnerable patients before they are discharged!
With reported backlogs of more than 75,000 disabled and older people waiting for help with their care and support from overstretched Social services this is pretty disastrous and will place huge burdens on families and carers, for those who have them.
There is lots more in the Bill including the potential down grading of professional standards in pursuit of ‘financial and efficiency savings’
Along with campaigns around the country we will be campaigning against the Bill over the next few months. Please read our Newsletter for latest news and sign the Petition.
Protect the NHS – Sign the Petition- Scrap the Health & Care Bill
We had a really good celebration and protest on Saturday 3rd July at our NHS 73rd Birthday event with around 60 people turning out despite the rain AND almost constant beeps of support from passing cars and buses too.
There was over 70 similar events around the country as part of a NHS Day of Action for pay justice, funding the NHS and ending privatisation, organised by ‘Keep Our NHS Public’, ‘Health Campaigns Together’, ‘NHS Staff Voices’ and ‘NHS Workers say No’.
We listened to some really good speeches, ate delicious homemade cakes, had a few chants and gave out leaflets.
It was great to work with Ealing TUC and have the support of MPs Virendra Sharma, Rupa Huq and GLA member Dr Onkar Sahota.
There was a really good turnout from all our lovely campaigners and supporters and we were also joined by Dr Mona Kamal of NHS Voices, GMB Medirest Rep Binrajah, Ealing Reclaim Social Care Action Group, local Councillors, Southall Community Alliance, Stand Up to Racism and the Green Party.
We certainly did show that we “Love Our NHS and Ealing Hospital” and want them properly funded and we want a decent pay rise for our brilliant NHS Staff!
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London Demonstration: Although we couldn’t join the London Demo on 3rd July you can see some of the photos and read a good article on the National Day of Action here.
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| This month we have news of another scandal – this time it’s the ‘high-jacking’ of our medical data held by our GPs. |
| There is some good news too in that the Breast Care Units at Ealing & Central Middlesex Hospital are not going to close! |
| We will be out on the streets later this month and on the National Day of Action on Pay Justice on Saturday 3rd July. The Guest Speaker at our campaign meeting on 15th June is nurse activist Holly Turner, sure to inspire us to take action! |
| CAMPAIGN MEETING TUESDAY 15TH JUNE – ‘THE FIGHT FOR PAY JUSTICE’ It’s our monthly online meeting on the 15th next Tuesday and we will be discussing the latest threats to our NHS and our GP confidential data, the antics of NHS bosses and the upcoming Day of Action. |
| OUR GUEST SPEAKER IS HOLLY TURNER, who is a nurse activist from ‘NHS Workers Say NO’ and a GMB union representative. |
| Holly with be speaking about the fight for pay justice following the insulting 1% pay offer, the mood among frontline NHS workers and the next steps in the campaign. We are delighted that Holly can join us so please come along and take part. You are very welcome to join in our discussion. |
Tuesday 15th June, 7.30pm. PLEASE CONTACT ME TO BE SENT THE ZOOM LINK |
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| SESSION 9 – WHERE DID THE MONEY GO? WHAT MUST HAPPEN NOW? |
| 7pm – Wednesday 16 June . registration here |
| This concluding session of the Peoples Covid Inquiry takes an overview: on the policies adopted to address pandemic and related governance issues; why has Government policy been in conflict with national trade unions and what is the role of a trade union in the pandemic; there are important questions to ask, of national and international consequence, about policy and governance around the vaccination programme; and the importance of taking the views of citizens seriously. |
| THE PANEL: |
| Michael Mansfield QC (chair), Professor Neena Modi, Dr. Tolullah Oni, Dr. Jacky Davis |
| Lorna Hackett Barrister (Counsel to the Inquiry) |
| WITNESSES: |
| Kevin Courtney Joint General Secretary, National Education Union |
| Deepti Gurdasani Clinical Epidemiologist and statistical geneticist, Senior Lecturer in Machine Learning, Queen Mary University of London |
| TEST & TRACE COMPANIES CHARGE THE NHS TWICE AS MUCH AS WORKERS ARE BEING PAID! |
| Probably not really a surprise but it is no wonder that Test & Trace is so expensive when companies like Serco pay their call centre staff £9.50 per hour but claim £21.50 per hour from the NHS! This is exactly why you want the NHS running it and not the private sector. The NHS wouldn’t be charging us twice. |
| Read it here |
| GET ‘THE LOWDOWN’: |
| The latest issue is full of yet more revelations on privatisation of our NHS, but here are a few – |
| VIRGIN GETS A PLACE ON NHS BOARD! |
| NHS campaigners have been arguing that the latest NHS re-organisation, in which massive budgets are to be given to regional ‘Integrated Care Systems to plan and shape NHS services will lead to greater influence for the private sector, with a seat on the Boards. It seems that our fears are being realised as reported in ‘the Lowdown’ |
| Virgin Care’s local managing director Julia Clarke is already listed as a member of the Partnership Board, the unitary Board which currently runs the ICS covering Bristol and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire (BSW). Not only does she occupy a seat but is actively being allowed to protect the companies interests. Astoundingly the Board has asked private companies to voluntarily contribute £10,000 to the ICS running costs! |
| Read it here |
| NHS FUNDS SIPHONED OFF TO PRIVATE HOSPITALS AS NHS BEDS STAY EMPTY! |
| As a result of the demands on staff, resources and infection control bed numbers have plummeted since Spring 2020. The latest figures show there are 6000 fewer general beds and acute beds then in early 2020! |
| Instead of pumping in resources in to the NHS so it can reorganise and re-open beds in order to bring down the massive waiting lists, the Government is instead diverting up to £10 billion pounds out of NHS budgets to fund up to 90 private hospital & clinics to treat NHS patients with no doubt NHS staff – what a disgrace. |
| Recent research by the ‘Centre for Health in the Public Interest’ revealed that Government spending of up to £2bn of NHS Covid funds on supposedly block-booking private hospital beds in 2020 resulted in just 7 beds a day for Covid patients! It really is a scandal. Read it here |
| A CHANCE TO GET OUT MARCHING SHOES ON AGAIN: |
| PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY: NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION. Saturday 26th June |
| Ealing Save Our NHS is supporting this demonstration and will be meeting up locally to join what will be a big protest against the Government on many issues, including it’s mishandling of Covid -19 and the insulting 1% pay offer to NHS staff. There will be a Health Contingent led by NHS workers and Keep Our NHS Public. |
| The March assembles at 12 noon – Portland Place, W1 and then on to Parliament Square. |
| EALING MEET UP: |
| Saturday 26th June outside Ealing Broadway Station at 11.40am. |
