UNDER PRESSURE THE PLANS TO SHARE OUR PATIENT DATA HAVE NOW BEEN DELAYED TO 1ST SEPTEMBER BUT STILL BEST TO ACT

If you live in England, all your encounters with your GP – information about your physical, mental and sexual health and other sensitive information such as criminal records and abuse are being put into a huge database which can be shared with ‘third parties’, including private companies!

This is being done without patient consent by NHS Digital, who runs the health service IT system, under instruction from Secretary of State, Matt Hancock. 

This new data system (General Practice Data for Planning and Research system (GPDPR) comes in to effect on 1st July 2021, so there is only a short time to spread the word.

Campaign groups for digital rights such as ‘Foxglove’ have started legal action. Rose Curling, Solicitor from ‘Foxglove’, in a legal letter sent to the Department of Health & Social Care, said they had “serious concerns” about the legality of the move because no explicit consent had been given and “very few members of the public will be aware that the new processing is imminent, directly affecting their personal medical data”.  Further legal action is being prepared in conjunction with ‘Just Treatment’

NHS Digital denies that our data will be sold off and claim private companies will only be able to request access for research purposes, but they have been pretty silent on who will have access.  

After the Government give away of billions of pounds in Covid contracts to their cronies, why should we trust them not to do the same with this very lucrative ‘lake of data’ estimated to be worth £10 billion a year!!

‘Foxglove’ are also concerned the data could be shared with US tech giants including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, plus UK artificial intelligence group Faculty and US data analytics firm Palantir Technologies.

We can do something about this and opt out by filling in this form and taking it to our GP’s before the deadline of 23rd June. After this date our historical records become a permanent and irreversible part of the new data system. Patients who opt out after the deadline can only stop any future data from being funnelled into the new system.

SOME IMPORTANT LINKS: 

How to opt out – it’s easy and doesn’t affect your care

an excellent video explaining how the data store works and why ‘Foxglove’ is taking legal action.

And if you are still not sure what to do, it’s well worth reading this detailed explanation from Caroline Molloy of ‘Open Democracy’.

Ealing Save Our NHS held a protest against privatised Test and Trace on Tuesday outside Ealing Town Hall.

Campaigner Oliver New said “Serco and other private companies have been handed millions to run their tracing contract misleadingly called “NHS Test & Trace”. But the cross-party Public Accounts Committee of MPs recently concluded that there is
“NO clear evidence” that it has helped reduce infection levels.

Serco and other private companies have been put in charge of running the Test and Trace system – but it’s a
disaster because it’s not actually “NHS” Test and Trace – it’s privatised Test and Trace.

The Government allocated £37 billion of taxpayer‘s money and gave huge contracts to SERCO and others with an unproven record. Those resources must instead go to the actual NHS and to Councils i.e. the people who are successfully delivering vaccinations to millions.. Those resources must instead to the actual NHS and to Councils i.e. the people who are
successfully delivering vaccinations to millions.

This is URGENT. Vaccines alone won’t beat Covid 19. Most success in other countries involved local contact tracing and isolating. As more Covidvariants emerge we need to act now.

“Not only are Councils naturally placed to respond quickly to the distinct needs, challenges and infection rates of their own area, but they are equipped with their own teams of public health professionals.”
Professor Donna Hall (Chair, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust)

An influential Parliamentary Committee said there was no evidence the “unimaginable” cost of Test & Trace made any progress in dealing with the pandemic. The Cross-Party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) added that despite being allocated £37 billion in funding, it failed to deliver the Government promise of preventing
lockdowns.

It has been brilliant to hear lots of the stories of the well run, friendly and efficient vaccine delivery here in Ealing and around the country. It is definitely a good news story and a great example of how the NHS, does it best when it’s allowed to get on with the job of looking after us. How unlike the privately run so called ‘NHS Test & Trace’ that is now heavily dependent on local authority-run Test & Trace to back them up by chasing down new carriers of variants and encouraging self-isolation. Without a doubt a locally delivered service works best! Despite being in lockdown and at the height of a pandemic, the Government has still found the time to draw up worrying plans to take even more control of our NHS and which we will certainly be campaigning against! As a first step we urge you to sign the ‘We Own It’ Petition You can read more about these stories and the Petition in this issue of our Newsletter. ESON Meeting next Tuesday 16th February – the ‘Mental Health Crisis’ It’s our monthly meeting next Tuesday and we will be discussing the Mental Health crisis, hearing updates on the vaccine rollout, Peoples Inquiry and Government plans to re-organise our NHS. Our Guest Speaker will be Alia Butt, Chair of NHS Staff Voices. Alia is an NHS Psychotherapist & passionate about fighting for better mental health services. She will be answering questions and leading our discussion on the crisis in Mental Health services and how we can effectively campaign. Definitely one not to miss! We would love to see more people get involved and new ideas, so please think about joining us, you will be very welcome. Tuesday 16th February, 7.30pm. Please contact me to be sent the Zoom link Vaccination News: The vaccine roll out is definitely a good news story and NHS staff have been working very hard often as volunteers to help get the vaccine to us –well supported by the local authority too. Nearly 40,000 vaccines have been delivered at Ealing Town Hall and the Dominion Centre butCouncillors and MPs have raised concerns about the lack of sites at both the East end of the Borough in Acton and North of the Borough in Greenford, Northolt, which might be affecting take up. Two new community pharmacy sites are opening: Boots in Greenford Retail Park and Roxanne Pharmacy (Greenford Methodist Church) and one has opened by Remedy Pharmacy, St Marys Church) Hopefully this will help with ‘vaccine hesitancy’ which is becoming a problem as you can see from some of the figures we have obtained. As of the 8th February first vaccines have been given to – Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers – 84% of residents but only 47% of staffAll those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers – 77.5%All those 75 years of age and over –82%70 -74 years of age – 80.7%Clinically extremely vulnerable individuals – 55%Housebound –74.6%The picture for take up according to ethnicity shows that take up for those defined as ‘White’ is 79.44% compared to ‘Black & Black British’ which is only 48.35%. The figures are much higher for Asian or Asian British at 71.97% A lot of work is being done by the NHS, Ealing Council and community groups to try and combat vaccine hesitancy, some of which we have shared on our ESON Facebook. In a turnaround from previous advice people aged 70+ can now ring up to ask for appointments by contacting their GPs, ringing 119 or booking at the mass vaccinations centre – the nearest one of these is CP House in Ealing Broadway. Don’t believe the Media – the Tories are not ending privatisation! Many of you will have seen headlines and reports on a leaked Government White Paper on the NHS, which outlines plans for a new top-down reorganisation of the NHS. The media reports, especially from The Times and the BBC clearly following a steer from Downing Street, both herald the plans as a step to “scrap forced privatisation and competition within the NHS”. So does this mean an end to privatisation? The answer is unfortunately NO. The White Paper clearly says ‘there will continue to be an important role for voluntary and independent sector providers‘. In fact these plans will also allow private companies like Deloitte, to sit on the new Integrated Care System (ICS) Boards that make decisions on how NHS money is spent! Of course it is better that the NHS bodies will no longer be forced to put contracts out to tender, but it doesn’t apply to IT and other non-clinical services and they will still have discretion to do so. It seems likely to us that this Government will INCREASE privatisation by handing out big contracts, sometimes without even going out to tender. This is after all the same Government that has already awarded least £20 billion of pounds in contracts, without any competition, to the private sector. If they were genuinely ending privatisation then they would be taking steps to end private contracts already awarded, but there is no mention of bringing back outsourced services at all. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION : Anti- privatisation campaigners ‘We Own it’ have launched this petition to call on the Government to stop the private takeover of the NHS – please sign and circulate Local Authorities could be silenced! Hidden away in the White Paper and without any mention in the media are plans to limit opposition to ‘reconfigurations’ of services in a number of ways. The Government are proposing to abolish the power that Local Authorities have to refer reconfigurations to the Secretary of State for further review. Hammersmith & Fulham & Ealing Councils used this power to get an Independent Review of ‘Shaping a Healthier Future’ plans to close Charing X and Ealing A&E. Although it didn’t stop it then it certainly helped to build the case against it. The justification for stripping local authorities of this right of referral is that the Secretary of State is to be given the power to intervene early in the reconfiguration process – apparently having both would create a conflict! The Government are also proposing to make it a legal duty for local authorities to ‘collaborate with health authorities’. This could mean that local authorities would not be able to oppose or campaign against local NHS cuts, re-organisations or privatisation. There has been quite a bit of coverage and analysis of the White Paper from campaigners – all well worth a read: – Government used crisis to increase privatisation – Keep our NHS Public White Paper Power Grab -LowdownNHS New NHS White Paper -LowdownNHS Peoples Covid Inquiry launched: In the absence of an arranged formal public investigation, campaigners believe that the timefor a Covid Inquiry is now, in order to analyse why this country has suffered over 100,000 deaths, andwhat lessons should be learned to inform future decisions and policy making. A host of leading academics, celebrities, campaigning groups and unions together with frontlineworkers, have joined with Keep Our NHS Public to launch a People’s Covid Inquiry. A dedicated website and campaign video has also been launched which will feature testimony from members of the public, keyworkers and celebrities. You can watch the Peoples Covid Inquiry Launch Video here – Overseeing proceedings will be the renowned human rights barrister, Michael Mansfield QC. Participants will include: Chair of Independent SAGE, Sir David King, author and poet Michael Rosen, Lancet editor Richard Horton, Representatives from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group,President of the UK Medical Women’s Federation Neena Modi, and GP, writer & broadcaster Phil Hammond. The first session, ‘How Well Prepared was the NHS? is on 24th February. You can get more information on the Inquiry, register to watch sessions and submit a question to the panellists on the website – please spread the word! ‘Vaccines for ALL’ Campaign launched: Ealing Save Our NHS is supporting a new campaign that has been launched to ensure the coronavirus vaccine is made safely accessible to everyone, regardless of immigration status, ID or proof of address. The Government has stated that everyone is able to access the coronavirus vaccine and recently announced an amnesty, but in practice, people are being asked for ID, are unable to register with a GP, and are afraid to access services because of longstanding and entrenched barriers to healthcare and fears about the Home Office “hostile environment”. Without further action the pandemic will continue to have a disproportionate impact on all marginalised groups including migrant communities, people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness, and BAME communities. The Campaign is calling for a number of measures including a ‘firewall to prevent the sharing of information with the Home Office’ and an end to the hostile environment created by NHS migrant charges. You can read more about this campaign, which is supported by Medact, the Refugee Council, the Joint Council for Welfare of Immigrants, Trade Union Congress and 140 other organisations in this article– We are seeking assurances from the NHS to ensure they are taking steps to remove any barriers to vulnerable people accessing the vaccine or seeking medical help. A great line-up of speakers and workshops is planned for the evening and already nearly 500 people have signed up. The failures of the privatised ‘NHS Test & Trace’, the PPE Scandal and the blatant cronyism in allocating lucrative contracts have certainly fuelled interest! Don’t miss out – register today here – Latest Health Campaigns Together Bulletin – a really good read The fifth issue of the monthly news bulletin includes the latest news and articles on the Mental Health crisis, the leaked White Paper (that has subsequently been published) and info on Vaccination & Test Trace campaigns You can read a copy here

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  GP Crisis – Why Patients should support GPs in their Collective Action
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NHS England is planning to rip up key provisions of the 2012 Health & Social care Act and bring in yet another disastrous re-organisation.

Ealing Save Our NHS explains what’s going on and why we oppose it in this response to the official consultation.

Response to NHS England Consultation on:
“INTEGRATING CARE: NEXT STEPS TO BUILD STRONG AND EFFECTIVE INTEGRATED CARE SYSTEMS ACROSS
ENGLAND”

Ealing Save Our NHS subscribes to the widespread view that the NHS reorganisation Health and Social Care Act 2012 has not been fit for purpose. The current proposals may be an attempt to remedy the situation but our view is that they will undermine the public service ethos of the NHS in several ways.

The document entitled “Integrating Care” makes claims that existing Integrated Care Systems, or ICS have been successful. Our experience of the ICS in North West London is the opposite. The unsupported assertion by NHS England that ICS are successful seems to us like somebody marking their own homework.

With no apparent statutory basis, the North West London ICS appears to have taken control of NHS budgets, laid down parameters for Trusts and taken leadership of the CCGs. It seems as though this document is a call for Parliament to rubberstamp what has already been put in place.

REMOVAL OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY

This sidestepping of democracy is reflected in the proposals. There is no accountability, ICS meetings are to be held in secret, apparently without the public being able to attend or even see minutes.


Local authorities are not to be part of ICS in their role as elected representatives of the public. Instead a couple of Local Authority officers are to take part on behalf of several Councils and merely acting in their role as Managers.

The only involvement of the public is that controlled by the ICS themselves i.e. official consultations, focus group type arrangements, ‘citizens panels’ and the like.

Despite many references to involvement, in reality the public and their elected representatives are to be firmly excluded. Even the non – elected, privately run and generally toothless Healthwatch bodies have only a token mention.

In contrast, there is nothing in place to prevent profit making private health companies from taking part in the ICS and policy decisions should they succeed in winning certain contracts in the future.

It is clear to us that the preferred Option 2 would be even less transparent and accountable than Option 1, since it would give all control to the secretive ICS

BOTTOM UP OR TOP DOWN MANAGEMENT

Inexplicably, paragraph 1.1 claims that ICS are a bottom up approach – the very opposite of the actuality which is a centralisation of policy, function, control and finance.

At the heart of the ICS will be a free hand to invent frameworks for delivering health services in their region of England and to allocate fixed budgets for such delivery. Such decisions will be within a framework to be set in turn by NHS England.

We see this is as a huge step away from decisions being made by clinicians. Claims that policy will be clinically driven are not borne out by the detail of the proposals. In reality those few senior clinicians involved in the ICS will become primarily managers, open to being viewed by their colleagues as career motivated or even autocratic.

Although “Integrating Care” is peppered with claims such as “enabling NHS organisations, local councils, frontline professionals and others to join forces to plan and provide around residents’ needs as locally as possible” the plan does the very opposite. In reality it changes the balance of decision making, moving away from clinicians and front line staff towards the ICS centralised management. There would be centralised financial straitjackets and inevitably an increase in centralised measurement of targets.

The vision for the workforce in 2.16 clearly undermines the ethos of public service in favour of a business style view of staff motivated by career goals and meeting targets. Those who fit in may be rewarded; those who use their initiative outside of official targets may be at risk of becoming demoralised.

MOVING AWAY FROM COMMUNITIES

The ICS areas are big regions, each including many varied geographic and social communities. For many years the NHS has evolved to meet the needs of their local communities, employing staff locally and addressing local needs. Despite the claims to the contrary, it’s clear that this is to be undermined. Services will be assessed at Regional ICS level, more remotely than they are now. Indeed some so-called ‘specialist’ services are to be directly controlled by ICS for the whole region.

If you have no money, you can’t afford to travel miles to a hospital. If you have different treatment in different locations, or you are a parent or a carer for someone who does, you may fail to access treatment. If you have no relationship with overworked staff providing the treatment or the admin allocating the treatment, you may fail to access it.

A MOVE TOWARDS MORE INEQUALITY

Even at this early stage, regionally centralised ICS policies are already obscuring the reality of social needs and social discrimination.
Despite the good intentions of those involved, decision makers are simply unaware of the impact of their decisions. Their plans and strategies inevitably brush aside needs that they are unaware of and are not readily quantifiable.

Alongside this is a vision of a move towards Individualisation of Health Care –“put the citizen at the centre of their care”. This is a view of care that might appeal to the young, the well-educated, the articulate and the computer savvy. Others will be left behind.

The model of individualised care will of course be popular with the wealthy, those who can supplement their healthcare with private provision.
Individualised care, driven by digital and data is a model that facilitates finance driven management. It is a system based on targets, moving away from decisions by local clinicians. There are of course exiting possibilities of selective use of online and digital, but this should be to supplement one to one care, not to reduce it as “Integrating Care” may imply.

Strangely, GP practices are hardly mentioned in the “Integrating Care” consultative document, though they will be greatly affected. It seems to us that although unstated, underlying the document is a continuation of the policy to move services “into the community”. Perhaps there is an unstated hope that hard pressed GP practices and online support can somehow substitute for a reduction of local service provision and the move away from holistic local hospital treatment. If so, we think that would be disastrous.

We see no serious attempt to do more than pay lip service to the issue of health inequalities. The promise of some sort of future “needs based allocation formula” only serves to convey a lack of understanding or commitment.

Oliver New
Chair, Ealing Save Our NHS
Info@ealingsaveournhs.org.uk
8 January 2021

https://ealingsaveournhs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ESON-response-to-NHSE-consultation-on-ICS.pdf

• ‘Fixing’ the NHS – Why Labour’s Plan Won’t Work
• GP Crisis – Why Patients should support GPs in their Collective Action
• Goodbye Tories – Hello Labour – What’s in Store for the NHS?
• The General Election: it’s time to get the NHS we want and need!
• Some Good News but GP Access Service still under threat