<\/p>\n
Issue: 46<\/b><\/p>\n
March 2017<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This occasional newsletter is researched, written and edited by a group of concerned residents in Ealing, West London who want to preserve our NHS. We view the wholesale engagement of private, for-profit healthcare service suppliers as unnecessary, profligate and dangerous. Process improvement is what is needed in our NHS \u2013 not revolution.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 400 Turn Up to \u2018Save Our NHS\u2019 Public Meeting at Ealing Town Hall: NHS Bosses Refuse to Participate<\/b><\/p>\n It was standing room only at the London Borough of Ealing\u2019s (LBE) \u2018Save Our NHS\u2019 public meeting on 15<\/span>th<\/span> February 2017. NHS bosses were invited to attend the meeting \u2013 but declined LBE\u2019s offer. As well as politicians, the platform speakers were James Guest, Chair of Healthwatch Ealing and Eve Turner, Secretary of Ealing Save Our NHS. James highlighted that in total 865 hospital beds are to be removed across north west London. Eve lit up the evening with her passion and commitment to continue to confront the lies NHS bosses have fed us all and to fight against the planned, massive cuts in finance, beds and staff. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What was revealed to the audience were details of planned cost savings, staff cuts, reduction in hospital beds, the downgrading of Ealing and Charing Cross Hospitals, and closure of A&E units. Facts and anecdotal evidence emerged about the current and future impact of savage cuts to social services. One patient had been discharged from hospital and sent for convalescence at Clayponds Hospital. Subsequent discharge from there was to the local Premier Inn Hotel \u2013 for four weeks!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Major issues raised at the meeting included delays in seeing GPs, waiting times at A&E, delayed elective surgery and inadequate mental health and social services. All residents were urged to quiz their GPs about future Primary Care arrangements. There was a general consensus that Ealing GPs had been consistently silent about any possibly negative aspects of planned cuts and changes. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was pointed out that the latest healthcare and social care proposals \u00a0– the North West London Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) – followed the approach of the failing 2012 NHS NW London \u00a0\u2018Shaping a Healthier Future\u2019 (SaHF) plan. (One major difference however between SaHF and STP is that STP attempts to cut costs and improve healthcare and social care services. SaHF only tries to improve and cut costs for healthcare). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Leaders of Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham Councils confirmed that they had refused to sign up to the STP.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We heard horror stories from NHS staff about days when no carers and no A&E beds were available. Hillingdon Hospital A&E performance continues to be the worst in England. Councillor Aysha Raza pointed out that when Ealing hospital is downgraded many more patients and their loved ones will have to travel to Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow. She has researched the difficulties for Southall residents travelling to Northwick Park. It\u2019s three buses and an overall journey time of 1 hour and 45 minutes!! She was not alone in criticising Dr Mohini Parmar, who seemingly runs Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group, SaHF and the STP. Aysha has noticed that Dr Parmar\u2019s favourite technique when confronted in public with difficult questions or requests for evidence is to announce that \u2018a piece of work is underway to provide\/answer this\u2019. However such work never seems to emerge as a report in the public domain. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n North West London Councillors Quiz Care Planners<\/b><\/p>\n On 20 February 2017 I attended, as an observer, a meeting of the North West London Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee. In theory two Councillors from each of the eight Local Authorities attend these six-monthly meetings. At any one time there were no more than ten Councillors attending. Claire Parker led the small team of NHS NW London bosses. On the agenda were big topics \u2013 the \u00a3513 million capital request for NHS SaHF building work in outer NW London, and the NW London STP.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Quite frankly some of the Councillors questions and observations were banal and irrelevant. However a few of them were brilliant. Councillor John Coombs from Richmond outlined that in Germany STP proposals had been implemented over the last two years. They were failing in spite of the fact that Germany has more doctors, nurses and hospital beds per 1,000 population than England.. Here in England the NHS \u00a0has cut hospital beds for years and plans to cut many more. One third of all our doctors are approaching retiring age. We have fewer trainee nurses. The Government is cutting back on immigration. Pharmacies (which could take some pressure off GPs) are being closed down. And we plan to reduce spending as a percentage of GDP on healthcare and social care over the next five years. Just how can these SaHF\/STP proposals succeed? A spontaneous round of applause broke out from the spectators\u2019 gallery. Ms Parker was clearly rattled by this and blurted out that there are problems but there\u2019s plenty of waste in the care system and massive savings can be achieved by eliminating waste. I\u2019d be surprised if anyone in the room found this a credible response.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The SaHF cash request, which might eventually find its way to H.M. Treasury, breaks down into \u00a369 million for GP surgeries\u2019 enhancements, \u00a3141 million for Out Of Hospital \/Hubs and \u00a3303 million for Acute sites. The NHS expects to receive \u00a39 million from selling off land on the Ealing Hospital site and \u00a37 million from other land sales. No clues are provided as to where a new healthcare facility might be located on the Ealing Hospital site or when and where demolition will take place. Best estimate for when a new healthcare facility will open on the site is November 2022. The NHS bosses are keen to call the new facility a \u2018Local Hospital\u2019. What it will actually be is a Day Care Centre with some \u2018Frail elderly beds\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Painful statements which NHS bosses uttered include:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + \u2018 If we don\u2019t get the \u00a3500 million \u2013 there is no plan B\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + \u00a0\u2018We have more work to do on clinical models\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n (Isn\u2019t 4 years long enough to have sorted this out?)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + \u00a0\u2018The \u2018Evening Standard\u2019 article about job cuts was wrong. We won\u2019t be reducing staff numbers. The information came from draft documents\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n (The fact is that the 7,753 jobs cuts by 2020\/21 was contained in the formal response by the NHS to a Freedom Of \u00a0Information request)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + \u2018 The 2012 SaHF plans did not include any provision for illness prevention, mental health or social care services\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + \u00a0\u2018We are not closing beds to save money\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n (If this is true – why are they doing it?)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + \u00a0\u2018The NHS NW London estate (i.e. its properties) is in worse condition than anywhere else in England\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n (How can this have happened? Surely CCGs, Trusts, NHS England and now defunct PCTs should hang their heads in shame)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the end of the meeting the Chair Councillor Mel Collins asked Ms Parker if the SaHF\/STP proposals were either about residents\u2019 health or cutting costs. She replied \u2018residents\u2019 health\u2019. Just how refreshing would it have been if she had answered truthfully along these lines \u2018They are about cutting costs. We have to reduce our annual spend by \u00a31.4 billion by 2021. However we will do everything we can to provide the best care we can from 2021 with just 60% of the money we are currently spending each year\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n NHS NW London Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) Argue With Themselves About Staff Cuts<\/b><\/p>\n Recently an activist with Brent Patient Voice submitted a Freedom of Information request to NHS bosses about future care staff STP cuts across NHS NW London. The detailed reply quoted 7,753 job losses by 2020\/2021. The \u2018Standard\u2019 newspaper picked up and ran the story.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Incredibly the self styled \u2018Combined CCGs of NW London\u2019 responded to these reported cuts as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018We have no plans to reduce the overall number of health and care staff across NW London \u2013 in fact the total number is likely to increase to reflect increasing demand.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is this a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing? Or is someone simply lying?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n New Health Centre on Ealing Hospital Site by November 2022?<\/b><\/p>\n Under the auspices of the failing 2012 \u2018Shaping a Healthier Future\u2019 (SaHF) project the NWL CCG supergroup now say that what they call \u2018Ealing Local Hospital\u2019 will be built on the Ealing Hospital site by November 2022. As SaHF has missed all previous deadlines we should take this date with a pinch of salt. More salt is needed to believe that H.M. Treasury will sign off \u2018in principle\u2019 \u00a3500 million of capital spending needed for this (and other building projects) by February 2018. However the so called \u2018Full Business Case\u2019 will not be created and submitted before September 2018 \u2013 with Treasury re-blessing expected by April 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As for the new facility, it won\u2019t contain a traditional A&E unit. No blue light ambulances will visit. There will be no Intensive Care beds or consultants, no Maternity unit, no Paediatrics unit. It will primarily feature lots of GPs, diagnostics, outpatients, an Urgent Care Centre and \u2018extended services for frail elderly people\u2019- whatever that might mean. \u00a0Apparently there will be 50 beds for the frail elderly. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are no details on where this new, small facility will be built on the site or when the Major Hospital building that is Ealing Hospital will be demolished.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n West London Mental Health Trust (WLMHT) Receives Poor CQC Ratings in Two Consecutive Years<\/b><\/p>\n The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out a full inspection of WLMHT in November 2016. Its report was published on 9 February 2017. The report does not make pleasant reading. CQC rated 9 of the Trust\u2019s 11 services as \u2018Requires Improvement\u2019. Staff recruitment and retention, patients\u2019 physical health needs, acute ward capacity, poor inpatient environments, and governance processes were cited as areas needing improvement. CQC did find some improvements since its inspection and critical report in 2015. These were in staff morale, better incident reporting, working with partners, creating a single point of access, enhanced assessment and treatment teams and a new Primary Care mental health service. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s not as though all London mental health Trusts are performing as badly as WLMHT. In December 2016, CQC rated South West London and St George\u2019s Mental Health NHS Trust as \u2018Good\u2019 in 8 out of 10 services, and Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust as \u2018Good\u2019 in 5 out of 10 services. <\/span><\/p>\n The NHS Better Care Fund \u2013 Yet Another Expensive, Cost-Cutting Failure<\/b><\/p>\n The NHS Better Care Fund (BCF) was first announced in June 2013. \u00a35.3 billion was to be spent on transforming local health and social care services by pooling resources. Major goals were reducing the number of hospital admissions and making annual cost savings of \u00a31 billion. In November 2014, the National Audit Office (NAO) branded the BCF plan a \u2018shambles\u2019. It could find no evidence as to how these cost savings were going to be achieved. The BCF went \u2018live\u2019 on 1 April 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In November 2015 the Government froze the BCF at \u00a33.8 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n So what has BCF achieved? According to the NAO very, very little:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + The BCF target of reduced hospital admissions was 106,000. In fact over the BCF period hospital admissions have risen by 87,000!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + The BCF has not achieved any cost savings. In fact the BCF has cost an additional \u00a3311 million!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + Better co-operation between NHS healthcare bodies and Local Authorities social care organisations has been observed<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + There have been no announcements or measurements of \u2018better care\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n BCF is another clear example of gross incompetence by Government, the Department of Health and NHS England. One hopes whoever was responsible for designing, goal setting and managing BCF will apologise, resign or be sacked. Norman Lamb MP when serving as a Government minister helped draw up these plans. He is quite obviously one of the culprits.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Issue: 46 March 2017 This occasional newsletter is researched, written and edited by a group of concerned residents in Ealing, West London who want to preserve our NHS. We view the wholesale engagement of private, for-profit healthcare service suppliers as unnecessary, profligate and dangerous. Process improvement is what is needed in our NHS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",1024,512,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2-300x150.png",300,150,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2-768x384.png",640,320,true],"large":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2-1024x512.png",640,320,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",1024,512,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",1024,512,false],"td_0x420":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",840,420,false],"td_80x60":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",80,40,false],"td_100x75":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",100,50,false],"td_180x135":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",180,90,false],"td_238x178":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",238,119,false],"td_265x198":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",265,133,false],"td_300x160":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",300,150,false],"td_300x194":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",300,150,false],"td_300x350":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",300,150,false],"td_341x220":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",341,171,false],"td_341x400":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",341,171,false],"td_511x400":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",511,256,false],"td_537x360":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",537,269,false],"td_640x0":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",640,320,false],"td_640x350":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",640,320,false],"td_681x0":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",681,341,false],"td_681x400":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",681,341,false],"td_741x486":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",741,371,false],"td_1021x580":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",1021,511,false],"mailpoet_newsletter_max":["https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Traveling-in-London-2.png",1024,512,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Eric Leach","author_link":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/?author=2"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":" Issue: 46 March 2017 This occasional newsletter is researched, written and edited by a group of concerned residents in Ealing, West London who want to preserve our NHS. We view the wholesale engagement of private, for-profit healthcare service suppliers as unnecessary, profligate and dangerous. Process improvement is what is needed in our NHS…","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1406,"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405\/revisions\/1406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}