We could have a whole new thread on the NHS. Suffice to say, my Dad spent the last night of his life on a trolley in a cupboard in A&E, so forgive me if I don't share your rosy picture of the NHS under Labour.
I didn't say rosy. I said it was working far better under Labour- a "bloomin' good job"- compared to what we have now. At least I could get an appointment with my GP under Labour. As for people dying in cupboards, I'm sure it does happen, and given the waiting times in A&E are now well in excess of four hours I'm sure it happens more now than it did ten years ago. It was a big thing in the mid-90s, I wonder who were in power then?
Although I would point out that data is not the plural of anecdote.
Anyway Milibands comments about "weaponizing" the NHS gives the game away and shows that he sees the NHS as a political football. The sick, vunerable and even the staff who work in the NHS are just cannon fodder for Mlibands ideological crusade
Source?
The NHS is one of the few things that majority of the electorate care about, it is going to be a big debate in the election campaign. I know the Tories are trying to claim he's turning it into a "political football", but that's because they know the extent of the anger about what they have done to it. The "reforms"- increased marketisation that nobody wanted and the Tories bodged- were not in their manifesto. They know that Miliband will achieve a lot if he can tap into that anger, so they choose to attack him as some communist. It'd be pathetic if it weren't lapped up by so many.
Oswyntail said:
Did you read what I wrote? [I don't know where your link would have taken me as it went to 404] Of course, in any large organisation there are failures, but the truth about the NHS is a lot less bleak than the opposition make out.
Well of course it isn't, the Opposition in an election year aren't going to say the Tories did some good, just as the Tories aren't going to admit their ideological "reforms" were a waste of billions of taxpayers money.
In any large organisation there are failures, but the problem within the NHS now is fragmentation and short-termism.
The commissioners don't know what they are doing- they're doctors not procurement specialists- and are not accountable to anyone, completely reliant on
private sector lobbyists independent consultants like McKinsey, yet they control the budget and the future of services rests in their hands. In my partner's service they are now only issuing 12-month contracts to new staff because the service cannot rely on funding anymore; they know that if a private company wants the contract the commissioners will have their heads turned by McKinsey and the funding will be gone. There can be no future planning in the service because they don't know if they will actually have any service in 24 months.
The staff on the ground have seen their pay frozen- despite the independent pay review saying they should get an increase- and have lost much of their job security. The good and experienced staff are leaving and the rest are seriously demoralised. We're back to how we were in 1996; I wonder who was in charge then too?
