My email to Stephen Dorrell, Chairman of Health Select Committee, on GP practice boundaries
“If your committee is unable to scrutinise this policy thoroughly, then who should?” George Farrelly shares an email to Stephen Dorrell MP about the Government’s proposal to abolish GP practice boundaries.
How to save the NHS
“In essence it’s a guide to how to become a politically engaged citizen. It would appear that we are only going to be able to save the NHS if we can save democracy while we’re at it.” Jonathon Tomlinson reviews NHS SOS.
Department of Health response to my email to Jeremy Hunt: the smell of rotting fish
“Yesterday I received the following email from the Department of Health. It alleges to be a reply to my email of 8/9/13 to Jeremy Hunt (see previous post). It does not address any of the concerns I raised in that email.” George Farrelly shares the response that he has received to his recent email to Jeremy Hunt MP.
10 things I want to hear at the Labour Conference
“That time of year is coming when once again I dare to hope that Labour will become I party I can support again. It’s a hope that is pretty forlorn, and has been for many years, but I seem to be unable to stop myself from dreaming of the possibilities.” Paul Bernal sets out 10 things that he hopes to hear at Labour Conference.
Health service transformation is urgently needed
“The Francis report, mortality rates, the treatment of whistleblowers, relentlessly negative media coverage, and a system crisis over last winter, have combined to create a perfect storm in the NHS.” Dr Mark Newbold makes the case for transformation of the health service.
Frontline Friday 30th August 2013: Our favourite frontline blogs this week
Here’s our list of ten frontline blogs we’ve particularly liked from the week of 26th August 2013 - from housing policy and community engagement in health, to the political intentions behind the Government’s Lobbying Bill.
Compassion in mental health reporting
Ask me about what I would change about societal attitutes towards mental health issues and I’d have a long, long list. However, pretty close to the top of the list would be addressing the attitude of the media towards mental health. Yesterday I was sat reading my Twitter feed when I saw the following from […]
Clinical commissioning groups… fancy doing a survey?
I have recently been doing the monumental task of looking through each of the 211 new clinical commissioning groups (these replaced Primary Care Trusts) websites. Clinical Commissioning Groups are a flagship health policy of the Coalition, giving spending control of 60% of the NHS budget to groups of practitioners – notably General Practitioners or GPs. […]
What do you call a person who receives mental health services?
There are people who have had bad experiences of mental health services – you only have to look in the comments sections of my posts on this blog to find people who have nothing good to say about mental health services - who would answer “victim”. (I just thought I’d get that in first). But this […]
Painting the picture…
Earlier this week I tweeted about the wisdom of my first ever boss. Dr Kemp was a fantastic, old-school doctor and I couldn’t have wished for a more supportive or inspiring Consultant in my first FY1 job. I’m sure he is a major reason why I pursued a career as a Physician. At the end […]
Room to breathe in defence of the NHS
“We need to engage with the already existing, vibrant user-led movements and NHS workers challenging conventional mental health care and think about what these movements could offer for health care as a whole.” Ramona argues that we can criticise NHS mental health care at the same time as making the case for why privatisation would be worse.
So who is in charge?!
Here’s what’s wrong with mental health care in the UK << he modestly claimed! No one is in charge of it – at all. It’s not a system – it’s a coincidence. You might want to pop the kettle on before you tackle this one! You’ve only got to follow the @Twitter feeds of a few MH trust Chief […]
NHS SOS
It has taken a year in the making but I was so proud to see the book I had contributed to on a shelf at WHSmith the other day. Last year a few of us sat down and realised we needed to set the record straight on the betrayal that the NHS was subjected to […]
We need to have a chat about the NHS
Lately, I’ve noticed - indeed been on the receiving end - of a new phenomenon. Suddenly, all over middle England, those drifting gently to the right of a fairly rightish centreground keep popping up on my timelines or in my inbox - or even all over my telly - to tell me patient care in […]
Male mental health
There are various things going on at the moment that got me thinking about male mental health. Here are a range of different issues that have hit my radar over the last few years: 1. We know that around 75% of suicides are men – we also know that men are less likely to seek help when […]
The NHS at 65: the Coalition are retiring our public health service
The National Health Service (NHS) celebrates its 65th birthday today. While coalition politicians cut ribbons, they are also busy cutting the lifelines that make the service viable. Ceaseless scare stories, never ending costly reorganisations, rampant commercialisation and privatisation, and deliberate loading of unsustainable debt onto hospital balance sheets. It is time for a reminder of what […]
£3.8bn for health and social care? No thanks!
When I heard the announcement that the Government was creating a £3.8bn pot to fund social care my heart sank. Not because the funding isn’t needed. It clearly and quite desperately is. But this isn’t new money. It’s money that is currently in the “ring fenced, protected” NHS budget and used to provide services free […]
The political class: Why big ideas are a big waste of time and money
The political class and frontline practitioners not only have different ideas for improving public services - they also disagree fundamentally on what the problem is.
Are GPs too lazy?
Two evenings ago, when I arrived home at 9pm for supper, my daughter, with a smile on her face, pointed me to the front cover of the current edition of The Week which asks ‘Are GPs too lazy?’ She and her brother were always clear that they were not going to study medicine because they thought their parents, both GPs, worked […]
Discharge is key to emergency care crisis
This blog was first published here on HospitalDr on 20th May The crisis in emergency care has now been acknowledged as a ‘system’ problem, rather than something caused by ‘poorly performing’ acute trusts. I am sure readers of this website have known this all along. It is important this is recognised, so that the right solutions are considered. Of course, […]