7th January 2013
So the Government is just over half way through its first term as a modern coalition. In 2010 the people decided that they had had enough of the extremes of government swinging from the right to the left and back again. Each time either Labour Party or the Conservatives got into power they blamed the other party for the mess and spent the next parliament trying to undo what the previous one had done. But now we have a real chance of a Parliament that will not have swung so far to the right that at the next election people will not have to vote Labour back in to redress the balance. In the Coalition there are some good things that have happened, the deficit down by 25%, exports up to growing global markets, the triple lock for pensions and income tax being cut so now 2 million of lowest paid not paying any tax. There are social and public reforms that will be in place for years to come and should stand the test of time. However, there are others that one has to question why the politicians took that route.
The NHS is an example of that. Over the past 30 years politicians have changed some major aspect of the NHS every year bar one, in that year they changed two aspects. The government says there are 6,500 less managers but the reality is that many held both a clinical and managerial role and have been given new titles without the word manager in them or have been made redundant. The number of senior managers has not fallen and many have seen their pay rising whilst clinical staff have faced pay freezes and a rise in their pay deductions. Continually we hear in the media of the bad nursing care but no-one talks about how there are less nurses in the NHS than in 2010 or that bed occupancy has risen, both of which increase workloads on the clinical nurses left. No-one reports the positive care that 95+% of patients receive from nurses. It does not sell media space or airtime. However, if some of the senior managers were got rid of and replaced by clinical nurses then we may well see even more improvements in patient care and this would lead to less opportunity for the media to attack nurses. During my career I continually pointed that managers needs nurses to do their job but nurses do not need managers to do their job. Today we hear how in Staffordshire the senior managers failed to monitor what was going on the wards and the results were fatal. In the days of Matron’s round such situations would not have arisen.
I remember a Chief Executive once saying to me I regularly go around my wards and departments and all my staff know me. Then one day when he was passing through a ward one of my union members asked me who that was. I said it was the Chief Executive; “oh” came the reply “I have never seen him before”. When matron patrolled the wards no nurse would ever have not know who she was. In hospitals suits are worn by the money people and politicians all clinical staff are designated by their professional uniform from porter to consultant. The same applies in the police, military, fire brigade even in private companies, take for example Stobarts.
The Secretary of State for Health says “It is tough and often thankless being an NHS manager …” but he misses the point that they are paid in excess of £50,000 a year. Nurses at the bedside earn half that and are doing and the equally tough and now often thankless task of trying to hold the NHS together. If the Secretary of State really wants to make a difference he would not have voted for the Health & Social Care Bill last year and would be looking to reduce the wages of senior managers so the money could be used to employ more clinical staff at the bedside.
The Health & Social Care Act has allowed private companies to come in a cream off NHS money for their already trough like boardrooms. I cannot see how if you are pumping £100billion into the NHS by allowing private companies to get involved it will lead to more money for patient care. The figures are very simple. £100 billion of tax payers money goes to NHS. NHS then provides private company with access to £100 billion. Private company need profits; around 20%; to feed share holders so now £100 billion is £80 billion. The Tories also want a £20billion budget cut in the NHS. So now the figures read £100bn minus £20bin minus a further £20bn equals £60bn. So in reality by allowing the private sector in and using the NHS to help offset the bankers greed we have reduced the NHS budget to £60billion and further feathered the nest of the Tory Boardrooms. Then Ministers say it is the fault of the nurses that the NHS is failing. But hang on whilst nurses currently make up 70% of the work force the total nurse bill for the NHS is only £7.9bn; or 7.9% of the current NHS budget; so where is the rest going?
The 105 private firms that have gained “any qualified provider” status are not doing this for altruistic reasons and they will be looking to cut corners or make further profits wherever they can. The likes of Specsavers may slowly increase the price of their products not covered by the NHS but having had an NHS examination you have to purchase. We already are hearing of problems with Virgin Care GP surgeries where patients cannot get access to a doctor or a nurse or where serves are continually provided by locums. How is the latter a provision of continuity of care?
I like the idea of coalition government because it stops the extreme swing of the political pendulum but it does require that both parties talk and listen to each other and that the zealots in either party are reigned in by the leaders when they push their crazy extremist ideas.
The National Health Service; providing healthcare to all British citizens free at the point of delivery; is the envy of every country in the world. Without the NHS the United Kingdom cannot remain fit and healthy ready to work to put the Great back into Great Britain.