NHS
Abuse of power in the NHS - the Kerr Haslam Inquiry
Ellen Kemp looks into the sexual abuse scandal involving vulnerable people that didn’t rock the nation.
In July 2005 the Kerr Haslam Inquiry reported its findings to the Minster of Health. Unlike of the Shipman inquiry or the inquiry into the deaths of babies in Bristol, this report has not made the headlines.
PFI scheme reignites for NHS
Two major victories for government supporters of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding for improvements to public services have been approved in the last two weeks.
At St Bartholemew’s hospital in London, £1bn for re-development has been authorised to be split between the facility and the Royal London. The deal will be run on a PFI basis, meaning that companies will effectively loan the hospitals money for the revamp, to be paid back over a 35 year period.
Thousands protest against hospital closure
Around 5000 people marched in Ayr yesterday to protest against the closure of a casualty unit.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran want to close the A&E unit at Ayr Hospital and transfer it to Crosshouse Hospital - 18 miles away on the outskirts of Kilmarnock.
However protesters brought Ayr High Street to a standstill during the protest, and a petition against the changes has had 55,000 signatures.
NHS nurses could begin working-to-rule
The Royal College of Nursing has stated that nurses could refuse to work one day a week per nurse if they are not given a 3% pay hike.
Nurses work on average nearly a day of unpaid, additional overtime per week, and it is this work which could be refused if their pay demand is not met.
An RCN survey showed that 31% of nurses would work-to-rule.
By libcom.org news
MORE INFORMATION
* NHS: The cost of privatisation
NHS: The cost of privatisation
The government’s controversial private finance initiative is floundering. Patricia Hewitt’s review of the £1.28bn PFI plan for the Barts and The London hospitals trust, prompted by spiralling costs revealed last December, also raises questions about the whole policy.
Professor Allyson Pollock, head of the Centre for International Public Health Policy wrote in the Guardian:
NHS failing asylum seekers
New research shows the the growing inequalities in healthcare in the UK that the NHS is unable to tackle.
The 16 January 2006 saw the launch of Project London, a new health care project in the east end of London. Project London is organised by Médecins du Monde (UK), a charity that organises health care across the world but is increasingly becoming involved in projects in western Europe.
NHS Pensions Agency staff vote for strike action
Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) working for the NHS Pensions Agency (NHSPA) in Fleetwood have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action over the effects of plans to privatise the agency.
80% of those taking part in the ballot voted in favour of a one day strike on 20 January. The agency which looks after the pensions of approximately 1. 25 million NHS staff is set for privatisation this year without a tender process or any competition.
NHS workers strike in Newcastle
Over 600 staff at hospitals in Newcastle were out on a 24 hour strike this week with more potential action coming up.
The industrial action is the result of new Agenda for Change rules which allow new staff to earn more than staff with many years of experience.
This has seen staff with more than 20 years of experience being paid 20p an hour less than colleagues who are new to the job.
