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Short film explaining what is happening to the NHS

This short film explains how the current crisis in the NHS has come about, arguing that it is not – as the government argues – because the model of the NHS is now inappropriate or that the NHS is unsustainable.

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Training for patients to speak out

As the underfunded NHS finds it increasingly difficult to cope, the campaign organisation Just Treatment is organising media training for those who lost friends or family during last year’s winter crisis. The hope is that their stories will push government to provide adequate funding and help prevent similar tragedies this winter. Just Treatment is asking for donations to cover the cost of the training. For details see here.

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Implications of the 2023 Autumn Statement

The £20 billion package of tax cuts in the government’s Autumn Statement (2023) is to be funded by huge, real-term cuts to public spending and public investment in capital projects like new hospital buildings. Economists say the plans lack credibility, especially as public services like the NHS are already under huge pressure. As there is no longer any room for increased productivity in an NHS that is cut to the bone, if these plans go through, the quality or availability of public services are bound to suffer.

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Increased costs of NHS PFIs due to rises in inflation

A new report from the Centre for Health and Public Interest shows the impact of high inflation on the affordability of PFI contracts for the NHS.

It finds the total ‘affordability gap’ over the past 2 years due to rises in inflation is £264,191,869 in cash terms. If this gap is not funded by government, the money to meet the additional payments involved will have to come out of other parts of Trusts’ budgets. Most Trusts said that no additional funding had been made.

See here for more background information on PFIs and the NHS

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The Federated Data Platform, Palantir and the Good Law Project

The NHS seems poised to give a massive data contract worth nearly half a billion pounds to a company called Palantir.  Palantir has been described as one of America’s “scariest” tech giants – for more details on their history, see here. The contract is for a Federated Data Platform (FDP) that will bring together patients’ data from the NHS’s 42 ICSs.  It’s claimed  that this platform will help to trace individual patients across the health and care system, coordinate care, reduce waiting lists and free up beds, as well as provide an overview – e.g.  of how different providers work together, or allow the monitoring of treatment safety.

NHS England claims working with Palantir should not cause us concern because the information it will share is “pseudonymous” or stripped of identifying details. However, it’s not hard to piece together anonymised health records in a way that can lead to patients being identified.

The digital lead of the BMA’s GP committee notes that awarding such work to Palantir risks undermining patients’ confidence about the use of their personal data.  This echoes the results of a YouGov poll which found that 48% of adults in England  are likely to opt out of sharing their personal data if the FDP is run by a private company. This potential loss of data (it’s unclear how effective the ‘opt out’ process will be) would introduce a significant bias in the NHS data store that would seriously undermine the data quality. (For more information about the collection of patients’ data, and schemes for opting out, see here.)

The Good Law Project, a not-for-profit campaign organisation that uses the law for a better world, is working with a prospective claimant to make sure that every patient can opt out of having their information shared with a private company like Palantir. It is concerned that the National Data Opt-Out system is not fit for purpose. The Good Law Project is looking for other claimants to join this work, especially those with particularly sensitive medical records, to make sure everyone gets to have a say over whether or not they are happy for their medical records to get into the hands of a company like Palantir. To take part contact legal@goodlawproject.org. You can also donate to support this work

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Lack of tangible benefits from Integrated Care Systems

The Commons Public Accounts Committee charged with looking at the introduction of ICSs has found that these are likely to fail unless the government gets to grip with systemic problems such as underfunding, staff shortages, crumbling buildings, plus the waiting list backlog. The Committee was unclear what tangible benefits ICSs would create for patients,  when improvements to population health might be seen, and how significant these would be. It also referred to the government’s ongoing failure to deal with the workforce crisis, the dental crisis and the problems preventing the integration of health and social care services.

February 2023
Posted in Breaking News, Uncategorized

If you wish to contribute to a strike fund for nurses

The Royal College of Nursing has provided a link to donate to a strike fund in response to public desire to support striking nurses.

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Government commissioned report identifies “a decade of neglect” has weakened the NHS

Research by the King’s Fund that, embarrassingly, was commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care has found that years of ‘managed decline’ and underfunding of the health service by the Cameron government onwards has left the NHS with too few staff, too little equipment and too many outdated buildings to tackle the £7 million backlog of care.

(See our page on ‘Funding and cuts’ for more details.)

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Nurses call on Prime Minister for fair pay and safe patient care

The Royal College of Nursing, for the first time in its long history, is urging its members to take industrial action because nurses are underpaid, undervalued and highly stressed in the face of dangerous understaffing. Vacancies are at an all time high (meaning patients are at risk) because nurses can’t afford to stay or join the profession. The action is a last resort. The RCN states that, if the strike goes ahead, it will be carried out in a way that is legal, responsible and puts patient safety first.

See here for more information about the relationship between the nursing workforce crisis, patient safety and nurses’ pay.

To add your name to a letter from the RCN to the Prime Minister calling for fair pay for nurses and safe patient care, see here.

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New (no, old) Secretary of State’s plan for the NHS

Therese Coffey’s so-called Plan for Patients  claims to focus on ambulances, backlogs, care, doctors and dentists, but fails to show how it can improve current problems without extra funding or a strategy to ensure a sufficient workforce.

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