Silly Asses Still Rule @ No 10

"He's a nasty bit of work!" Arturo exclaimed with feeling. "That chap you call the 'Silver Fox'! That Lansley - berk! He's as stubborn as a mule." He paused. "Didn't someone say that if you're as stubborn as a mule you become an ass! Well! That's Lansley for you: A silly ass!"

You have to agree with Arturo, don't you? 'Silly Ass' Lansley, as I'll call him from now on, refuses to listen to any criticism of his ill-planned Health and Social Care Bill.

The Royal College of Midwives has voiced strong criticisms of the Bill. Their Chief Executive, Cathy Warwick, was quoted in the New Statesman as saying:

... we face subjecting the NHS to full-blown competition and market forces at a time when those very same forces have thrown our economy onto the edge of the abyss. Why take the greed that almost destroyed our entire economy and choose to inject it directly into the heart of the NHS? Greed isn't good, it's bad, and it shouldn't be the driving force behind what motivates those who deliver healthcare within the NHS. Right now the NHS is something special. It exists to care for people. Opening up a US-style free-for-all, where its existence is about providing profit to private companies, is surely not the road down which we want to travel.

That sounds really dire! Cathy Warwick went on to say:

In short, five years from now the NHS might be little more than a state-funded health insurance system, made up of a fragmented mishmash of private companies competing with each other to provide narrow slivers of care. "NHS" would be the logo on the front of it all - but with no real NHS hospitals, no NHS doctors, NHS nurses or NHS midwives. The NHS that has served us pretty well for over 60 years will be gone, something for people to read about in their history books.

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2012/01/health-bill-nhs-private-care

Did 'Silly Ass' Lansley listen? If he did, he did not take it on board!! Too stubborn, or what? Too stupid? Quite possibly!

Cathy Warwick is not the only health expert to make critical comments. In the Observer, last Sunday, an editorial under the headline: Listen to the experts, Mr Lansley – your reforms are wrong made the following comment:

Last week, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy joined the British Medical Association and the Royal College of GPs in calling for the entire bill to be thrown out. Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the RCN, said carrying out the reforms at a time when the NHS has been told that it must find £20bn in efficiency savings is "quite simply the wrong thing to do".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/21/nhs-reform-health-socialcare-bill

No mincing of words from the 'experts'! But, of course, 'Silly Ass' Lansley has cloth ears! He is utterly convinced that he and he alone knows best!

'Boy David' Cameron must be getting a teensy bit anxious over the antics of his 'Silly Ass' Secretary of State. People love their NHS and it no longer looks 'safe' in the Coalition's grubby little hands! One way to restore confidence would be to boot out 'Silly Ass'.

But hang on a minute! Today, a knight in shining armour was seen riding desperately through the mists, a lance in his hand, his trusty shield and buckler at the ready! Who is this unknown knight? I don't believe it!! Can it be? Yes! It is a Tory MP! None other than the Chairperson of the Commons Health Select Committee, Stephen Dorrell.

The contents of the Select Committees's report were 'leaked'. According to the BBC, it indicates that MPs on the Committee had:

strong concerns about the ability of the NHS to make the savings - the equivalent of 4% a year.

It said there had been too much emphasis so far on short-term cuts and "salami-slicing", instead of rethinking the way care is delivered.

And it argued there needed to be more integration with social care to stop people needing hospital treatment, which tends to be more expensive.

But it warned that in some ways the opposite was happening as councils were increasingly restricting access to services.

On the reforms, it concluded they were "complicating" the savings process because they were acting as a "disruption and distraction".

The BBC report went on to say:

BMA chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum said the plans will prove harmful to patients.

"The health select committee say it's distracting - we would say it's completely unnecessary and somewhat dangerous.

"As the Health Select Committee say, it's taking everybody's mind off the real issues, which is trying to run an efficient health service, trying to make changes to the health service for the benefit of patients, and, at the same time, trying to identify savings."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16690273

'Silly Ass' Lansley was not going to take any criticism lying down - well asses seldom do, do they? He let it be known in terms of obvious irritation that he was not best pleased by the report.

An article in the Independent made the following comments:

Mr Lansley insisted that the NHS was delivering efficiency savings and improvements for patients following a warning from MPs that the overhaul of the NHS is hindering efforts to slash health spending without cutting vital services.

“I think the select committee's report is not only out of date but it is also, I think, unfair to the NHS, because people in the NHS, in hospitals and in the community services are very focused on ensuring that they deliver the best care to patients and that they live within the financial challenges that clearly all of us have at the moment,” Mr Lansley told ITV Daybreak.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/lansley-defends-nhs-reforms-after-scathing-report-from-mps-6293775.html

The battle for the NHS is neither over, nor won, nor yet lost. This week will be a crucial time for the Bill. The Lords continue to debate amendments and the various Royal Colleges are trying to get their act together. As one doctor who believes passionately in the protection of the NHS stated in his blog Bevan's Run:

one of Lansley’s three key stated principles underpinning his reforms is “empowering frontline health professionals”. United opposition from the medical and nursing professions would make a mockery of this claim, sending a clear public message of distrust in Mr Lansely and his bill.

So the future of the NHS really does lie in the hands of the Medical Royal Colleges – and they know it.

http://bevansrun.blogspot.com/2012/01/nhs-is-in-hands-of-medical-royal.html

Will 'Silly Ass' Lansley listen? Watch this space!!!

Arturo and I are dining out in Trafalgar Square tonight!

'Bye'