NHS Bill going up in smoke @ No 10

"Ah Ha!" Arturo exclaimed. "About time too! These Physicians have taken their time about it - but like the 7th Cavalry, they are riding to the rescue!" He indicated a laptop screen.

I peered at it for some time, still trying to get the image of the 7th Cavalry out of my head! I read:

Royal College of Physicians EGM strongly opposed to Health Bill

http://abetternhs.wordpress.com/

I now understood Arturo's comment, 'About time too!'. However, if you are in a wagon circled by gunslingers any sounding of the 7th Cavalry bugle comes as welcome relief. And you have to admit that the poor old NHS is surrounded by a motley gang of unscrupulous gunslingers.

First there is 'Silly Ass' Lansley metaphorically flashing his Colt 45 at anyone daring to criticise his NHS plans. His jaw set determinedly against any more changes to the so-called 'reforms'. In the debate today in Parliament, he looked angry and out-of-sorts spitting verbal bullets in all directions. If Nicholas 'Ridiculous' Clegg had made himself available he would surely have been the main target!

Why Nicholas 'Ridiculous' Clegg, do you ask? Well, Clegg is worried, very worried indeed. Not about the NHS, you understand! No. He's worried that in just under two weeks' time the LibDems will be holding their Spring Conference.

The Conference website states:

Spring Conference, 9-11 March 2012, NewcastleGateshead

Under 'Health', it states:

The NHS represents values which unite us as a nation - a comprehensive health service, which treats all people equally, and is free when we need it.

http://www.libdems.org.uk/health.aspx

On 27 February, a letter appeared on the site from Clegg and Baroness Shirley Williams. Towards the end of the letter, they said:

... we believe conference can be reassured that it has finished the job it started last March and the Bill should be allowed to proceed.

http://www.libdems.org.uk/latest_news_detail.aspx?title=Nick_Clegg_and_Shirley_Williams%3a_The_bill_now_going_before_the_House_of_Lords_deserves_our_support&pPK=a597a3d1-d5f5-4bde-b893-5813d5fe3a53

Well! Well! Nicholas 'Ridiculous' Clegg and Baroness Williams how can you possibly square that sentiment with the view expressed by many of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians that:

the Health and Social Care Bill will harm the health and healthcare of the population

and that

the College should publicly oppose the Health and Social Care Bill

http://abetternhs.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/rcp/

And this, of course, is why our Clegg, being a shrewd chap with impeccable PR credentials, has decided to make a show of standing up for the NHS. He hopes to save his skin from the more vocal members of his Party who actually really believe that

patients must come first

http://www.libdems.org.uk/health.aspx

'Silly Ass' Lansley's verbal bullets would also be aimed directly at the Royal College of Physicians, if he could reach them! They have taken a long time to saddle their horses and spur them into action. But now they are ready to sound the 'Charge!'.

On the abetternhs website, the following details about the Monday 27 February EGM of the Royal College of Physicians can be found:

89% agreed that the Health and Social Care Bill will harm the health and healthcare of the population (8% voted against, 3% abstained)

79% agreed that the College should publicly oppose the Health and Social Care Bill (18% voted against, 2% abstained)

At the Meeting, it was announced that

Over 92% of 878 fellows and members who responded to the survey said they believed the RCP should publicly call for the withdrawal of the Health and Social Care Bill

http://abetternhs.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/rcp/

Now this is really quite something! The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is the oldest of the Royal Colleges. It can trace its roots back to King Henry VIII. Old Henry would be amazed to see the RCP beginning to take its stand against the unruly mob of the Coalition which seems hell-bent on destroying the NHS. Their stand began yesterday at the Extraordinary General Meeting.

Dr David Nicholl was one of the Fellows who spoke at the meeting. Subsequently, he wrote in the Guardian Comment is Free

The NHS bill is beyond repair

. He wrote:

Like all such institutions, the RCP is a cautious and careful organisation. Maybe, it is sometimes even a little slow. It certainly does not naturally line up in the ranks of political activists and campaigners.

He continued:

... the conclusion of most of those at today's meetimg is that the bill is incoherent, damaging to the NHS and beyond rescue.

He went on to say:

We were told that the bill would make the NHS more efficient and more cost effective. It won't....We were told that the bill would make things less bureaucratic. It won't. ... We were told that the bill was essential to control spiralling healthcare costs. It isn't. ... We were told that the bill means more choice for patients and more control over their healthcare. It doesn't.

Each of his points was carefully presented. Dr Nicholl argued that:

For all these reasons and others, doctors, nurses and other health professionals have finally concluded that the bill is beyond rescue. Opinion polls show that view is shared by a large majority of the British public.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/27/royal-college-of-physicians-nhs-bill

It is a very sad reflection on the intransigence of both 'Boy David' Cameron and 'Silly Ass' Lansley that men of standing, integrity and honour are forced to speak publicly of their sadness.

Arturo was nodding away to himself, the whole time. Then suddenly he said:
"Boy, oh Boy! Once these Physicians get going then the going will get really rough! A full 7th Cavalry Charge in full-on mode is not to be withstood!"

We looked at each other and decided to have a sup at the bowl of cream left so invitingly on the kitchen table!

'Bye'

Responsible ... What? @ No 10

"It's a weird world", Arturo told me. "There are campaigns for 'responsible gambling' and 'responsible drinking'. Fat people are told to eat in a responsible way and slim down! Poor people are told to be responsible and to get a job - when there aren't any! I could go on! You get the gist?"

He's right, of course! There's obviously a vigorous campaign to push responsible behaviour. Let's take a look at the 'actualities', as they say!

On every High Street there are more Betting Shops than food stores! In every supermarket there are row upon row of discounted cans of lager, cider and beer. Every half hour or so there are cooking programmes on the TV. These are followed by adverts for chocolates or crisps!

Betting shop windows offer either '£10 of free bets!', 'More slots!' or 'Win! Win! Win!' Obviously gambling is being very actively
promoted. So as Arturo asked

How can you gamble responsibly with all that going on?

The Gambling Commission states that one of its roles will :

ensure that gambling licence holders act in a socially responsible way towards their customers.

http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/gf-useful_links/problem_gambling.aspx

So! If that is the case - what's responsible about all the in-your-face advertising that promises people that they can 'win! win! win!'? Maybe - just maybe - once in a while, it might be an idea for the Gambling Commission to make sure that the 'responsibility' is not overwhelmed by the fantastical promotions!

Responsible drinking is a joke too! Doctors warn about the number of units that are 'safe' to drink. They have explained how the numbers of young people presenting with serious liver damage is increasing. At weekends, town centres are full of youngsters binge-drinking and causing mayhem to themselves and others.

Meanwhile, politicians gabble about whether or not to set a realistic, specific minimum price for alcohol. Of course, the government gets good revenue from the drinks trade! And what's responsible about row after row of supermarket shelves piled high with cheap drinks? Arturo mumbled

How can you drink responsibly with all that going on?

So far, there are no campaigns actually called 'responsible eating'. However, there are hints that the obese need to cut out the calories. This is difficult when chips and burgers are so cheap. Then there's BOGOF - Buy One Get One Free. BOGOF is nearly always on chocolates, crisps or fizzy, sugar-laden drinks! Arturo licked his lips and muttered

How can you eat responsibly with all that going on?

'Boy David' Cameron, never slow at jumping on a speeding bandwagon, just loves to utter the word 'responsible'. It's just SO cognoscenti, don't you know? And where better to apply the adjective than before the precious word 'capitalism'?

Last week, Cameron uttered the word 'responsible' several times during a speech. The Guardian commented below the video of Cameron's speech:

In a speech on 'responsible, popular capitalism' at New Zealand House in central London, David Cameron says open markets are the best method of increasing human wealth and happiness. He says the capitalist system promotes morality in a 'something-for- something' society, because it creates a direct link between contribution and reward

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/video/2012/jan/19/david-cameron-responsible-capitalism-video

So, what did 'Boy David' Cameron actually say?

"Three years ago I argued that the previous government's turbo-capitalism turned a blind eye to corporate excess...

...while we believed in responsible capitalism and would make it happen."

Well, well! That's telling 'em!

He went on:

"I want these difficult economic times to achieve more than just paying down the deficit and encouraging growth.

I want them to lead to a socially responsible and genuinely popular capitalism.

One in which the power of the market and the obligations of responsibility come together."

http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2012/01/economy-capitalism-market

Fine words! Worthy of the most brilliant minds among the cognoscenti! But has it happened? The poorest in the country are getting poorer. Benefits are being cut! Homelessness is rising. Food prices are going up! Oh! I nearly forgot! Bankers are still getting bonuses!

If that's 'socially responsible and genuinely popular capitalism' then what's irresponsible capitalism going to be like?

"Humans are strange creatures!" Arturo nodded sadly. "I think you and me, mi old pal, is goin' to do a bit of responsible food-catching. That means we're goin' to grab those chicken thighs on top of the kitchen work-surface!"

"Just like the bankers did?" I asked

"Yep! You could say that again!" Arturo grinned.

'Bye'

NHS in tatters @ No 10

"Of course, it's now a matter of pride that this shambles of a Health & Social Care Bill gets through." Arturo said knowingly. "'Boy David' Cameron has done so many U-turns, during his time as PM, that he must be giddy! He's now convinced he has to pretend he's a man. Everyone's going to Hell and Back but he won't worry. So long as he looks strong, that's all that matters to our PM."

"Well, he is an ex-PR man!" I replied.

"Ex! Ex! There's nothing ex PR about him!" Arturo exclaimed. "Cameron is only PR. He'd do or say anything to get a round of applause!"

Arturo is right! The problem is that 'Boy David' Cameron is not only a PR man - he's a stupid PR man! He doesn't have the sense to understand what he and 'Silly Ass' Lansley are doing with this Health and Social Care Bill. Cameron should read, or if it's too difficult for him, get someone else to read to him, the various editorials and reports in the Press during the last week or two.

On February 6, Polly Toynbee wrote in the Guardian:

The NHS bill could finish the health service – and David Cameron
The market ideology of the health and social care bill shows that the pragmatic prime minister is on another planet

That really says it all, doesn't it? What really clever PR man would want to read a headline like that? It proves - Cameron is just plain daft!

Polly Toynbee continued:

All but abolished are 151 primary care trusts – replaced by 279 clinical commissioning groups – while strategic health authorities are to become four hubs. The new national commissioning board already has a chief executive and finance director with seven board members recruited on salaries of up to £170,000 before the bill is passed. Brass plate shifting has squandered £2bn, while the NHS suffers cuts of £20bn. McKinsey and KPMG already have fat contracts to take over much commissioning supposed to be done by GPs. Which sector will they instinctively favour for contracts? Yet none of it has yet passed into law. The health economist Professor Kieran Walshe says £1bn could still be saved by stopping it now.

Maybe 'Silly Ass' Lansley does know what he's doing. But that is really sinister, isn't it? Just think about it for a moment or two!

Polly Toynbee concluded:

The bill is so contradictory that it will end up challenged in the courts. Cameron seems to be on some other planet when he sends out orders to his devolved and fragmented system instructing nurses to check every patient every hour, or calling suddenly for "integration" between NHS and social care, when his bill prevents it.
Will the voters understand? They know one big thing: Cameron promised to protect the NHS, yet hundreds of units will go bust as waiting times soar. Ed Miliband put it crisply: the money wasted could pay for the 6,000 nurses the NHS is cutting. On the NHS Labour did well, eliminating long waits, with its highest ever public approval; the OECD named it the one of the best performers in the world. This is Labour turf. Cameron will regret digging it up.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/06/nhs-bill-finish-cameron-ideology

I looked at my pal, Arturo, and commented to him: "There's a saying that,

'Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad'"

Arturo thought for a moment and nodded: "Perhaps, that's the explanation!"

'Bye' from us both.

'Before the fiddlers have fled' @ No 10

Arturo was humming and singing! Not a pretty sound. I actually caught some of the words:

There may be trouble ahead,
But while there's moonlight ...(humming!)
Let's face the music and dance.

Before the fiddlers have fled,
Before they ask us to pay the bill,
And while we still have the chance,
Let's face the music and dance.

There may be teardrops to shed...(humming!)

He chortled in a somewhat sinister way, as he pointed at a laptop screen. "I reckon, the 'fiddlers' are fleeing at this very moment! Now we just gotta wait for 'Boy David's 'teardrops'! 'Cos 'Silly Ass' Lansley has already really upset the Coalition apple-cart."

Arturo hit the nail on the head! 'Boy David' Cameron is right in shtuck! And he knows it! If you'd seen his purple face and furrowed brow during Prime Minister's Questions, you'd understand why Arturo was so gleeful! Cameron had no answer to the barrage of questions from Miliband about the Health and Social Care Bill! In fact, Cameron made himself look a bit of an idiot! And Lansley looked even sicker! He leaned against the insubstantial shoulder of Michael Fabricant, MP for Lichfield for support. If you need Fabricant for support - you must really be in trouble!

So why all this angst amongst the High and Mighty within the Coalition? Well, it's the whisperings in the corridors; the fear of what ConservativeHome will say next! And it's all because of 'Silly Ass' Lansley's ill-considered plans for the NHS!

On ConservativeHome today, there was a posting. Its headline was:

The unnecessary and unpopular NHS Bill could cost the Conservative Party the next election. Cameron must kill it.

It was written by Tim Montgomerie. The opening was as follows:

The NHS was long the Conservative Party’s Achilles heel. David Cameron’s greatest political achievement as Leader of the Opposition was to neutralise health as an issue. The greatest mistake of his time as Prime Minister has been to put it back at the centre of political debate.

Oh dear! Maybe those 'teardrops' are about to be shed in buckets! It seems that Tim Montgomerie has good reason to write this post. What are those reasons? Nothing more nor less than three of them. Yes! Three Cabinet Ministers have whispered into his shell-like ear!

Montgomerie wrote:

Speaking to ConservativeHome, three Tory Cabinet ministers have now also rung the alarm bell. One was insistent the Bill must be dropped. Another said Andrew Lansley must be replaced. Another likened the NHS reforms to the poll tax. The consensus is that the Prime Minister needs an external shock to wake him to the scale of the problem.

Sounds nasty, doesn't it? So what does our Tim suggest should be done?

The NHS Bill is not just a distraction ... but potentially fatal to the Conservative Party's electoral prospects. It must be stopped before it's too late.

/http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7255535567918363831

In the midst of this furore, the Coalition's Deputy Prime Minister, 'Wailing Lad' Clegg sits on the Front Bench looking as bemused as a child who has gone to the wrong classroom and finds himself out of his depth!

Sad really! The two middle-aged hopefuls, Cameron and Clegg, who gazed into each others eyes in the rose garden of No 10, now have to face up to the fact that the Coalition is in real trouble. The British love their NHS. They will never forgive the government that destroys it.

Arturo and I just hope Cameron and Clegg bought enough tissues to wipe away those 'teardrops' Arturo was humming about. I reckon, they'll be needing them sooner rather than later. But if they do need them - possibly the NHS will be safer!

'Bye'

Gobbledegook & Jiggery-pokery @ No 10

"Thought it was just me!" Arturo said. "Turns out, no one else understands this NHS Bill either!" He pointed to various tabs on a monitor screen. "Take a gander, mi old pal!"

So I did!

The first tab showed:

Lansley's NHS bill is unnecessary, incomprehensible and possibly illegal. Other than that it's great.

It was a blog post on the Telegraph site written by Tom Chivers. He commented on the growing opposition to the Health and Social Care Bill from an increasing number of health professionals. These include general practitioners and nurses.

The post went on to comment:

What's really weird about it, though, is that no one seems to know what Lansley is doing, why he is doing it, and whether what he has done so far is even legal.
...
But let's imagine, then, that only Mr Lansley can understand the bill, but that nonetheless it is well designed to achieve what it is meant to achieve. What precisely is it meant to achieve?

Tom Chivers continued:

Mark Pearson, head of health at the OECD, said: "The UK is one of the best performers in the world. But outcomes are not what you expect because there is a big reform every five years. We calculate that each reform costs two years of improvements in quality. No country reforms its health service as frequently as the UK." Essentially, it ain't broke, yet we keep fixing it. Pearson again: "The NHS is so central to the political process that every politician has to promise to improve the NHS. But there's no big reform that will improve it. Better to let it bed down and tinker rather than wondering about more or less competition. It is less the type of system that counts, but rather how it is managed."

Well! We already knew that the NHS was considered one of the best health services in the world - but, of course, 'Silly Ass' Lansley just had to know better, didn't he? He even convinced 'Boy David' Cameron that reforming the NHS would be the great flagship legislation of Cameron's Coalition Government!

Tom Chivers and several others don't quite see it that way:

Maybe Mr Lansley knows precisely what he is doing and the legal basis for doing it. But the fact remains that the NHS is not in dire need of fixing, and that fixing in general does more harm than good. It's also a strange political decision: as the doctor and journalist Ben Goldacre tweeted recently, "Destroying the NHS is the one thing almost everyone, regardless of affiliation, fears about a Tory government, and they're doing it. Very odd choice. The NHS will ruin the Tories." Hopefully, before they ruin the NHS.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100134154/lansleys-nhs-bill-is-unnecessary-incomprehensible-and-possibly-illegal-other-than-that-its-great/

In his blog, Chivers refers to an article in the BMJ by Martin McKee, professor of public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. I decided to take a closer look at this. I found the following headline:

Does anyone understand the government’s NHS reforms, asks senior professor

If a professor of public health doesn't understand it - no wonder Arturo and I are befuddled by it! Not only is Professor Martin McKee an academic, he has "25 years of experience researching health systems, including writing over 30 books and 500 academic papers." (http://www.bmj.com/press-releases/2012/01/17/does-anyone-understand-government%E2%80%99s-nhs-reforms-asks-senior-professor)

In the article, Professor McKee stated:

“I have tried very hard, as have some of my cleverer colleagues, but no matter how hard we try, we always end up concluding that the bill means something quite different from what the secretary of state says it does.” ... even Malcolm Grant, the incoming chairman of the National Commissioning Board, has described the bill as “completely unintelligible.”

Now that is just what Arturo meant when he said that 'Silly Ass' Lansley was all 'gobbledook and jiggery-pokery'! You cannot trust a politician to say anything in a straightforward way! That is especially true of many of the politicians in the present Coalition government - particularly 'Silly Ass' Lansley!!

Professor McKee continued:

“The prime minister has reassured us that he will not privatise the NHS. Yet the management of one hospital has just been handed over to what is essentially a private equity consortium,”

Arturo said: "It gets worse by the minute, doesn't it?"

Professor McKee concluded:

“I realise that my bewilderment may simply be a consequence of my own failure to understand the insights that have been granted to wiser and more learned individuals than myself … But I’m also hoping that someone, somewhere, among the BMJ’s extensive and erudite readership, will be able to help me.”

http://www.bmj.com/press-releases/2012/01/17/does-anyone-understand-government%E2%80%99s-nhs-reforms-asks-senior-professor

Of course, this is all so reminiscent of poor Alice's confusion in 'Through the Looking Glass' when she met Humpty Dumpty who informed her, in no uncertain terms:

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master — that's all."

That is the crux of the issue. 'Silly Ass' Lansley and his cronies have their own agenda. They will use obfuscation and gobbledegook to confuse even the most erudite in their plan to sneak the Bill through Parliament. If we are sufficiently confused, we won't see the real jiggery-pokery going on - the stealthy privatisation of the Health Service. My friends, this present Health and Social Care Bill is nothing more nor less than full-on jiggery-pokery!

Watch out, 'Silly Ass' Lansley, some people have sussed what you are up to! You will NOT get away with it!

As for me and Arturo, we're eating with Larry tonight!

'Bye' from us both