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Anyone unlucky enough to need A&E at Addenbrookes recently will be aware of their interesting wheeze to reduce waiting time.... you have to queue outside in the rain to be assessed by a nurse just inside the twirly door. It took me 45 mins to start my wait last month.
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 13:01 - Nov 14 by lowhouseblue
as I said -'for most people'. politics if often about trying to understand what other people think. I guess the stronger your own views become the more difficult that is.
if you don't understand how a broad range of voters think about stuff, and that it is different from how you think about stuff, elections must be a bit of a mystery to you.
Alright, easy, this thread hasn't descended into petty insults yet you miserable sod! :)
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 13:01 - Nov 14 by lowhouseblue
as I said -'for most people'. politics if often about trying to understand what other people think. I guess the stronger your own views become the more difficult that is.
if you don't understand how a broad range of voters think about stuff, and that it is different from how you think about stuff, elections must be a bit of a mystery to you.
I've never met anyone who has a good word to say about him. But maybe they are out there; I'll take it as a given based on what people are saying on this thread. Never mind GEs being a mystery , I struggle to understand people these days!
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 13:03 - Nov 14 by Dyland
Alright, easy, this thread hasn't descended into petty insults yet you miserable sod! :)
there was a report this morning about one of those focus group exercises in which they asked non-tory voters which fictional character they compared boris to. the most common comparison was homer simpson. which is interesting because, given that boris is hated by many, and these were non-tory voters, that's actually a pretty affectionate comparison. I thought that was interesting.
And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show
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A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 13:09 - Nov 14 with 2277 views
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 13:05 - Nov 14 by Swansea_Blue
I've never met anyone who has a good word to say about him. But maybe they are out there; I'll take it as a given based on what people are saying on this thread. Never mind GEs being a mystery , I struggle to understand people these days!
according to yougov today, the tories have a lead amongst working class voters of 20%. it's the middle classes that are less keen. the world is indeed a very strange place.
And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show
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It is, and very telling (n/t) on 13:09 - Nov 14 with 2275 views
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 13:07 - Nov 14 by lowhouseblue
there was a report this morning about one of those focus group exercises in which they asked non-tory voters which fictional character they compared boris to. the most common comparison was homer simpson. which is interesting because, given that boris is hated by many, and these were non-tory voters, that's actually a pretty affectionate comparison. I thought that was interesting.
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 13:09 - Nov 14 by lowhouseblue
according to yougov today, the tories have a lead amongst working class voters of 20%. it's the middle classes that are less keen. the world is indeed a very strange place.
That is so post-truth it's almost funny. It can't just be a single issue thing, unless that in itself has led to a kind of mass Stockholm Syndrome mental illness effect.
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 10:35 - Nov 14 by BlueBadger
We're heading for a VERY early winter bed crisis this year. They usually hit around January but it's coming NOW. There's 43,000(and rising)empty nursing vacancies nationally, recruitment thanks to the twin clusterf*cks of Brexit(EU nurse recuitment is effectively zero and has been since 2017) and the removal of the student nurses bursary, more challenging than its ever been with a reduction nationally in applicants to study leading to an increased reliance on recruiting non-EU staff which is more expensive, time-consuming and bureaucratic to do, not to mention on considerably more iffy ethical grounds considering where a lot of those nurses come from. This has meant a busy summer and an exhausted workforce as there's no slack in the system for cover.
Add on top of that the weather at the moment - it's been very wintry, damp and cold but not cold enough to kill off many bugs - meaning that there's been an early surge in bed occupancy - most hospitals around the region already have their 'winter escalation' beds open - that doesn't usually happen until December.
And then there's Brexit - the current 'deal' will see checks on goods entering the country(unless you live in Northern Ireland) - presently 75% of all medicines used in this country are produced overseas - that's going to make procurement more expensive and slower to transport - that's a a very toxic combination.
As someone employed to manage the sickest of the sick on the wards, I'm already firefighting far harder than I was this time last year and dreading the next few months. People are, I fear, going to die needlessly.
'In cash terms, the Scheme recorded a Net Cash Requirement (NCR) of minus £0.21 billion against the voted estimate of £0.18 billion, this means the Scheme has surplus cash due to income exceeding pension benefit payments, and the £0.21 billion will be returned to Treasury during 2019-20. '
On being questioned earlier today regarding these latest figures, Hancock replied : ''These figures show just how important it is that we stop Jeremy Corbyn," the Health Secretary had said. "We are giving the biggest cash boost ever to our NHS, but Corbyn’s chaotic policies will put that at risk."
Clearly Labour's fault again, notwithstanding the fact the tories have been in power for the best part of 10 years.
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A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 14:28 - Nov 14 with 2178 views
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 13:32 - Nov 14 by BryanPlug
[content removed at owner's request]
There is already a lot of privatisation in the NHS I dont see the problem of looking at using it more if it makes sense. Plus the NHS already wastes £billions every year, politicians need to be open and honest about that and how they can reduce such waste
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A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 14:30 - Nov 14 with 2176 views
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 12:47 - Nov 14 by lowhouseblue
putting aside politics entirely, for most people, he comes across as essentially likable. ok a bit of a rogue but human and with a sense of humour. it's why a lot of labour's stuff against him just doesn't stick. and why the contrast with corbyn, who to most non-political people comes across as sour, bad tempered and humourless, is a real problem for labour.
That's fine when he's on Have I Got News For You. Not when he's running the country!
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 14:28 - Nov 14 by BloomBlue
There is already a lot of privatisation in the NHS I dont see the problem of looking at using it more if it makes sense. Plus the NHS already wastes £billions every year, politicians need to be open and honest about that and how they can reduce such waste
£4BN of that waste is on the tier of management dedicated to outsourcing services.
Privatisation has been bad for the NHS in general and disastrous for areas such as mental health, elderly care and children's services in particular with various companies having their own little corners of what are traditionally, very complicated patient groups with multiple needs - there's a massive loss of collaborative working, duplication of paperwork and management and oftentimes those with the most complicated needs end up being poorly served as there's always something which places them outside of the admission criteria of one particular firm's little fiefdom.
If you want a local example of how privatising services fails then look no further than community services round here - in 2012, the contract was awarded to Serco, after they undercut the NHS provider's bid by £10M - the first thing the did was announced across-the-board(frontline and support staff)1-in-10 redundancies and moved their liaison offices(the people you speak to when people are leaving hospital in order to refer them for community services) out of local hospitals into a call centre in Ipswich. The drop in staffing numbers combined with a lack of local knowledge in the call centre meant those left were given unrealistic and unmanageable caseloads (friend of mine was expected once to see people in Haverhill, Long Melford, Stanningfield and Stowmarket in one morning, all before 1130). So more people left, caseloads grew bigger, people fell between the gaps and ended up back in hospital, at a far greater cost than the £10M 'saving'.
And that's before we get onto things like ancillary services - cleaning and domestic services farmed out to the private sector invariably end up with staff numbers being cut and those remaining being retained on poorer terms and conditions than before - this means an reduction in service quality as there's fewer people trying to do more and, as a result of the aforesaid changes to T&C's a more rapid turnover in staff meaning a general loss of efficiency.
The only area you could maybe make a case for the Efficient Private sector is maybe farming out a very small amount of low-risk elective procedures. And even then, the 'turn 'em over quick' approach is ripe breeding ground for dangerous errors.
[Post edited 14 Nov 2019 14:49]
I'm one of the people who was blamed for getting Paul Cook sacked. PM for the full post.
A&E waiting times hit worst ever... on 14:43 - Nov 14 by factual_blue
I have the misfortune of Han Cock being my MP.
He was once steered, very rapidly past me, when doing a walk around at *redacted* hospital. The luckless management flunk who was tasked with showing him rounded spotted me ambling in his direction with questions such as 'so, will you be reinstating the student nurse bursary' and 'your predecessor shelved NICE's work on safe staffing levels, will you be instructing them to start it up again and if not, why not' and ushered him into a matron's office.
I'm one of the people who was blamed for getting Paul Cook sacked. PM for the full post.