In case anyone is under any illusions about the toothlessness of the Calderdale Healthwatch dog, Dr Lucy Reynolds spells out the facts in a video interview (about 50 minutes in).
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Healthwatch – “neatly sewn up”
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Category Archives: Social fairness
Reclaim our NHS demo in York this Saturday- 6 April
Calderdale Save Our Services , Calderdale Trades Council and Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS Group is urging everyone to support the ‘Yorkshire and the Humber Reclaim Your NHS’ demonstration in York on Saturday 6 April. The demonstration assembles at Noon at Dean’s Park, alongside York Minster.
Help with rail fare to demo for unwaged Calderdale residents
Calderdale Trades Council has offered to pay half the rail fare for unwaged Calderdale residents travelling on the train to York leaving Hebden Bridge at 9.50 and Halifax at 10.02 to attend the march. Anybody wanting to take advantage of this should e-mail tradescouncilcalderdale@yahoo.
Private finance initiative – rip off facts
April 1st starts stealth privatisation of NHS – every day, things are getting worse
You can read an edited transcript of the video on the British Medical Journal website. Lucy Reynolds offers a clear, chilling analysis of how the Health and Social Care Act will work when it comes into force on April 1st.
Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign is calling on everyone to lobby Parliament and MPs on 26th March, and write to Lords to oppose regulations that are the thin end of the wedge for stealth NHS privatisation.
“We want to make sure that CCGs are not forced to use competition, but can decide for themselves whether they use NHS services or whether they choose to use private providers like Virgin or other international companies.”
Also, you can ask your MP to sign the EDM 1188 aiming to get a public debate on the new regulations.
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Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group meeting lets public speak!
After attending the 14th March Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) meeting on behalf of Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS group, Dr Chris Day said,
“There were about 10 of us at the CCG meeting. We were treated better than last time and were initially allowed to interrupt with questions, which we did. This seemed to get the doctors talking more freely.
West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Commissioning Support Units to merge
Aside
The NHS Commissioning Board website reports that West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Commissioning Support Units are to merge.
Commissioning Support Units have been set up under the 2012 Health & Social Care Act, and are supposed to support the Clinical Commissioning Groups in their areas.
The West Yorkshire CSU business plan is being prepared by Pete Thomas, a Leeds KPMG employee on secondment from the global accountancy tax and financial advisory company. CSUs are widely expected to become privatised within the next 2-3 years.
It’s not clear how the CSUs’ merger will affect Clinical Commissioning Groups.
Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group meeting 14th March, 2pm – open to public
People who want to keep tabs on what the Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is up to can attend its next meeting, which is open to the public.
The 14th March Calderdale CCG meeting starts at 2pm, in the NHS Calderdale premises, 4th Floor, F Mill, Dean Clough, Halifax, HX3 5AX (near the Travel Lodge hotel in Dean Clough).
There is every reason for the public to be vigilant about CCGs – a British Medical Journal study has just found that one in three GPs who are members of CCGs have financial links with a private healthcare provider; and that this represents a clear conflict of interest for CCGs when they come to commission health care services. For example, the Guardian report on the study says,
“six of the eight GPs on the board of Blackpool CCG have an interest in Fylde Coast Medical Services, the local out-of-hours provider, and five have an interest in Virgin Care, which is part of Richard Branson’s business empire.”
Reclaim our NHS march and rally in York, April 6th
Yorkshire and Humberside Reclaim Our NHS are organising a march and rally in York on April 6th between 12 and 2pm, to mark the first anniversary of the Health and Social Care Act and bring to broader public attention what has been happening to the NHS in the last twelve months, specifically the privatisation and fragmentation of health services and the impact of budget cuts.Please sign petition against ConDem’s new NHS privatisation plans
| Email from 38 Degrees follows:
“A new fight over NHS privatisation has just begun. Jeremy Hunt is trying to use new powers, hidden within last year’s controversial NHS laws, to force local GPs to privatise more health services. [1] This is one of the things we were afraid might happen – and now our worst fears are being confirmed. We need to do all we can to stop it. |
Protect Our NHS – Straws in the wind
This is a quick round up of some issues that are likely to shape the NHS after the Health and Social Care Act comes into effect from 1 April 2013:
- Freedom of Information
- GPs freedom (or not) to disagree with their Clinical Commissioning Group
- Privatisation of Commissioning Support Units ( the organisations that are supposed to support Clinical Commissioning Groups)