Category Archives: Social fairness

NHS Commissioners’ meeting “like North Korea”

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At the 20th January Greater Huddersfield and Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Groups meeting, the governing bodies’ unanimous decision to go ahead with a public consultation on plans to cut hospital and close hospital services was immediately denounced by a member of the public, who said:

“This is like North Korea”.

Amid general outcry, someone called out, to a round of applause.

“Shame on all of you”,

While another calmly said,

“You’re a cabal preparing for privatisation. That new hospital will be wrapped up in a pink ribbon and sold off.”

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Ending the PFI hospitals rip-off

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Quite a few people, rightly outraged by Calderdale Royal Hospital’s rip-off PFI debt, are calling for Calderdale Council to lend the hospitals Trust the money to buy out the debt, along the lines of the Council-financed Hexham Hospital buy out of its PFI debt in 2014.

The Hexham PFI contract allowed an early exit, the CRH one doesn’t

The Council’s PFI debt buy-out was possible at Hexham Hospital because of PFI contract conditions that don’t apply at Calderdale Royal Hospital (CRH). As the Chief Executive of Northumbria Healthcare (the Trust that runs Hexham hospital) told the Financial Times:

Northumbria benefited from a rare clause that allowed an early exit, which many PFI agreements do not include.

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Who’s holding the smoking gun? Questions about A&E and hospital cuts for 20th Jan public meeting

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The public can ask questions at the Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Groups Governing Bodies meeting at 1.30pm, Wednesday 20th January at Briar Court Hotel, Halifax Road, Huddersfield HD3.

My question is about whether the decision to make Calderdale Royal Hospital the acute/ A&E hospital is down to the need for the hospitals Trust to maximise the value of the CRH PFI contract. Continue reading →

Sweep out NHS privatisers, Save our A&Es protest is first – but not last – at Monitor office

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Friday 15 Jan was the day that Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS market bureaucrats finally published their pre-consultation business plan for the hospital cuts that have been hanging over us all in Calderdale and Huddersfield for 2 years now.

It was also the day that members of Calderdale and Kirklees 999 Call for the NHS handed in 49 letters of protest to Monitor, the NHS market competition enforcer. (Kind of like Ofgem for the NHS.) Continue reading →

Bilfinger tries to resuscitate Todmorden Health Centre white elephant

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Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group’s Head of Service Improvement Debbie Graham has said that Todmorden Health Centre belongs to the people of Todmorden.

In fact, it belongs to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) called Assura Group Ltd.

And Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has hired a commercial property development company, BIlfinger GVA, to work out how to bring in new tenants to fill all the unused spaces in Todmorden Health Centre  and make it work as the “hub” for the Vanguard/Care Closer to Home scheme. This aims to cut acute and emergency hospital services and replace them with care in the community for frail elderly people and people with chronic illnesses.

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Judicial Review Into Downgrading Of Wythenshawe hospital – ruling in New Year

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High Court Grants Permission For Challenge To Reduction Of Wythenshawe Hospital Services

Staff at Wythenshawe Hospital and their supporters from the wider community were given the green light to launch a legal challenge of the decision to downgrade the hospital and reduce the surgery services it provides.

The campaign group feels that the decision by the Committees In Common in the Healthier Together programme to choose Stepping Hill Hospital as the fourth specialist site in Greater Manchester was unlawful and instructed lawyers to investigate.

Healthier Together is the Greater Manchester equivalent of the Calderdale and Huddersfield Right Care Right Place Right Time hospital cuts scheme Continue reading →

Halifax people tell Monitor, sweep profiteering Ernst and Young out of our hospitals

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On Saturday 28th November, hundreds of Halifax shoppers were shocked to discover that global accountancy company Ernst and Young (EY) is calling the shots over the future of Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary – at a budgeted cost to the hospitals Trust of £1m for 3 months work. Continue reading →

Sweep Ernst and Young out of our hospitals on Saturday 28th November

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On Saturday 28th November, Calderdale and Kirklees 999 Call for the NHS are taking to the street in Halifax, to protest against global management consultancy company EY (aka Ernst and Young) calling the shots over the future of Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

999 Call for the NHS activists and supporters are going to sweep EY out of our hospitals between 11am-1pm, on Southgate, Halifax outside Wilkinsons. Or in the arcade side entrance to borough market if it’s raining.

Members of the public will be able to find out to help stop the hijack of the NHS by global management consultancy companies and their health insurance corporate cronies, and to support the NHS Reinstatement Bill. This cross-party Bill has its 2nd reading in the House of Commons in March 2016. Continue reading →

Hunt’s Junior Doctors’ contract paves way for American corporate takeover of the NHS

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GP Dr Bob Gill uncovers the real reason for Hunt’s attack on junior doctors. Junior doctors’ reduced income (through loss of unsocial hours pay) and increased hours performing routine work in evenings and weekends, would increase profitability for the private health care companies that are set to take over the NHS as the Five Year Forward View rolls out.

The government’s latest assault on the NHS involves imposing a new contract for junior doctors that will see their salaries slashed by 30%, with a requirement for evening and Saturday work. The excuse is that this change will provide a 7 day service and improve patient outcomes on weekends.

The reality is that more qualified staff are being driven out, in preparation for the deskilling that is always part of healthcare privatisation and corporate takeover.

This is mapped out in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View – the brainchild of Simon Stevens, previously an executive at the global American health insurance company UnitedHealth and now head of NHS England. Continue reading →

Monitor wants to slash our hospital services – Calderdale NHS commissioners say nowt

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A crucial time for one of the main schemes to cut NHS services is now upon us.

From April 2016, NHS Foundation Trusts will be able to to stop providing certain NHS services, that are currently protected. This is due to changes to hospital licenses,  brought in by the hospitals regulator and competition enforcer, Monitor.

At the Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group meeting on 24th September 2015, Plain Speaker asked questions about how these licence changes are going to affect the range of services that Calderdale and Huddersfield hospitals provide.

Particularly: how this will affect Calderdale people’s access to comprehensive, universal healthcare that is free at the point of delivery and based on patients’ clinical needs. Given that it seems that services that are currently mandatory will fall away. Continue reading →