We have some good news, thanks to the 118 members of the public who signed Plain Speaker’s petition to the Scrutiny Panel, to the Scrutiny Panel themselves, and to Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS Campaign Group, Calderdale Trades Council and other members of the public who lobbied the Scrutiny Panel meetings. Continue reading
In a dramatic move, Calderdale’s NHS Commissioners have decided to shelve public consultation on the proposed NHS shake up.
At a meeting on 14th August, they batted aside a letter from Councillor Malcolm James, Chair of Calderdale Council’s Adults Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel, that asked Calderdale’s NHS Commissioners not to make any decisions about community health services that have not been subject to sufficient consultation with the public, or that lead to significant service variations and changes.
Now both Huddersfield and Calderdale NHS Commissioners intend to go ahead with all the community care service changes proposed in the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS shake-up plans, without any public consultation. Continue reading
Only Clowns Would Close Our A&Es, is the message from members of the public who are Walking for the NHS from Calderdale Royal Hospital to Pinderfields Hospital, via Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Dewsbury District Hospital on 22nd and 23rd August.
The aim of Walk for the NHS is to make all 3 NHS Trust Chiefs aware that the public will not accept any downgrading of services, loss of services or back door privatisation of our NHS.
Let alone their intention of preventing any public consultation on plans to shake up the NHS in Calderdale.
Walk for the NHS will join up with the national Call 999 for the NHS People’s March when both groups arrive at Pinderfields hospital at 3.30pm on Saturday 23rd August.
Everyone is welcome to join some or all of the Walk for the NHS feeder march on any of the stages. Continue reading
Today (12th August) Calderdale Council Adults Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel (SP) will decide how to respond to the public petition that calls on the SP to:
The Scrutiny Officer’s advice is that the SP should pass the buck to the so-called People’s Commission and refuse to act on the petition. Continue reading
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett recently visited the Upper Calder Valley and gave her support to the Calderdale and Huddersfield Save our A&Es campaign.
Natalie Bennett told Calderdale Green Party members that similar cuts in London were having a negative effect on services.
Calderdale Green Party is active in the campaign to keep both A&Es open, in the face of NHS Chiefs’ proposals to close one or both A&Es. Continue reading
Plain Speaker is pleased to publish the Submission from the Calderdale 38 degrees NHS Campaign Group to the Calderdale Commission on health and social care.
Over the last 9 months, Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS has held honest discussions with over 1500 Calderdale residents about the proposals for local NHS cuts and service changes.
This submission summarises their considered views. Continue reading
The Hospitals Trust has just refused Plain Speaker’s Freedom of Information request to see the Trust’s Outline Business Case for the “Right Care Right Time Right Place” shake up of health and social care services. This is the document that the Clinical Commissioning Groups will consider and then consult the public about, if they decide to accept the Outline Business Case.
If the public can’t see the Outline Business Case, how can we know what we think about it?
I am asking the Trust to review their refusal. Continue reading
The first meeting of Calderdale Council’s People’s Commission on health and social care is on 29th July, 1.30- 3.30pm at Halifax Town Hall.
Calderdale Council is holding its “People’s Commission” in order to:
“lead an open consultation about future health and social care provision in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield.”
But it starts out by holding its first meeting at a time when no working people will be able to attend, and without much clarity about what its controversial Chair’s terms of reference are. Continue reading
The American Kaiser Permanente model of healthcare is the acknowledged template for the controversial NHS and social care changes that are hitting Calderdale and Huddersfield, as well as the rest of England.
In this American model, so-called Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) provide relatively low-cost health services that are based on short hospital stays and cherry-picking patients with health care needs that are not too costly.
In 1971, when the Nixon administration was looking for ways to cut the costs of healthcare, White House domestic affairs adviser John Ehrlichman explained to President Nixon why he should promote the Kaiser Permanente system of healthcare:
“All the incentives are toward less medical care, because the less care they give them, the more money they make.”
This was enough to persuade Nixon that HMOs were the future for American healthcare.
Continue readingAn analysis of the latest published data, for May 2014, shows that Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary have both missed their targets for the number of hours worked at their hospitals by registered nurses.
At Calderdale Royal Hospital, 89% of the total nursing day hours were filled & 75% of the night hours filled. At Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, the figures were 89% day, 91% night.
These figures place Calderdale and Huddersfield hospitals Trust among the lowest 30% of Trusts, in terms of meeting their targets for registered nursing hours. Continue reading