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Old November 16th, 2013 #1
Bev
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Quote:
Despite mild weather, little flu and lower than usual numbers of patients arriving at Accident & Emergency (A&E) units, thousands of patients, including those requiring urgent surgery, have had operations cancelled since last week.

Senior doctors said they fear that hospitals will be unable to cope when the weather turns, with arctic winds and freezing temperatures forceast from next week.

The NHS statistics show that over a 10 day period ending on Wednesday, more than 2,000 surgical procedures were cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice - including 122 urgent operations, such as those for patients with cancer.

Dr Cliff Mann, President of the College of Emergency Medicine, said: “It is really worrying; this is a very significant rise so early in the season, when it is barely winter at all. It is especially concerning that so many urgent operations are being cancelled, because that clearly can put patients at risk.”

He said A&E units were now under severe pressure all year round, leaving little slack in the system for a harsh winter, which has been forecast, with sub-zero temperatures expected in some parts of the country.


The records disclose 161 cancelled operations within 10 days at Oxford University Hospitals NHS trust, 104 at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation trust and 82 at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Foundation trust.

When data for seven days is compared, the figures show a 42 per cent rise in cancelled operations. It takes the number of cancelled operations in the past six months to more than 32,000 - the highest level for 11 years.

Meanwhile, more than 3,000 elderly patients a day who are medically well have been confined to hospital because health and social services have not provided help to discharge them - a 23 per cent rise on last year, the statistics show.

The figures, the first of a series of weekly seasonal reports to monitor winter pressures, suggest that some NHS hospitals are routinely cancelling operations in an attempt to relieve pressure on A&E units, and reduce the numbers forced to queue for hours in ambulances outside.

While the weekly figures show more than 4,000 patients held in ambulances for more than half an hour, the figure was a substantial drop on this time last year, when more than 6,000 were subjected to such delays.

However, the steep rise in cancelled operations occurred during a period when pressures on A&E units were lower than normal, with 401,000 attendances in a week, compared with 410,800 in the same period last year, amid unusually mild weather. In total, 2,600 patients were left waiting at least four hours, compared with 2,800 this time last year.

The official report says “minimal flu levels” in circulation mean that services have yet to be tested.

Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary, said: “The Government’s failure to act on the warnings that have been growing louder all year. They have allowed hospitals to descend into increasing chaos."

“Most English hospitals are operating close to way beyond safe bed occupancy levels and consequently do not have a buffer to absorb pressure - leaving patients to suffer the unacceptable stress and anguish of having operations cancelled at the last minute.

“This is an A&E crisis of David Cameron’s own making. If he fails to act on the alarm bells that are now loudly ringing, it will drag down the NHS this winter.”

John Lister, from Health Emergency, said: “I don’t think there is any doubt at all that this winter is looking worse than last year, but it is really worrying to see these signs already, when the weather has been so mild. There is real concern about how hospitals are going to cope when there starts to be a bit of snow on the ground.”

Dame Barbara Hakin, Chief Operating Officer for NHS England, said: “Last winter was a tough one for the NHS so this year we started preparing earlier than ever before. Those responsible for health and social care in every locality in England have worked together to produce a plan for handling the pressures in their area. Extra money has also gone in to help those areas with particular need.”

She said 95 per cent of patients were being seen within four hours in A&E.

“The cold weather has not yet fully started and the most testing periods are still to come. But we are ready for winter and we are monitoring tightly.”

Senior doctors have urged the frail and elderly to seek early advice from their GP and pharmacy at the first sign of illness, instead of waiting for hospital treatment.

Professor Mike Morgan, National Clinical Director for Respiratory for NHS England said: “My message to the public is simple: look after yourself this winter. If you know someone who is frail or elderly or has an existing health problem and they are feeling unwell, encourage them to seek early advice, go to their local pharmacy or GP before one problem leads to another and they end up in hospital.”

Cancelled operations between 4 and 13 November:

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust 161

County Durham And Darlington NHS Foundation Trust 104

Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 82

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 57

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust 48

Barking, Havering And Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust 45

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 43

University Hospital Of North Staffordshire NHS Trust 41

St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust 38

North Bristol NHS Trust 36

Source: NHS England daily situation reports
h ttp://w ww.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10453428/NHS-winter-crisis-as-40-per-cent-rise-in-cancelled-operations.html

I wondered why Call-Me was banging on about health tourists the other day - this news report explains it. No doubt health tourism does explain some of it, but how does health tourism account for the elderly being stuck in hospital wards because social services can't help them?
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Old November 16th, 2013 #2
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I'm expecting the 'government' to recommend we start burning pensioners to keep immigrants warm though the winter.

It'd make Tory-boy Joe happy. That's for sure.
 
Old November 16th, 2013 #3
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"We will have to bring more 3rd world immigrants in. Especially medically and/or non-medically trained fishheads from the Philippines."

Last edited by Dawn Cannon; November 16th, 2013 at 02:38 PM.
 
Old November 16th, 2013 #4
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Coincidence? I think not.


Quote:
Doctors and nurses may face jail for neglect


Doctors and nurses found guilty of "wilful neglect" of patients could face jail, the government is proposing.

Wilful neglect will be made a criminal offence in England and Wales under NHS changes next week following the Mid Staffordshire and other care scandals.

The offence will be modelled on one punishable by up to five years in prison under the Mental Capacity Act.

Doctors' leaders said the threat of criminal sanctions could create a climate of fear in the NHS.

The government's proposals are due to be unveiled next week.

Prime Minister David Cameron said health workers who mistreated and abused patients would face "the full force of the law" in a package of measures.
Extended law

A consultation on what scale of sentence should be applied to the extended law will be carried out over the next few months.

The move was one of the central recommendations of a review of patient safety commissioned by ministers after findings that hundreds suffered unacceptable treatment at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.


Human beings make mistakes - you can't change the human condition, but you can help support the humans in having systems”

Dr Maureen Baker Chairman of the Royal College of GPs

It was led by Professor Don Berwick, a former adviser to US president Barack Obama, who said the measure was needed to target the worst cases of a "couldn't care less" attitude that led to "wilful or reckless neglect or mistreatment".

Mr Cameron said the NHS was full of "brilliant" staff but the Mid Staffordshire case showed care was "sometimes not good enough".

"That is why we have taken a number of different steps that will improve patient care and improve how we spot bad practice," he said.

"Never again will we allow substandard care, cruelty or neglect to go unnoticed".

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said the proposal should be introduced alongside the package of measures detailed in Sir Robert Francis's public inquiry report into failings at Stafford Hospital, including minimum staffing levels.

He warned against the government adopting a "pick and mix" approach.

He also urged them to "tread carefully" to avoid denigrating staff.

The BMA's Dr Andrew Collier called the move "a headline-grabbing exercise"

A spokesman for the Welsh government said it would not comment until it had seen the proposals on Tuesday.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said doctors and nurses might be less likely to speak out against colleagues if they thought they would go to jail as a result.

Dr Andrew Collier, co-chairman of the BMA's junior doctors' committee, said doctors who failed to meet certain standards needed support and help.

"They don't need this new climate of fear. They don't need to be concerned that they may be sent to jail. What they need to do is learn from their mistakes and develop their practice," he told BBC Breakfast.

He called the move a "headline-grabbing exercise" and said it did not address the other recommendations made by Prof Berwick, such as minimum staffing levels and culture changes.
'No panacea'

Dr Maureen Baker, the new chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: "Doctors, nurses - we are human. Human beings make mistakes.

"You can't change the human condition, but you can help support the humans in having systems around them that help keep them safe, caring and compassionate."

Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said a law change on its own was "not a panacea".

He added that legally enforced staffing levels would have a far greater impact on patient care, as they had in Australia and California.

Peter Walsh said the government must not avoid "more difficult" NHS reforms

But Julie Bailey, who founded pressure group Cure the NHS to expose failings at Stafford Hospital following her mother's death there, welcomed the government's proposal, saying: "Now it's time for patients' safety to be a priority."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said: "We will analyse these proposals once published by the UK government and will consider if further legislation is required in Scotland to supplement the existing arrangements of professional regulation."

Peter Walsh, chief executive of patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents, welcomed the possibility of prison sentences for neglect, but said a "much more joined-up approach" was needed.

He said the "full set of recommendations" from Sir Robert Francis's inquiry must be implemented.

Mr Walsh said he hoped the latest announcement was not intended to distract attention from some of the "more difficult" recommendations the government "may be reluctant to implement", such as minimum staffing levels.

He rejected the BMA's suggestion the new law might make people more reluctant to report colleagues, saying he had "more faith in the medical profession" than that.

Any new rules much apply to everyone in health organisations - from the "board to the ward" - he added.

Last month, the World Medical Association, which represents 102 national medical associations, condemned government attempts to control how doctors practise medicine, including criminalising medical decision-making.
ht tp://ww w.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24967230
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Old November 16th, 2013 #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dawn Cannon View Post
"We will have to bring more 3rd world immigrants in. Especially medically and/or non-medically trained fishheads from the Philippines."
Quote:
An international search is on to find doctors to help staff at the A&E department at Leicester Royal Infirmary.

So far, 13 have been recruited and a further nine anaesthetists have been appointed.

The hunt is also on to fill almost 400 nursing posts at the infirmary as well as Glenfield and Leicester General hospitals.

The anaesthetists have come from Latvia, Greece, Sri Lanka, Spain and Italy. Those that have started in the A&E department have come from Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, India, South Africa and Romania.

Hospital bosses are again looking to Europe to persuade nurses to come to the city.

Rachel Overfield, newly-appointed chief nurse at Leicester's hospitals, said: "We are not the only hospital trust trying to recruit nurses, so there is a lot of competition out there to get the best nurses.

"We already have a close relationship with De Montfort University and are talking on all of its newly-qualified nurses because it's important for us that the nurses who train with us choose to stay with us.

"But we also need to look further afield and have been trying to tempt nurses from other areas of the country to choose Leicestershire as a place to live and work. Like many other trusts, we have recently extended our search overseas to places such as Ireland, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Madrid for nurses.

Promotional videos have been posted on the hospitals' website and managers have used Google search and Facebook advertising to attract candidates. They are not offering "golden hellos" to attract health workers to the city However, they are holding a welcome evening for new recruits led by Ms Overfield and heads of nursing.

A spokesman said: "We will be offering goody bags to all newly-qualified or registered nurses, which will include relevant textbooks, fob watches and name badges to help them get started in their first new nursing role.

"All new overseas staff will also be part of a mentorship and buddying scheme to help them settle into life in Leicestershire and Leicester's hospitals."

In addition, 23 people have been offered year-long apprenticeships as health care assistants with the aim of being offered permanent jobs.

Managers at the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, which runs mental and community health services, said they are not promoting vacancies overseas.

A spokesman said: "At the moment, we are advertising and interviewing for 115 qualified nursing roles and 36 healthcare assistants and carrying out recruitment checks for a further 82 qualified nurses and 40 healthcare assistants.

"We advertise nursing jobs through the NHS Jobs website and professional publications and we are promoting nursing careers through recruitment fairs. We are about to recruit three consultant and one specialty doctor posts – and these vacancies will be advertised through NHS Jobs and the British Medical Journal."

ht tp://w ww.leicestermercury.co.uk/Global-search-amp-E-doctors/story-19996671-detail/story.html

from 2 weeks ago
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Old November 16th, 2013 #6
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....from Sep 12th this year.


Quote:
Britions who live overseas for more than three months of the year currently lose their right to free health care at home, unless they have a medical emergency during a visit.

However, the government recently carried out a huge consultation into the NHS, suggesting that access to free treatment should be given to those who have made a fair contribution.

A fair contribution would constitute at least seven years of National Insurance contributions, under the proposals.

The current qualifying test for free treatment is whether a person is ordinarily resident. This is deemed to be unfair, as it is satisfied almost immediately by many new and temporary migrants, who may have contributed nothing.

This has angered many expats who have paid National Insurance (NI) all their lives before moving abroad, only to discover they have no access to NHS services for free.


The government’s decision to base NHS eligibility on NI contributions could be a lifeline for those who want to retire abroad, but are prevented from doing so because they cannot afford private medical care overseas.

Leonard Walsh, a British pensioner living in Australia, said: “It’s about time the government did something for us. All the news about expats seems to be negative, with the failure to act over frozen pensions and taking away of winter fuel allowances for some expats. For those of us who paid National Insurance all our lives it is only fair we get to benefit from a free NHS."

Expats of state pension age who have lived in the UK for a continuous period of 10 years remain entitled to some cover even if they permanently live abroad. Expats living within the European Economic Area are also entitled to subsidised health care.

The government’s consultation paper, which can be viewed here, is aimed at clamping down on health tourists who arrive in the UK just for free care.

It includes plans to make temporary residents from outside of the European Economic Area contribute to the cost of their health care with a levy. It also moots the idea of ending free access to primary care for tourists.

The consultation period has now ended, and implementation of the outcome is expected in 2014.
h ttp://w ww.telegraph.co.uk/health/expathealth/10303008/Brits-abroad-could-have-rights-to-free-NHS-treatment-restored.html
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Old November 16th, 2013 #7
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The report says that since 2010, many trusts have routinely frozen posts whenever staff retired or moved elsewhere, creating widespread shortages.

Mr Catton said that after the public inquiry into Mid-Staffordshire Hospital foundation trust highlighted dangerously staffing levels in February, some hospitals attempted recruitment drives, but many have now resorted to hunting abroad because there are not enough trained nurses in the UK.

The RCN said a 15 per cent reduction in the number of student nurses being trained, combined with an ageing workforce, and high numbers of staff leaving the profession because of stress had created a “workforce crisis”.

In February, the Mid-Staffs inquiry called for national minimum staffing levels in hospitals, and in July an investigation into 14 trusts with high death rates found widespread shortages or nurses, with call bells left unattended, and “frightening workloads” among other staff.
3 days ago

htt p://w ww.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10441408/Shortage-of-20000-nurses-in-NHS-report-warns.html

Quote:
This has seen Queen’s consistently miss the Government target of seeing 95 per cent of A&E patients within four hours, with the rate dropping to 76 per cent at the start of October, despite little difference in the number of patients.

Last week trust staff were in India on a recruitment drive. However the number of senior clinicians is unlikely to ease until April due to candidates having to serve out notice periods.

Mark Smith, director of people development at Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS trust, which runs the hospitals, said: “We are trying everything we can, both nationally and internationally.
3 days ago

ht tp://ww w.standard.co.uk/news/health/highest-pay-in-nhs-for-rescue-operation-at-capitals-worst-ae-8932140.html
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Old November 16th, 2013 #8
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11 days ago

Quote:
de Poel – the global workforce solutions specialist – has launched a standalone division that will focus exclusively on the NHS and private health and care sectors.

de Poel Clarity will manage the relationships between Trusts and a select panel of recruitment agencies, by introducing clear, effective and cost-saving solutions. It has been formed on the back of significant success handling the provision of non-permanent staff in the private health and care markets.

The division, which as a neutral vendor has no affiliation to any agency, will be headed up by highly-regarded industry specialist, Andrew Preston. Andrew, who has been appointed as Managing Director of de Poel Clarity, has extensive experience in the NHS, private health and care sectors, with more than 18 years experience.

With a proven track record for successfully growing and developing a wide variety of healthcare businesses – including working for FTSE 100, plc, private equity-backed and private organisations, as well as the NHS. Andrew will be responsible for the roll-out of de Poel services and cutting-edge technology across the NHS. This will be achieved through an ambitious acquisition strategy, targeting complementary non-agency businesses and attracting top industry talent.

Andrew – who has worked for a number of high-profile organisations such as Serco Group, Medacs Healthcare and Pinderfields & Pontefract Hospitals NHS Trust, which later became Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust – said: “When you consider that the annual agency spend in the NHS is £2.5 billion, there is clearly a real potential to manage the procurement of agency staff more effectively, while delivering significant cost savings of up to 20 per cent.”

To date, de Poel’s compliance-friendly and web-based technology, e-tips®, has processed over two billion hours, 60,000 timesheets per week, and has delivered multi-million pound savings for an extensive range of clients responsible for the provision of healthcare services to NHS patients.

Andrew continued: “Through the standardisation of pay rates and selecting a hand-picked panel of recruitment agencies that comply with optimal rates across the board, we can streamline invoicing and timesheet processes, create visibility and control of vital Management Information (MI), and ensure Trusts are compliant. We are confident that we can replicate the type of efficiencies gained in the private health and care sectors and provide clear, effective and cost-saving solutions to NHS Trusts.”

de Poel Clarity will act as a vital link between Trusts and recruitment agencies, managing the procurement of non-permanent staff at all levels. Temporary staff range from acute medical Doctors, psychiatrists, GPs, nursing staff, allied health workers, medical secretaries, porters and general administrative workers.

The service is supported by de Poel’s innovative software, e-tips®, which reduces handling costs, and provides Trusts with instant access to spend/hours/savings and recruitment agency performance data.

He added: “As the Government sets out its agenda for ‘Better Procurement, Better Value, Better Care’, we believe our transparent, entirely independent and cost-effective approach will provide greater management and control for healthcare providers, while generating increased efficiencies across the NHS and private health and care sectors.

“With over 2,000 recruitment agencies of all shapes and sizes supporting the de Poel model, we are completely behind the UK Government’s ‘SME’ agenda. What’s more, in the public and private health care sectors, we are creating a level playing field, where we are encouraging agencies to compete on quality of service and less on candidate pay rate.”

de Poel Clarity currently works with high-profile clients that include Care UK and Scope.
h ttp://ww w.onrec.com/news/launch/de-poel-launches-specialist-healthcare-division-in-ambitious-nhs-drive
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Old November 16th, 2013 #9
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History repeating itself:

Quote:
Hence the crafty resort of liberal Tories who "voted with Enoch" to abolish capital punishment and legalise homosexual acts between consenting adults. There was a whole raft of heterodox views that Powell espoused with his usual intellectual brilliance and slight dottiness.

He was, for example, a great supporter of the NHS. As health minister in the early 1960s (a good one, so I am told), he recruited nurses from the West Indies and started closing down those inhumane Victorian mental hospitals. Late in life he used to remind more austere colleagues that health care is labour-intensive, and that we wouldn't be able to export the work. As in much else, it turns out he was wrong about that. Wrong about Ireland, wrong - in my view - about Europe and about the United States.



ht tp://ww w.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/05/enoughofenoch

Expecting a thumbalicious contribution from Enoch's fans.....
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Old November 16th, 2013 #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bev View Post
Coincidence? I think not.




ht tp://ww w.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24967230
Not a coincidence, but a way of creating a means for the authorities to scapegoat healthcare professionals while underfunding and under-resourcing the NHS and allied services.

Headlines about neglectful nurses help to provide scapegoats and distract attention from the real problems.
 
Old November 16th, 2013 #11
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Originally Posted by John Trull View Post
Not a coincidence, but a way of creating a means for the authorities to scapegoat healthcare professionals while underfunding and under-resourcing the NHS and allied services.

Headlines about neglectful nurses help to provide scapegoats and distract attention from the real problems.
I suspect you are correct. Although it implies by the word "wilful" that it's for serious incidents only, I don't suppose it will be long before we see some poor nurse sued for not being able to cope with a whole ward of elderly or difficult patients on the night shift and perhaps not changing their sheets quickly enough or not having time to make sure each one is assisted to drink or whatever.


-------------

I found another story put out at the same time (but then lost it when firefox decided to be silly) that made a big deal out of all the young adults who need liver transplants due to alcohol abuse, so at some point, they will get some of the blame for crippling the NHS. Anyone but the real culprits.....

(and no, the story didn't mention the promotion of excessive drinking nor how it was accomplished)


If only they hadn't stopped that Liverpool Death Care Pathway caper.....
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Old November 16th, 2013 #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bev View Post
I suspect you are correct. Although it implies by the word "wilful" that it's for serious incidents only, I don't suppose it will be long before we see some poor nurse sued for not being able to cope with a whole ward of elderly or difficult patients on the night shift and perhaps not changing their sheets quickly enough or not having time to make sure each one is assisted to drink or whatever.
Yes. I agree that any actual criminal prosecutions will be reserved for the extreme cases involving malice, but what I'm referring to here is how the culture within the organisation is being shaped. I think talk about a 'climate of fear' reflects a valid concern that the NHS, like any hierarchical organisation, is in reality run on the principle of bullying and intimidation. Legislation that allows healthcare professionals to be prosecuted for 'wilful neglect' may appear to serve a legitimate purpose, but is really just part of an armoury of measures and rules that serve to control people and keep the lid on a boiling can.

This particular Tory-Lib Dem government is heavily-influenced by a particularly nasty and virulent right-wing materialist dogma, but in its essence it is no different from any other government - whether Labour or Tory. The purpose of the system is profit. It's not even personal, and it's not even thought about much. In so far as it's a conscious system, it is just a bunch of capitalists looking after their own interests, which in a sense is rational, but it involves transferring blame for the social ills that arise from this system onto workers themselves.
 
Old November 17th, 2013 #13
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PATIENTS will die due to “toxic overcrowding” on A&E wards, top health experts are warning.



To head off a “catastrophe” they plan to outline a raft of key measures to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt this week.

Dr Cliff Mann, president of The College of Emergency Medicine, said: “It is vital patients are given a credible alternative to A&E for out-of-hours services and that we have more emergency medicine registrars.

“If that doesn’t happen the system will fail. Add to that the expected winter norovirus and flu and these failures could become catastrophic, leading to preventable deaths.”

The move comes just days after Mr Hunt unveiled the latest in a series of proposals to transform the troubled NHS.

New figures show as many as 44 per cent of patients are visiting A&E or call an ambulance because they cannot get out-of-hours care. A quarter self-diagnose on the internet. Law firm Your Legal Friend polled 1,500 patients and 400 UK doctors for its research.

44% of patients are visiting A&E or call an ambulance because they cannot get out-of-hours care [ALAMY]


The expected winter norovirus and flu [mean] these failures could become catastrophic, leading to preventable deaths

Dr Cliff Mann - president of The College of Emergency Medicine

Separate figures also revealed exclusively by the Sunday Express show a huge surge in patients having to wait between four and 12 hours in A&E for a ward bed, almost doubling in two years from 100,000 to 180,000.

“Toxic overcrowding” is when patients’ lives or health are at risk due to emergency services being unable to cope with demand. The College Of Emergency Medicine has been warning about the scale of the problem.

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: “On the brink of winter, we learn that hospitals are full to bursting. These worrying new figures expose the intense pressure that England’s A&Es and hospitals are under.

“Too many are already sailing dangerously close to the wind. It is simply unacceptable that the Government is allowing the NHS to go into this winter in a worse position than last year.”

Dr Mann, leading this week’s meeting with Mr Hunt, said part of the problem was the rising numbers of patients who could not be discharged from hospital due to lack of support at home or in the community, leaving fewer available beds on wards.

Figures published by NHS England show that in September alone 75,297 bed days were lost because patients could not be discharged. This would cost the NHS £19.5million.

Mr Hunt has recently unveiled the latest in a series of proposals to transform the troubled NHS [ALAMY]

The College of Emergency Medicine’s measures to avert a winter A&E crisis include proper out-of-hours services, financial incentives to attract more staff into emergency medicine and proposals to prevent delayed discharge on wards to free up bed space.

Dr Mann said the NHS was 600 consultants short of the 2,000 it needed to provide a consultant-led A&E service at all hospitals for at least 16 hours a day, every day. Units were also operating with half the number of middle-grade doctors they needed, he added.

Last week, ahead of a forecasted cold snap, government surveys showed that growing pressure in A&E departments has left hospitals operating above recommended safety levels, with 92.9 per cent of beds occupied rather than the guideline 85 per cent.

A spokesman for NHS England said: “The NHS is achieving the operational standard in terms of 95 per cent of patients waiting less than four hours in A&E and our daily situation reports suggest that the current pressures are comparable with the same period last year.

“An analysis published this week suggests that the average time in A&E for patients not admitted to hospital is one hour and 49 minutes.

“We know our hospitals are under intense and growing pressure. Our A&Es are a safety net.

“They are trusted by the public. They reflect what is going on in our communities and the pressures that build in other parts of the health and social care system.”
h ttp://w ww.express.co.uk/news/health/443527/Catastrophe-on-A-E-wards-Overcrowding-now-so-bad-patients-will-die-warns-top-doctor


Quote:
NHS bosses install two-tier plan to overhaul A&E care
HOSPITAL A&E departments should become a two-tier system to ease pressure on an “emergency service at its limit”, a major review recommended yesterday.


NHS medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh said the *system was under “intense, growing and unsustainable pressure”.

This was caused by more people turning to A&E, an ageing population and “confusion” over existing services.

His report calls for an overhaul of the system in England to treat more people in their own homes.

For those who need treatment in hospital, two types of A&E should be created – centres for assessing patients and major emergency centres providing specialist care for the most seriously ill.


Sir Bruce insisted the changes were not about closing A&E departments but about creating a safe service that could cope with increasing demand.

The plans call for the 111 non-emergency service – which was beset by problems after its launch this year – to be enhanced to *provide people with a “one-stop” service over the phone.

People’s medical records would be at hand and a wider range of staff, including doctors, would be available to speak to patients.

The report also proposes *bringing together walk-in centres, urgent care centres and minor injury units.
ht tp://ww w.express.co.uk/news/health/442777/Two-tier-plan-to-overhaul-NHS-Accident-and-Emergency-care
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Old November 17th, 2013 #14
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Quote:
CANCER surgery for legitimate patients is being cancelled every week to make way for health tourists scamming the NHS.


One of Britain’s most senior surgeons has condemned having to put bogus patients before those entitled to cancer care in a creaking health service. Professor J Meirion Thomas has called on ministers to introduce an “NHS passport” to combat the abuse.

“It is so easy to breach the system. It is awful for me as a doctor to have to treat someone I know is ineligible,” he said.

Under NHS rules any patient urgently referred by a GP for cancer surgery must receive treatment within 62 days. Professor Thomas said bogus patients about to breach the 62-day rule leapfrogged legitimate sufferers awaiting surgery.

“Even if I do recognise a patient as being ineligible, I am not allowed to declare that because the minute that patient walks in to see me I have a duty of confidentiality,” he explained.

“Sometimes I have to cancel a genuine patient to allow a tourist to come through. That really, really bothers me. I know exactly what happens then. They do not attend follow-up appointments. Why? Because they have gone back to wherever they have come from. It really happens so often, weekly I would say.”
ht tp://w ww.express.co.uk/news/health/442188/Foreign-NHS-cheats-push-aside-cancer-patients-Fury-as-life-saving-ops-are-cancelled

Quote:
MORE than 12,000 patients have had to wait 12 hours or more on hospital trolleys, shock figures have revealed.


Another 250 were left for at least 24 hours while one had to wait almost three days to see a doctor.

The disturbing figures have emerged at the same time as a survey shows there are almost 20,000 unfilled nursing posts.

NHS budget cuts have been blamed for the dire statistics, which have been called “distressing.”

Peter Carter, of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “The types of people on the trolleys for days are the elderly.

“These are the people who go to the back of the queue.

“While they are in distress and discomfort, they are not critically ill.

“It's really distressing to think of patients in their twilight years being treated this way.”
h ttp://w ww.express.co.uk/news/health/442610/Thousands-of-A-E-patients-wait-for-more-than-12-hours-in-corridors-on-hospital-trolleys
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Old November 17th, 2013 #15
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Another source of NHS strain:


the incidence of TB in the UK remains high compared to most other Western European countries, with 8,751 cases reported in 2012, an incidence of 13.9 per 100,000 population.

Quote:
The majority of TB cases occurred in large urban centres, amongst young adults, those from countries with high TB burdens, and those with social risk factors for TB. As in previous years, London accounted for the highest proportion of cases in the UK (39%) followed by the West Midlands PHE Centre area (12%).

Similarly to 2011, 73% of TB cases were born outside the UK and mainly originated from South Asia (60%) and sub-Saharan Africa (22%). The rate of TB among the non UK-born population was almost 20 times the rate in the UK-born, at 80 per 100,000 but has continued to decline over the last seven years. In the UK-born population, the incidence of TB has not declined in the past decade, with rates remaining stable at 4.1/100,000 per year. Within this population, those most at risk remain individuals from ethnic minority groups, those with social risk factors and the elderly.
ht tp://ww w.hpa.org.uk/Publications/InfectiousDiseases/Tuberculosis/1308TBintheUK2013report/
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Old November 17th, 2013 #16
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Appears to be an older story but nonetheless, still relevant.

Quote:
'Bacteria and viruses recognise no international boundaries.' One incurable disease which has a firm foothold in Britain is HIV, with more than 2,300 new cases last year.

And tuberculosis, once thought of as the scourge of Victorian-era slums, is spreading at an alarming rate.

Parts of East London have more victims of the lung disease than anywhere else in the Western world. In one district, Newham, there are 108 TB cases per 100,000 people - twice the rate in India.

Half of the TB victims are asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa, India and Bangladesh.

Meningitis outbreaks have been linked to the haj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Sir Liam launched the first national strategy to combat the disease threat which has been fuelled by tourism and immigration.

'It has been estimated that there is international cross-border movement of two million people per day, including one million between the borders of developing and developed countries each week,' he said.

'This rising trend in travel to ever more exotic locations has been mirrored by a rising trend in infections such as the most serious form of malaria.' A total of 1,128 cases of malaria were recorded in Britain in 2000.
Read more: ht tp://ww w.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-94307/Britain-danger-surge-exotic-diseases.html


And of course, polio is rampant in such as Syria - the West is doing its best to vaccinate them but it's not hard to see polio-infected or carrying asylum seekers getting into European countries, is it? A polio epidemic would cause even more strain, of course.
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Old November 17th, 2013 #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bev View Post
Another source of NHS strain:


the incidence of TB in the UK remains high compared to most other Western European countries, with 8,751 cases reported in 2012, an incidence of 13.9 per 100,000 population.



ht tp://ww w.hpa.org.uk/Publications/InfectiousDiseases/Tuberculosis/1308TBintheUK2013report/
Treatment regimes for MDR-TB and XDR-TB can stretch into two or more years, costing up to $16,000 in drugs alone and up to $200,000 to $300,000 per patient if isolation hospital costs, medical care and other resources are taken into account.
http://vnnforum.com/showthread.php?t...t=Tuberculosis

Governments and their "orgs" don't seem to look upon horrific disease/immigrants in quite the way we do. It's more about career security/advancement and unlimited tons of dosh salted off joefb.
 
Old November 17th, 2013 #18
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The polio thing is really interesting and has apparently been brewing for quite some time with most ZOG hated countries (or countries lacking a significant ZOG domination) being guilty of "polio" whereas more compliant countries now have something called "Acute Flaccid Paralysis" instead.




January 12, 2012, marked a significant milestone for India. It was the first anniversary of the last reported wild polio case from India. Keeping the country free of polio for a whole year was a feat that is a tribute to the Government of India and its 2.3 million vaccinators, who visited over 200 million households to ensure that the nearly 170 million children (under five years in age) were repeatedly immunised with oral polio vaccine (OPV) (1). India's programme has largely been self financed. The country has thus far spent more than Rs 120 billion (US$2.5 billion US$ 1 = Rs 50) on polio eradication after the programme started here in 1994 (2). The $2.5 billion spent by India must be seen against $2 billion spent by the United States of America on world-wide polio eradication (3), the $1.3 billion expended by Bill Gates (4), and the $0.8 billion raised by the loudest voice for polio eradication - Rotary International - over the last 20 years (5).

The celebrations of January 12, 2012 would have been accompanied by a collective, massive sigh of relief because a new 'name and shame' policy has been adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), apparently without approval (6), to boost the eradication effort. In this vein, the acronym PAIN has been used, while referring to the polio-endemic countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria. While the exact origin of this oft-repeated acronym is unclear (7,8), India will be happy to be rid of the opprobrium.

Internationally, supporters of eradication desperately needed a victory in India to drum up enthusiasm, at a time when commitment to the programme had been flagging, and funding was rapidly drying up. With a $410 million shortfall in the funds available, this gap threatens to undermine eradication efforts (9). While India chalked up a year of being polio free, four other countries, Angola, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, have had year-long outbreaks. Another 13 countries have had recent infections - eight in Africa, along with Nepal, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Russia (10). The ethics of spending so much on polio eradication has been challenged by Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet (11), and Arthur L Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania's bioethics centre (12). Besides, former supporters of the programme are now questioning its feasibility (13-16).



The elephant in the room: the problem of non-polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP)

It has been reported in the Lancet that the incidence of Acute Flaccid Paralysis, especially non-polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis has increased exponentially in India after a high potency polio vaccine was introduced (25). Grassly and colleagues suggested, at that time, that the increase in AFP was the result of a deliberate effort to intensify surveillance and reporting in India (26). The National Polio Surveillance Programme maintained that the increased numbers were due to reporting of mild weakness, presumably weakness of little consequence (27). However in 2005, a fifth of the cases of non-polio AFP in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) were followed up after 60 days. 35.2% were found to have residual paralysis and 8.5% had died (making the total of residual paralysis or death - 43.7%) (28). Sathyamala examined data from the following year and showed that children who were identified with non-polio AFP were at more than twice the risk of dying than those with wild polio infection (27).

Data from India on polio control over 10 years, available from the National Polio Surveillance Project, has now been compiled and made available online for it to be scrutinised by epidemiologists and statisticians (29).

This shows that the non-polio AFP rate increases in proportion to the number of polio vaccine doses received in each area. Nationally, the non-polio AFP rate is now 12 times higher than expected. In the states of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, which have pulse polio rounds nearly every month, the non-polio AFP rate is 25- and 35-fold higher than the international norms. The relationship of the non-polio AFP rate is curvilinear with a more steep increase beyond six doses of OPV in one year. The non-polio AFP rate during the year best correlates to the cumulative doses received in the previous three years. Association (R2) of the non-polio AFP rate with OPV doses received in 2009 was 41.9%. Adding up doses received from 2007 increased the association (R2 = 55.6% p < 0.001) (30). Population density did not show any association with the non-polio AFP rate, although others have suggested that it is related to polio AFP (31).

http://web.archive.org/web/201309070.../202co114.html
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Old November 17th, 2013 #19
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That's very interesting information on the polio, Dawn, thanks for posting it. I admit I've not been keeping up with the polio thing - I just assumed it was a getting them healthy before letting them in caper but the amount of fuss that's being made leads me to believe there's much more at play than that.
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Old November 17th, 2013 #20
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Originally Posted by Bev View Post
That's very interesting information on the polio, Dawn, thanks for posting it. I admit I've not been keeping up with the polio thing - I just assumed it was a getting them healthy before letting them in caper but the amount of fuss that's being made leads me to believe there's much more at play than that.
You're quite welcome.

I thoroughly agree. Especially as it seems the MSM have been told to use the term "Pakistan Polio".

Much like the "Spanish Flu" had nothing to do with Spain.
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