Ninety-nine per cent of delegates to the Royal College of Nursing have declared they have no confidence in the present Secretary for Health, Andrew Lansley.
They have voted overwhelmingly against Mr Lansley’s controversial planned reforms for the National Health Service which would involve discarding Primary Care Trusts and giving GPs greater control of NHS cash.
Supported by leading doctors and some MPs – even members of the present coalition government – nurses claim the move would side-line them and lead to worse care for patients as operations and treatment would be performed by private companies and charities.
Among organisations fighting to stop the planned changes taking effect is the 38 Degrees campaign group, which was at the forefront of last year’s campaign to prevent the sell-off of the U.K.’s national forests.
The mounting pressure against proposed changes to the NHS has forced the government to delay them with at two-month "listening exercise".
Meanwhile Ivan Lewis, Labour MP for Bury South and a former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Health has advised me:
“I and my Labour colleagues voted against the bill at the second reading. We are totally opposed to the privatisation of the NHS and believe reforms proposed by the Conservative led Government will result in large amounts of money being re-directed from Patient Care to Private Healthcare companies.
“We are also concerned that universal guarantees of treatment currently available to patients will be replaced by a post code lottery.
“We will continue to fight these reforms which are opposed by the vast majority of NHS professionals.”
I no longer live in the U.K. but still pay UK taxes and have a property in Mr Lewis’s constituency. I therefore feel I have as valid a reason to complain as anyone resident in Britain.
The present government continues to cause more problems than it solves over a huge spectrum of issues and the NHS has to be among the most important. Let’s hope Mr Lansley and co. take their two month ‘breather’ seriously – otherwise it will be the present government on the operating table – not the NHS!
msniw
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