British National Party Public Services News Bulletin w/c February 5, 2007
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1. GO PRIVATE, OR GO BLIND - UNDER LABOUR!

http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2198392.ece

Just imagine somebody who has spent their whole life in the Labour movement having to go to court, under a Labour government, to try to get the NHS to pay for treatment. Imagine being forced to choose between going private, or going blind. I was Labour MP for Halifax for 18 years, and I didn't believe this could happen. I can still hardly believe it. But it has happened to me and - I have since discovered - to thousands of others. I went to a GP last September because I had some discomfort at the back of my left eye. He sent me to an optician, who referred me to a consultant at Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax. The consultant diagnosed macular degeneration. ‘Oh dear,’ I said, ‘that sounds a bit serious.’ He said: ‘It is, but it's treatable. Even though you have got quite a bit of it, you would benefit from Lucentis. It suppresses the condition immediately, and in one or two cases there is real improvement.

The only problem is that you can't automatically get it on the NHS.’ I was told I had to apply to a committee of the primary care trust called the exceptions committee, but this committee was not going to meet for seven weeks. I had a condition which could result in me going blind quickly, and I was having to wait. I was shocked. The committee met, and they told me I could not have the treatment on the NHS on the grounds that they didn't think it was clinically effective and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) had not approved it - although in the NHS eye clinic I spotted a pamphlet advertising this treatment and singing its praises. I wrote to Gordon Brown and the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, saying that it was against every principle I have to pay for NHS treatment. I also said that I think it's a false economy to allow somebody to lose their sight when there is treatment available. Patricia wrote back, agreeing that the drug did not have to be Nice- approved, and that it did not need to be licensed in the UK before it was prescribed, because the Americans and Europeans have approved it. She referred me to the strategic health authority, as the only people who could overrule the PCT, but they came back and said I had not exhausted the appeal procedure at the PCT. But my condition is time- limited. I was losing sight in one eye, and in two or three months I could lose the sight of the other.

I saw the consultant again this month, and he warned me that there is increased activity, so I agreed to go private. I had the first injection the next day. Three of these injections will cost me £5,500, but I have to say that since then, the eye has been much more comfortable. I have found out since that there are thousands of people in my position. It was quite emotional when I went for my first injection, because there were people spending their life savings or whose relatives were coughing up to pay for their treatment. I have decided that the best service I can do for them is to generate as much publicity as possible, and to get people to pressure their MPs and the government to have the NHS fund this treatment.

2. GP PAY RAISED AGAIN

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news

Highly-paid family doctors are to be offered even more money to start working in the evenings and weekends again. The move comes just three years after the vast majority of GPs stopped out-of-hours work. Since then GPs have seen their pay soar to an average of £118,000 under a new contract which scrapped their responsibility to patients outside normal working hours. Now ministers are preparing to effectively bribe GPs through fresh financial incentives to change their working patterns again after a major patient survey showed growing dissatisfaction with the current service. An annual survey of patient experiences found that a quarter of patients described their local GPs' opening hours as inconvenient - up from one in five the year before. A majority said they would be happy for their local practice to close during the day if it meant they could get appointments after work or at weekends. Now ministers say they want to renegotiate the GPs' lucrative contract, potentially paying them even more to open at more convenient times. Average GP pay is now around £118,000 - a 63 per cent increase in three years. But doctors' leaders slammed the proposals, saying that many patients would miss the daytime surgeries. The current GP contract has been widely criticised for massively increasing the amount a doctor is paid at the same time as removing the requirement to be on call in the evenings or at weekends.

More than 90 per cent of doctors took advantage of the contract's opt-out, allowing them to stop providing out-of hours services. To fill the gap, the NHS has been forced to open more than 70 walk-in centres and bring in private companies to provide primary care services. But many patients are turning up in the evening at accident and emergency departments with minor complaints because their local GP surgery is no longer open. The government has said it would look at offering GPs more money to open at times more convenient to their patients. Health minister Andy Burnham said: ‘It's vital we ensure GP practices are open when patients want. ‘Opening hours should reflect patient preferences and we will look to use the GP contract to provide more incentives for GPs to offer better opening hours. ‘GP opening hours will become even more important as we look to move more care out of large hospitals and closer to patients' homes. ‘Each practice should be looking at opening for the times that best meet the needs of their patients.’

The poll of 10,000 patients, carried out by Picker Institute Europe for the Health Department, found that 69 per cent of patients would like to see surgeries close during the day if it meant GPS offered appointments at more convenient times. The most popular option was opening after 6pm in the evenings, backed by 34 per cent of patients. Saturday openings were favoured by 29 per cent, and another 8 per cent wanted early opening hours, before 8am. Asked how often they would like to see evening opening, the majority - 60 per cent - said two or three times a week. The survey also showed there was much room for improvement on GP access. Although the figure was slightly down on last year, 12 per cent of patients were still not able to see GPs within 48 hours. Those unable to book an appointment more than two days in advance stood at 30 per cent - unchanged on the previous year. And more than half - 58 per cent - said they had trouble getting through to their local practice on the phone, slightly up. All in all, 25 per cent of patients reported that they had been put off from going to their GP because they found the opening hours inconvenient - up from 21 per cent the previous year. Dr Hamish Meldrum, chair of the British Medical Association's GPs' committee, said: ‘In pressing for longer opening hours the government seems to forget why the opening hours of the new contract were agreed.

‘They recognised the chronic shortage of family doctors and that it was unreasonable and unsafe to expect the same doctor to work through the day and then evening and weekends as well.’ He said evening opening would also require that staff would need to work later to do x-rays and blood tests - stretching NHS resources. ‘A shift to more appointments in evenings or at weekends would inevitably mean fewer during the day if we are to work within existing resources,’ he said. ‘The majority of our patients - the young and those with chronic, long-term conditions - don't want to lose daytime surgery hours. They would be disadvantaged as a result.’ A spokeswoman for the Patients Association said GPs needed to improve access. ‘The NHS is not accommodating the local needs of patients,’ she said. ‘We get a lot of calls about this on our helpline and many complain they cannot get through to their GP on the phone. ‘If we make services more acceptable to patients we will encourage them to take more responsibility for their healthcare - and that will save the NHS money in the long run.’

A spokesman for the Health Department said it would not be putting forward the incentive payments for the 2007/08 contract, currently stalled. However the scheme would be considered in future contract negotiations, which take place every year. In a letter to all GPs sent yesterday, Dr Meldrum said government criticism of GP pay and working hours was 'unjustified and at times malicious'. ‘The government may feel that by blaming GPs they will divert attention from where the real blame lies,’ he said. ‘They couldn't be more mistaken. ‘They need a confident, cooperative general practice more than ever if they are to have some chance of getting the NHS out of its present shambles and their persistent denigration of GPs and their value if completely counter-productive. They will not impress our patients, their voters.’

3. NHS DRIVE TO INVOLVE PATIENTS 'FAILING'

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2198409.ece

The Government's drive to create a patient-centred NHS is failing, a report warns. Patients are less involved in healthcare than they were three years ago, and decisions about medicines and treatment are increasingly being taken out of their hands by GPs. The results will come as a blow to ministers, who have championed choice in the NHS based on increasing patient involvement. In the survey of 10,000 patients conducted for the Department of Health, only 45 per cent said they were given as much information as they wanted about their medicines. Patients were also unhappy about access to GPs, with seven out of 10saying they wanted surgeries to open in the evening and at weekends. But problems over patients obtaining appointments seem to have been largely solved, with nine out of 10 saying they could see a doctor within the Government's target of 48 hours. The findings were released as the British Medical Association urged GPs to unite to defend themselves against ‘politically inspired doctor bashing’. A fact sheet has been sent to all 42,000 family doctors in the UK, which the BMA claims ‘rebuts the inaccuracies surrounding claims about the rise in [GPs'] earnings.’

4. HOSPITALS LOSING BATTLE TO STOP SPREAD OF KILLER INFECTION

[No URL available]

Infections with the lethal hospital bug Clostridium difficile rose to a record last year, defying efforts to curb the growing threat. Figures released yesterday by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed that there were 42,625 cases between January and September, up from 40,390 in the same period in 2005, a rise of 5.5 per cent. Cases of the infection have doubled since the late 1990s, and have increased more than tenfold in the past 15 years. The bacterium mainly affects the elderly causing severe diarrhoea, which can lead to intestinal gangrene. It causes 2,000 deaths a year. Bloodstream infections with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) showed a small decline to 3,391 in the six months from April to September. The fall of 5 per cent, compared with the same period in the previous year, is not a fast enough rate of progress for the Government to hit its target of halving the infection rate by 2008. MRSA causes 1,000 deaths a year. Georgia Duckworth, the head of antimicrobial Resistance at the HPA, said there was a plateau in MRSA cases rather than a significant decrease.

5. DENTISTS TURNING AWAY PATIENTS FOR LACK OF FUNDING

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6303937.stm

Dentists are turning away patients because local health chiefs are running out of funds, dental leaders say. A new dental contract started last year, but early figures suggest the government overestimated how much money would be taken in patient fees. NHS trusts have begun to cut their budgets in response and the British Dental Association said this has led to some dentists refusing patients care. A government memo has urged health chiefs to get to grips with the issue. Surrey - NHS trust facing shortfall in fees, although unclear how big at moment. Bosses admit they have had to say no to dentists who want funds to treat patients. Local dentists report having to turn away patients. Bradford - Health chiefs expecting to get just over half of the £5.7m it was expecting in fees. Unclear how shortfall will be met, PCT says dentists are treating more exempt patients than expected. Sheffield - NHS trust facing a £2.3m shortfall in patient fees, which bosses say will have an impact on dental services. Some local dentists running out of money to treat patients. Norfolk - Dentistry budget to be cut by nearly £3m - about 10% - to cover shortfall in fees, with NHS bosses admitting there are problems accessing dentistry in some areas. Dentists say they are turning away patients. Coventry - NHS trust facing shortfall in fees of about £600,000. Officials say they are tightening orthodontistry access restrictions, cutting dentistry budgets and using money elsewhere to plug gap. London - Health bosses say seven out of eight north west London trusts facing shortfall in fees - mirroring the picture nationally. Cambridgeshire - Shortfall predicted to be £2.2m - 25% of what county expected to make in fees.

Managers said ‘significant’ problems being reported across country. The memo and many trusts say dentists are treating more exempt patients than expected - children and those on low income do not have to pay for care. Under the contract, many adult patients make a contribution towards the cost of their treatment. The Department of Health said trusts should be making £630m from these fees, making up a quarter of their entire dentistry budget. But health chiefs have now started warning they will not make enough, leading to cuts in budgets. Health chiefs in Yorkshire, London, Surrey, East Anglia and the Midlands have all reported problems. This has had two consequences - firstly trusts have not been able to expand services as much as expected and secondly dentists have been denied funds to treat patients. The contract, which started in April, was designed to expand NHS services amid reports many patients were being forced to pay for treatment privately. It gave local health chiefs working for primary care trusts responsibility for providing services, while attempting to make NHS work more attractive for dentists by offering them the same money for seeing fewer patients. Since the new deal came in last April, dentist numbers have fallen from 21,111 in England to 20,285, but the government said those left working In the health service were doing more NHS work rather than private practice. Jackie Sowerbutts, dental adviser to Surrey PCT, admitted the trust had had to say no to a number of requests from dentists for money. She said: ‘The government totally and utterly changed the system. It is not surprising the estimation [of patient charges] is turning out wrong. ‘Many trusts are in this position.’

6. HEALTH TRUST MAY GO PRIVATE TO STAUNCH DEFICIT

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/02/nhealth102.xml

A primary care trust is considering handing over a major part of its work to a private management company. If Hillingdon Primary Care Trust in north London goes ahead with the plan to put commissioning of services and negotiating contracts into the private sector it will be the first in England to do so. Up to 270 jobs could be affected. The trust has a deficit of £54 million and is projecting losses of £11 million this year. In a statement yesterday it said that it ‘recognises that a factor contributing to the financial challenges is a skills gap in the commissioning function with regard to performance management and contract negotiations’. The proposal is an option and no decision will be made before the board meeting in April. The health services union Unison said it was surprised by the reports since it was in discussion with the trust over ways to manage the deficit. ‘We are firmly opposed to the trust giving its commissioning role to the private sector. A private health company could be commissioning services from its own organisation when there would be a clear conflict of interest,’ a spokesman said. Jonathan Fielden, of the British Medical Association consultants' committee, said: ‘What may happen at Hillingdon sounds like a substantial step towards privatising the NHS and NHS services? ‘The Government seems hell-bent on pursuing this line despite the fact that previous private ventures have cost millions of pounds but have not benefited patients.’