Doctors show what they really care about ... and it's not their patients!

Doctors, just like all other professions, previously opposed the Government's proposed NHS reforms outright ... but when the Government ignored them, they were quick to 'give up' and 'get on' with it.

However Doctors have voted to strike today ... about one particular aspect of the NHS reforms ... but not those parts set to decimate the NHS ... 

Doctors have instead decided to strike over proposed changes to their pensions! (which, even after the change, will see them receiving 250% more money than an average person receives when they are still working, and before any Tax/NI is taken off!)

This just goes to show how these people, who take the hippocratic oath (and who we are supposed to trust) have, for some time, not become medical doctors due any 'calling'/desire to care for people (i.e. a vocation, as it once was), but to get on a highly lucrative 'gravy train' consisting of money (NHS, private, shares/bonuses from rationing your care), self-interest and greed. 

If this were not true then they would be striking over those parts of the bill that will decimate the NHS, ration/privatize healthcare and, to put it bluntly ... 'kill people' ... shame on them ... people will soon trust them as much/little as the politicians and the banksters!

"Arrogant Posh Boys" ... Who Don't Care ... but Run the Country!

David Cameron is really on the back foot, and with poll ratings plummeting, he tried to pick himself up again yesterday only to be kicked in the teeth again - by one of his own MP's!

Speaking to BBC2's Daily Politics, Ms Dorries was asked whether she still believed the prime minister and chancellor were "two posh boys who don't know the price of milk".

She replied: "There is a very tight, narrow clique of a certain group of people and what they do is they act as a barrier and prevent Cameron and Osborne and others from really understanding and knowing what is happening in the rest of the country".

"Unfortunately, I think that not only are Cameron and Osborne two posh boys who don't know the price of milk, but they are two arrogant posh boys who show no remorse, no contrition, and no passion to want to understand the lives of others - and that is their real crime."

Well said ... and how true ... and Cameron had no real answer to this (except trying to guess at the price of milk)!

Cameron has overseen Osborne's mugging of pensioners (the 'Granny Tax') and tax cuts for millionaires (the slashing of the top rate of tax) ... and forced through the disasterous NHS reforms himself, against the advice given by every independent professional body (nb people will not forget this ... or forgive him for this).

Cameron is now saying they want a referendum over proposed Lords' reforms, arguing people's views should be solicited and listened to! However if Cameron was really interested in the views of the people he would have held a referendum on the NHS reforms ... as, unlike reforms to the House of Lords, the NHS reforms were not even part of an election manifesto ... and would have be rejected outright if they were!

Cameron and Osborne are manipulative, lying charlatans ... out of touch "posh boys" who really don't  care about ordinary people ... and who openly laugh at their levels of ignorance and apathy!

Destroying a country to satisfy your own self-interest/greed should be classified as an act of treason ... punishable by death - the Chinese have this ... so why don't we? 

[Answer: Because these type of people make the rules still ... and they have 'chosen' not to include rules like this! NB If there were such rules as this then Bankers, responsible for the mess we are now in, would have been brought to account ... and not receiving multi-million bonuses still!]

Irony and Hypocrisy: Corrupt GP's saying the NHS 'in peril' if they are NOT given the money!

With key Royal Colleges and healthcare representatives expressing concern, and in most cases, outright opposition to the proposed NHS reforms, Andrew Lansley and David Cameron are under increasing pressure. 

No-one voted for these NHS reforms and Cameron stated at the last election that he was committed to putting a stop to top-down reforms! David Cameron also said that the NHS would be safe in his hands and that any reforms would need the support of the healthcare professionals, yet despite all these fine words he is still ploughing on despite their outright opposition!

Hypocrisy indeed!

And what is Lansley doing? ... well he clearly decided to call upon a few GP 'friends' to write to the Telegraph to say they back the reforms, with typically threatening rhetoric ... "The NHS will be 'in peril' if the Government's controversial health reforms are prevented from going ahead".

However the letter wasn't signed by any GP, but 56 GP's specifically setting up new commissioning groups who, under the bill, will effectively replace primary care trusts (PCTs) and be handed the almost entire NHS Budget £80bn to manage (and personally profit from)!

The cold reality is most GP's are actually not at the fore-front of healthcare, with many out of date in terms of knowledge, and acting more like money orientated businessmen than healthcare professionals, already pocketing 6 figure+ salaries ... and these 56 particular GP's are looking to take over virtually the entire NHS budget so they can get massive kick-backs, bungs and bonuses (e.g. from rationing healthcare, steering away from optimal clinical decisions and receiving share options/dividends) and in doing so, become Government made multi-millionaires at the expense of patients and taxpayers.

Last November the BMA moved to a position of total opposition to the Bill, and in the New Year the Royal College of Nurses and the Royal College of Midwives  followed suit. The Royal College of GPs is itself is deeply sceptical, although it's not publicly in total opposition yet (due to representations/lobbying from immoral/corrupt GP's like the ones who signed this letter), even though 90%+ are apparently in opposition (due to clear conflicts of interests between 'cashing in' and 'care').

Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the RCGPs, said: "GPs must understand their role in commissioning and we support the principle of greater clinician involvement. But many of our members feel that this could have been done in a less disruptive way by placing GPs on the boards of existing PCTs."

The Government, when it 'paused' to 'listen' to concerns, did not pause in its quest to abolish PCT's and the process of bribing corrupt GP's to ration and privatise healthcare. It therefore no surprise, given the stench of self-interest and personal gain, that these people are providing the only voice backing the reforms. 

Most healthcare professionals, royal colleges and professional bodies know exactly what the Government and these corrupt GP's are up to ... but are finding it difficult to say so publicly. When will one or more of these bodies finally spill the beans and make it completely clear to everyone what is actually going on ... as they certainly have a professional and moral obligation to do so, as ignorance is unfortunately not bliss, and any apathy on their part will almost certainly kill ... literally!

The reality is that the NHS is indeed 'in peril', but only if we give these people the money, not if we don't!

Voters reject Clegg ... and throw out electoral reform

In the referendum on electoral reform voter turn-out was less than half (60% didn't vote) and of those who bothered to vote, only 32% said they wanted to change the system. 

Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat leader, compromised everything (e.g. the tripling of tuition fees, the scrapping of EMA, NHS reform etc) in order to secure a vote on electoral reform, but then failed to win the vote!  

And the irony of it all is ... Nick Clegg, by reneging on all of his promises and putting aside his moral compass (choosing power over principle), is the actual person who set doubt/alarm bells off in people's heads (e.g. about coalitions) and sounded the death nell for electoral reform.

Many will not have bothered to listen to the arguments, and simply wanted to deliver a protest vote against him (nb which is why the Yes campaigners tried desperately to stop him getting involved in their campaign)!

This would also explain why the Liberal Democrats suffered a rout in the Local Elections, whilst their coalition partners actually gained seats (nb even though their partners are the main party responsible for introducing the cuts)!

Nick Clegg is deliberately keeping his head down, but did say "When you have such a overwhelmingly clear answer you just have to accept it and move on. This is a bitter blow for all those people who believe in the need for political reform, but the answer is clear and the wider job of the government, and the Liberal Democrats in government will continue, to repair the economy, to restore prosperity and jobs and a sense of optimism in the country. That is the job we started and we will see it though. We will dust ourselves off and move on."

And the issue with this? ... well for many it was not a case of rejecting electoral reform at all, but the best way of voters showing they reject him (given it was Nick Clegg's key demand in coalition)! ... and to try to maintain power ... he's predictably saying the public rejected electoral reform (i.e. not him) ... and he will continue in power doing what he's been doing!  

IMHO if the Liberal Democrats could get rid of him they almost certainly would (nb calls are there already from the grass-roots), but because of the massive damage that he's done to his party, they are now in such a state they could actually potentially implode.  Looks like they are just going to try and hang on and hope for the best ... for now. 

Meanwhile, Nick Clegg will still no doubt be contemplating his lifeboat (a safe Tory seat in the next election), particularly as the Conservative vote went up! But he will sit between two stools ... wanting to please an increasingly rebellious party (by showing he's prepared to stand up for people), and wanting to please Cameron and the Conservative party (to ensure he has a free passage to one of their safe seats)!

Trust, honour, respect ... Here I do think the electorate have given their verdict on Nick Clegg. However, apathy ruled the day and ignorance helped to deliver a protest vote but not electoral reform (nb by voting for electoral reform, but not voting for the Liberal Democrats in the local elections, voters could still have delivered a protest vote!) ... so Poweromics will continue unabated.

Whilst Ignoromics prevails, Poweromics will flourish ...

Is the Government 'listening' ? ... to an almost unanimous vote of no-confidence !

The Government have said they need to 'pause' and 'listen' ... to the people and the professionals involved in the NHS .... and the RCN have made their voice heard very clearly today ... delivering an almost unanimous vote of no-confidence in the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and his management of NHS reforms!  

... and rather than address the RCN conference today, Andrew Lansley elected to meet a small group of nurses from around the UK instead - a decision that caused anger amongst delegates at the conference.

Peter Carter, the general secretary of the RCN, added: 'I hope the health secretary goes away and thinks about what we have said to him. If there aren't changes there will be a hardening of opposition.'

Ed Miliband warned that the plans would put hospitals at risk and lead to staff losing the power to do what they believed was best for patients. He also dismissed the Government's 'listening exercise' as no more than a 'PR stunt', adding that 'they appear to believe that people don't like this bill because the Government hasn't properly explained it ... but the opposite is true ... the more people understand and hear about these proposals the less they like them!' 

'It's not a problem of public relations - it's a problem of principle' and added 'The answer to a bad bill is not to slow it down, but to junk it'.

Captain of a sinking ship ... or mutiny on the Bounty?

Nick Clegg faces potential defeat over the government's planned NHS reforms at his spring party conference, as a heavyweight group of Liberal Democrat figures tables an amendment opposing the "damaging and unjustified market-based approach".

Evan Harris, a doctor and former MP and vice-chair of the party's ruling federal policy committee, will table the amendment, supported by the former cabinet minister Lady Williams (Shirley Williams), registering their concerns that the current legislation will lead to a widening of UK health inequalities if left unchecked.

Defeat at his own conference on a central plank of the government's public service reform agenda would mean Clegg would have to choose between ignoring a vote by his grassroots and negotiating concessions from the prime minister.

The amendment complains that some of the proposed changes in the health bill "have never been Liberal Democrat policy, did not feature in our manifesto or in the coalition agreement, which instead called for an end to large-scale top-down reorganisations".

The changes sought by Harris and Williams include:

• No decision about the spending of NHS funds to be made in private and without proper consultation, as can take place by the GP consortiums proposed by Andrew Lansley, the health secretary.

• Restoration of the NHS as the preferred provider, only allowing new private providers where there is no risk of "cherry-picking" that would destabilise the existing NHS. At the moment, the legislation brings an end to the NHS as preferred provider.

• NHS commissioning retained as an entirely public function, rather than the subcontracting of commissioning to private companies. At present primary care trusts are democratically accountable and open to public scrutiny.

• Continued separation of the commissioning and provision of services to prevent conflicts of interest.

• Healthcare commissioning to be carried out by locally elected health boards or local authorities, with the ability to vary a fair local tax in order to invest in local healthcare services.

Given the fundamental conflicts of interest already raised by numerous well-respected healthcare bodies (as well as Channel 4) and the additional flaws contained within current reforms now raised by his own MP's, will Nick Clegg  decide to do a 'U turn' and fight to defend the NHS ... or will he bury his head, soldier on regardless and talk to David Cameron about securing himself a safe Converative seat to fight in the next election? Trust, honor, respect ... Nick Clegg appears to have abandoned all of these in pursuit of power ... e.g. look at tuition fees for instance, and what he wants to do with the NHS now ... with no mandate whatsoever from his party or the electorate.

IMHO the Liberal Democrats will rue the day they allowed their leader to put aside any moral values and renege upon all their elections promises, as many voters will not forget ... and they will not vote for them again! The Liberal Democrats are already getting worried about the future (e.g. in the recent by-election they were pushed into sixth place and also lost their deposit).

Interestingly, despite pushing for it, and despite the clear benefits/importance of electoral reform, one of the biggest risks to a YES vote in the referendum has been the actions of the Liberal Democrat leader himself! Since gaining office he has traded moral principles for power in an attempt to secure electoral reform. Having gained agreement for a referendum, Clegg's now hoping people will vote YES as this will give "him more power" ... however, wasn't he meant to be giving "people the power"! 

IMHO this appears to be yet another example of a 'leader' corrupted by Power and who, in their desire to gain more of it, has abandoned their moral compass as well as the people they're supposed to represent. There is no point striving to become captain of the ship (with the intention of steering it into better waters) if in the process of doing so you have to throw away your compass ... which causes the entire ship to sink!

By jumping ship, and the promise of a 'safe' Tory seat, I am sure Nick Clegg's lifeboat is at the 'ready' ... as the Liberal Democrats start to sink ...

In my humble opinion the referendum on electoral reform will be the point Nick Clegg will know whether he's going to need it or not ... as without a vote to change the electoral system (i.e. a YES vote) the Liberal Democrats are now almost certainly dead!

Conflict of Interest: 'Profit for Doctors' v 'Your Care'

Following my post in January entitled "NHS Reforms: Patient Choice or Doctor's Choice?" I exposed the fundamental flaws in the reforms planned for the NHS, as well as the conflicts of interest they create. As they stand GP's will be able to profiteer in many different ways, destroying the trust between patient and GP. 

Well Channel 4 has today also gone on the offensive, exposing the fundamental flaws in the proposed bill and challenging politicians/providers. They highlight how the current bill is almost devoid of any legislation focused on tackling fundamental conflicts of interest and stopping GP's from being able to profiteer from such reforms (at the expense of patient care). Channel 4 pointed out numerous ways GP's will be able to profiteer (e.g. referring work to providers they are 'partners' in, being given a share of the profits created by reducing the amount spent on care for patients etc), and went further by exposing the plans of some of the groups involved (e.g. Integrated Health Partners).

Will the Government now start to listen and avoid this potential catastophe?  Let's hope so, though they haven't listened to date (e.g. to the concerns of the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Nursing). It's interesting the BBC and Nick Robinson are nowhere to be seen when it comes to challenging these NHS reforms ... I wonder why!