The NHS is a private affair

Image from: https://www.thinkingbob.co.uk

The National Health Service (NHS) has been at the centre of ongoing controversy for over a year.

All national newspapers, regardless of their specific point of view, have highlighted budget cuts and unprecedented number of patients visiting A&E, as well as the longest waiting times since record began, which means hospitals have been missing A&E targets for over a year.

At the heart of the public health-care crisis is the privatisation process of the National Health Service. Every year thousands of NHS patients are treated by the private sector for routine appointments and post-surgery treatments. Many independent care providers have won up National Health Service contracts: Circle Healthcare, Bupa, Pathology First LLP and Facilities First LLP are just a few of the private companies that are taking over the NHS.

People are provided with a fragmented service, as money are moved from the local hospitals to the private providers competing against it. This is not the result of the NHS hospitals being unable to treat patients, it is because both the last Labour government and the present coalition have encouraged private firms to get involved in order to reduce waiting times and offer patients choice, instead.

As we near the UK General Election, all political parties talk about NHS and their plan to reduce the intrusion of the private sector and ring-fence the budget for public health-care.

Anyway, less than a month ago the coalition government has opened the door to a radical shake-up of the National Health Service, creating over 200 new organisations, including a network of GP-led groups to manage the budget and NHS England.

However good the intentions of the other political parties may be, they are realistically far from being put into practice. Ring-fencing a budget, in fact, is anything but easy when the institution we are talking about is influenced by each and every sector in government. Therefore, as soon as the other less protected departments face significant cuts, the NHS will be affected as well.

From whichever point of view we look at it, the NHS does not seem to be in good hands right now.

UK can't wait to get back to work

The employment rate in the UK has reached a record high.

According to the Office for National Statistics, in fact, 73.3 per cent of the population is currently into work.  This is the highest rate since record began in 1971 and unemployment is at his lowest level since the credit crunch hit the country in 2008.

During the first three months of 2015 the number of those finding a job rose 143,000, bringing the total amount of workers to 30.1 million.

Prime Minister David Cameron has highlighted that these data mark an important milestone in the history of Great Britain, as it means an extra 1.9 million people with the “self-esteem and the financial security” that a job brings. His statements imply that the Conservative party has done a good job over the last five years and suggest to stick with this plan in the future.

It is probably not by chance that the UK General Election of 2015 is just a few weeks away.

Even though the fall in overall unemployment is a good factor for the whole country, it would be unfair not to mention that working people are still £1,600 a year worse off since 2010, according to Rachel Reeves, the shadow work and pensions secretary.

Earnings grew more slowly than expected with average pay up only 1.8 per cent on a year previously.

Moreover, most of these new jobs are part-time, short-hours or minimum wage.

The news that the inflation in March has dropped to zero for the very first time on record come as a relief for most people. However, how long will it last?

For a valued workforce in a valued sector, more has to be done  in the country.

Springtime is back!

Dear readers,

The flowers are already blooming and so this blog is back up and running, with one or two news stories each month.

Thank you for your patience.

Federica Tedeschi