Press release
Becky Ramsay SHOCKING!! UNBELIEVABLE!! Would it shock you to know that for the last 5 years MORE people have died in open water than at the hands of drink drivers........ It has often been said to me when I visit Fire services that the same person responsible for reducing Road fatalities is the same person who is responsible for reducing water related fatalities. Obviously it goes without saying that RTA`S are the biggest accidental killer in the UK so I have often seen water safety taking a back bench in many fire services. I totally understand cuts have been made and the purse strings are tight. This does not help when the aim is to ensure our loved ones are aware of the dangers in and around open water. We need to have dedicated specialists trying to reduce water related fatalities daily not annually all around our country. I have been campaigning for over 5 years in memory of Dylan and the surface has only been scratched. Yes awareness campaigns are taking place up and down the country, Emergency services are using social media to get the message out. (Lets be honest how many of our teenage children follow the fire service or RNLI or ROSPA or any of the other organisations out there trying to make a difference?) How many of our children would see the posts which are posted? We can sit back and wait for summer to arrive and again I will offer my thoughts and sympathies to all families who suffer the loss which mine has......OR WE CAN START NOW SHARING THE POSTS YOUR CHILDREN MAY SEE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WILL SEE UR POSTS. U NEED TO SHARE THE POST TO SHARE THE AWARENESS! It got me thinking why is there not people in place where there job role is specifically to work on reducing water related fatalities. I won`t talk about the cost of an actual recovery I just know it is probably much higher than you think. According to stats over a 5 year period This is what I found out! 2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 In 2009, There was 405 Water related fatalities.There was 380 fatalities caused by drink drivers this is the total figure including actual drivers who died in the incidents In 2010, There was 420 Water related fatalities.There was 240 fatalities caused by drink drivers this is the total figure including actual drivers who died in the incidents In 2011, There was 407 Water related fatalities.There was 240 fatalities caused by drink drivers this is the total figure including actual drivers who died in the incidents In 2012, There was 371 Water related fatalities.There was 230 fatalities caused by drink drivers this is the total figure including actual drivers who died in the incidents In 2013, There was 381 Water related fatalities.There was 240 fatalities caused by drink drivers this is the total figure including actual drivers who died in the incidents So in total over that one 5 year period we lost 1984 lives in water related accidents. In total we lost 1330 lives in drink drive related incidents. We do so much as a country to try and prevent drink driving why can`t we put as much effort in to reducing water related fatalities. So many people lives are lost and it is preventable. I know discovering this information for me was a huge thing to think that water related fatalities by far out way drink drive related fatalities has truly shocked me. I truly hope we can learn from these findings. My findings have come from a government document via Department for Transport and ROSPA. Please sign and share Becky's petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/168941
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Op-ed: The first 100 days in any new U.S. presidency is telling. The world looks on and decides what may follow based on those first 100 days. It also sees what is the new President's priorities. Donald Trump dived head first into his presidency January 20, 2017, and has acted like a man possessed. The latest, there are so many bad news stories to chose from, relates to gun laws. President Obama tried many times to tighten gun laws but Republicans watered down his policies. Following the Sandy Hook school massacre Obama was finally able to tighten gun laws in relation to background checks to weed out mental ill people but it took time to enact. Thursday this was overturned. "Washington (CNN) The Republican-led House voted Thursday to repeal an Obama-era regulation that required the Social Security Administration to disclose to the national gun background check system information about people with mental illness. The regulation instituted in the final days of the Obama administration required the SSA to share information about those who are considered incapable of managing their own disability benefits due mental illness." It took Obama time to pass the legislation and with sleight of hand it is removed. Payback from Pres. Trump to the powerful NRA gun lobby. It highlights his executive order limiting who can enter the USA had nothing to do with safety. More people die in the USA from guns than terrorism. "Mass shootings: There were 372 mass shootings in the US in 2015, killing 475 people and wounding 1,870, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker, which catalogues such incidents. A mass shooting is defined as a single shooting incident which kills or injures four or more people, including the assailant.Source: Mass Shooting Tracker And that is just mass shooting numbers!" The following was our report in early 2014 as Obama tried to bring in some gun controls. President Obama announces gun restrictions for the mentally ill January 1, 2014 Since December 2012, when 26 people, including children, were massacred at a US school, Sandy Hook Elementary, President Obama has been under pressure to tighten lax gun laws. Initially there was a wave of support for any new gun measures but the children and adults killed at Newtown were hardly cold in their graves before people forgot. Instead of wanting change too many began to make excuses. At the forefront of the fight to maintain the gun status quo was the US gun lobby, GOP led Congress and the NRA, national rifle association. They were more interested in money and protecting themselves against some vague, unknown threat. Throughout 2013 the two sides pulled this way and that and finally January 3, 2014 US President Obama has announced change, or at least a watered down version of change, as more extensive background checks of potential gun owners gets underway. You may say it is a start but is it enough or is it too little and too late? Gun deaths continued to spiral out of control during 2013 in the US but there still seemed little real will for change. Of course those who have lost loved ones in senseless gun crimes view the matter differently. President Barack Obama's administration Friday announced measures aimed at limiting access to firearms for the mentally ill. As the BBC report continues, “The changes clarify ambiguous regulations and allow hospitals to provide more information for background checks, officials said. The actions come more than one year after the Newtown school shooting, which sparked a national gun debate. Passing common-sense gun safety legislation - including expanding background checks and making gun trafficking a federal crime - remains the most important step we can take to reduce gun violence” The White House statement was released late Friday and said the “two new actions "will help strengthen the federal background check system and keep guns out of the wrong hands". The announcement however leaves this writer baffled. One question springs to mind – when is a person sane and when is he or she not? Mental illnesses of some form or another, affects a large percentage of the population. Some people have long standing mental health issues but others just snap under pressure. Whilst the new measures will go some way to minimize gun crime in the US they hardly touch on the crux of the matter, which are too many guns in circulation. However it is worth mentioning that currently in the US there are many thousands of mentally ill people known to the system who can purchase weapons. The information regarding their mental health does not necessarily get to the gun sellers. Obama's announcement Friday will tighten that loophole and satisfy some, at least for now. Obviously US politicians know that defining a person with mental illness will not be easy, nor will preventing gun purchases: “The first proposed regulation, from the Department of Justice, aims to clarify who is prohibited under federal law from possessing a firearm for reasons related to mental health. That change includes clarifying the term "committed to a mental institution" to include involuntary inpatient as well as outpatient commitments, the White House said. The second proposed action, brought by the Department of Health and Human Services, lifts certain privacy provisions preventing states from forwarding relevant information to the background check system.” And after all the fancy words this “The change could give medical entities covered by federal health privacy law permission to disclose "limited information necessary to help keep guns out of potentially dangerous hands", the White House said. “The proposed rule will not change the fact that seeking help for mental health problems or getting treatment does not make someone legally prohibited from having a firearm," the White House said.”
To give President Obama his due, he tried implementing a raft of measures to tighten gun control following the Sandy Hook massacre but the republican led Congress kicked them all into touch. Their aim it seems is to undermine the President, pay lip service to those who fund them and not serve the people. As most people now accept, if the murder of 20 children and six staff in a school could not convince Congress gun laws needed changing what will? "Passing common-sense gun safety legislation - including expanding background checks and making gun trafficking a federal crime - remains the most important step we can take to reduce gun violence," the White House statement concluded. Opinion: Singling out the mentally ill could lead to a witch-hunt, may offer some protection but ultimately will not prevent further deaths in the USA. It could obviously prevent further gun deaths where the perpetrator is known to have mental illness but I am tempted, after more than one year, to conclude “Big Deal”. Didn't Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook killer, use his mother's weapons? Source: BBC Diane Abbott is a strong, principled Labour MP who is often under attack. Look at her timeline or anti Diane Abott trolls on social media and you will find a shocking level of racist and sexist abuse levied at her. Thursday she is under attack for failing to support Jeremy Corbyn in the Article 50 debate in the House of Commons Wednesday. Diane was suffering a migraine and was a no show. This means she is logged as abstaining. While Ms Abbott and others have berated some for abstaining in other votes it is not an unusual move. What is unusual or should that read vindictive is an alleged email plot to deride Ms Abbott on social media. Politics Home is the source of this news. U.K. Labour Party MPs are privately mocking close Jeremy Corbynally Diane Abbott for missing Wednesday’s historic vote on Article 50 due to “illness” — circulating an email among themselves ironically suggesting that they get #PrayForDiane trending on Twitter. Again it is an anonymous source leaking the email. No doubt it was one of the usual suspects. “I’m very worried about Diane’s illness and I know many colleagues will share my concern,” the email begins. “Can we organize a PLP collection for flowers? I’ve tried to get colleagues to donate informally, but I’ve only raised 64p and can only think this is because they are too traumatized and worried to focus on it properly at the moment. Maria Carroll a friend on social media shared the story saying: "How can we respect our MPs and seek unity when this is their behaviour? I'm sure many of us either suffer from migraine or know someone who does. Its debilitating and it's onset is sudden and relentless. Dianna Abbott, no matter what people think of her politics, her statements or her principles is the most abused MP in the house. She suffers racial discrimination, misogyny and ridicule daily, gets hate mail and death threats, but she keeps going and keeps fighting for her beliefs and is highly regarded by her constituents. Why is this happening? because she supports Corbyn and because she supports the labour position on article 50. This is horrid, it's the kind of behaviour we try to stop in schools. It's the kind of behaviour we expect of UKIP not labour. This is now going too far and I urge you all to email you MPs and ask them to get behind the democratically agreed labour policy on Brexit - at conference, at NPF, at NEC and shadow cabinet. It might not be your preferred position but it's the majority labour position. And I'm sick of it being used and seeing members being used to ridicule Labour. What does this kind of behaviour deliberately given to the press make voters think? This was my reply: "My husband suffers with migraines. Thankfully less often at this time. Twice he has been hospitalised. The first time for three days when a stroke was suspected. He is now retired but during his working life experienced sceptics. It was "its only a headache" "i get migraines too" and more. But if he did not get home quickly enough he could not. He was often unable to communicate properly, his vision was at times severely impaired and more. Did Diane pull a sickie? I thought we lefties were generous individuals who would not judge but instead empathise with her migraine?" This story undermining Ms Abott and the Labour Party leadership shows a childish vindictive element in the Parliamentary Labour Party. The conclusion has to be that those involved like riding the political gravy train but do not care about forming a government or how they and the party are viewed. Who was the anonymous source, a person who lacks the backbone to be named? Could be .... ........ But who knows apart from the sneak and the source. But it has all the hallmarks of a disloyal bully. Another posisble suspect is John Mann a known disloyal bully who once had his sights set on becoming party leader. http://www.politico.eu/article/prayfordiane-labour-mps-mock-jeremy-corbyn-ally-abbott-brexit-vote/ Opinion: Supporting left-wing politics in the UK is a funny old game. Yes in so many ways it is a game although it is not to the general public. The Left in this case is the Labour party. Where to start just posting a few thoughts is not easy but here goes. Apologies if it becomes a meaningless ramble. If nothing else it will be therapeutic for me. First a little One Woman background Born in the East riding of Yorkshire city of Kingston-upon-Hull in 1952 I was one of the lucky ones. A few years earlier I would have entered a war ravaged Great Britain in a city experiencing the Blitz and with "no cradle to the grave" National Health Service. Both could have prevented survival. The post war years were tough but not as tough as the actual war years. There was still some rationing and a great deal of poverty but most ordinary people were in the same boat. Politics was not on the home or school agenda or so it seemed; it must have been at a subliminal level perhaps. I have always aligned myself with left-wing politics and the Labour Party and voted accordingly. Dad was a builder's labourer who worked hard, suffered a range of undiagnosed war related mental heath issues and died aged 55. His story and my Mum's and their respective siblings probably helped shape my Labour views. The European Union The only time I have not voted Labour was in the run up to the UK joining the common market or EEC now known as the EU or European Union. I opted for an independent anti common market Labour candidate. In the referendum to join the common market I voted no. But the NO voters lost. That was it job done, majority rules and we were in. I do not remember a national outcry, dummies being spat out with force and friends and family members falling out big time over the result. That's democracy. Now with rolling 24/7 news real, fake, propaganda and spin it is a very different game. So what do I hate about the left? For me the Labour Party is my left wing political party. Some of the fresh faced post Blair Labour MPs and candidates may not agree. They like to talk of "moderates" "soft left" and "hard left" and employ Tory working practice; divide and rule. Using the term "Labour is a Broad Church" also helps divide the party. Having voted for the Labour Party at local and national level for so many years in 2015 I signed up; ahead of the General Election in 2015 I thought I best put my money where my mouth is and become a party member. What a huge mistake that was. Retired now I have more time to follow events and did hope to become more politically active but that is on hold. Watching MPs and activists bicker is a killer. It is a big turn off. The mainstream media spin news for maximum impact but the Labour Party manages to rip itself apart unaided. Leading lights in the Labour Party use Twitter to hold spats, name call, post resignation letters and pull the party into disrepute. Those MPs on the right of the party working to undermine party leader Jeremy Corbyn at any opportunity block party members on a whim. One party member preaching unity on social media was blocking anyone and everyone. Other political parties rub their hands with glee hoping to scavenge disenfranchised Labour Party voters and supporters. Other political parties keep their divisions underwraps and out of the media; Labour's dirty washing is aired in public and too often by its own people. The EU referendum 2016 was brought to you by the Tory Party. It was a vote winner for David Cameron in 2015. Cameron often called chicken ran true to form and quit post the Brexit vote. Cameron is now raking the money in as the Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn take a mainstream media hit following the Article 50 vote. In a nutshell What I hate about the Labour Party:
And with each plot aimed at undermining Jeremy Corbyn it gets more difficult. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/tonights-vote-on-the-brexit-bill-could-be-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-jeremy-corbyns-leadership-a7556951.html Paul Nuttall is the current leader of UKip. He is an MEP and is standing for MP in Stoke Central a seat left vacant when Tristram Hunt Labour quit for lucrative pastures new. So if he wins that election he may be an MEP, Party Leader and MP. In theory he could hold all three positions in a money or power grab. Yes he does not like the EU but is happy to rake the money in. Like former UKip Party leader Nigel Farage Nuttall is quick to complain about the EU gravy train extolling the virtues of the UK leaving the EU but he is just another hypocrite. As a UKip man leaving the EU may have had little to do with excessive and costly European bureaucracy and all to do with immigration and right wing policies. Nuttall is a practising Catholic. He was born in Bootle Liverpool in 1976. His semi Liverpudlian northern accent may appeal to some working and middle class voters or have the reverse effect. In March 2015 Nuttall stated that "Twelve per cent of Catholics have already indicated that they are going to vote, or have already voted, UKIP. On moral issues, we, more than any other political party, are more in line with Catholic thought. Whether it's on gender-choice, abortion or same-sex marriage, we are absolutely 100 per cent behind the Catholic Church." He is anti-abortion and is a member of the United Kingdom's largest pro-life organisation founded in January 1967. He is in favour of the death penalty reportedly for serial and child killers. He claims to support the NHS but check out footage at the end of the report for his true view. His LGBT views are a mixed bag. "Upon becoming UKIP leader, Nuttall faced criticism from Daily Politics presenter Jo Coburn over a lack of diversity in his appointments of all-white men to prominent positions within UKIP. Nuttall accused Coburn of "splitting hairs" as "I've literally appointed three people. If you want diversity, Peter Whittle, my deputy, is an open homosexual." In 2014 he made the following controversial Tweet. "Tuesday is Emmeline Pankhurst Day, and whilst I am not going to throw myself in front of a horse to make my point about British democracy on this occasion, this is a vitally important constitutional matter and perhaps we should throw Sturgeon in front of a hunt horse as part of the commemorations." Opinion: He is trying to portray himself as a genial bloke, man of the people, but he is not. UKip has its roots in the Tory Party. Check out their existing MPs, those who crossed the floor of the House of Commons from the Tory benches. They have gained ground on one or two issues the EU and immigration. Sadly they have had some success winning over former Labour voters. They have used similar tactics to Trump in the USA. They claim to be outside of the establishment but are bank rolled by millionaire Aaron Banks and a few other fat cats. David Cameron once referred to UKip as a party of fruit cakes, closet racists and loons. Is Nuttall an honest man and worth your vote?
Currently UKip and Nuttall are using BRexit for political opportunism. Theresa May and the Tory Party are ultimately responsible for deep divisions across the country caused by the EU referendum. Yet they are sitting pretty. In 2015 demonising Laour Party leader Ed Miliband worked wonders and allowed the Tory Party to win the election. Be very careful how you vote but make sure you use your vote. UKip and Tory supporters will vote; make sure you do too. More: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Nuttall http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/latest/ukip-crackpots-remembered-manifesto-day Pres. Trump has said he will not rule out a return to waterboarding and Saturday UKip leader Paul Nuttall has followed suit. Nuttall is standing as UKip candidate for Stoke Central the BRexit capital of the UK. At time of writing UKip has few elected MPs at Westminster and those that are crossed the floor quitting the Tory Party and joining the alternative Tory Party UKip some time back. So why are intelligent people concerned about a posisble return to water boarding? Watch the following footage but bear in mind that waterboarding took place in a controlled environment. The real thing will be much more brutal. Opinion:
Here is an idea - No boss or person in power should authorise anything they have not personally experienced. People can die when undergoing water boarding. Yet in the past it has been used on suspects in Guantanamo Bay; suspects who ultimately were never allowed a trial. If Trump, Nuttall and other right wing extremists believe the end justifies the means they need to consider what helped breed a new generation of terrorists. The Dily Mirror reports "Mr Nuttall, who put himself forward to contest the upcoming Stoke-on-Trent by-election, said he would be “OK” with use of the torture method, which simulates the experience of drowning, if it ensured lives were saved." What a stupid man Nuttal must be. "If it ensured lives were saved?" How does that one work Paul? It is 2017 but in some ways civilisation is going backwards. When will we be bringing back ducking stools, the public stocks and more? I think most of us can think of at least two candidates for the stocks. More: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-donald-trump-visit-torture-waterboarding-cia-mexican-president-wall-a7548316.html https://www.ft.com/content/ecf8e26c-e39a-11e6-9645-c9357a75844a http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/ukip-leader-paul-nuttall-says-he-backs-waterboarding-through-gritted-teeth-a3452136.html http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/ukip-leader-paul-nuttall-says-he-backs-waterboarding-through-gritted-teeth-a3452136.html Surrey Conservative County Council are to hold a referendum on its plans to increase Council Tax by 15%.
The council is citing much needed funding for social care as the cause of this whopping tax hike. There may be an element of passing the buck onto the local electorate but current law in the UK means any Council Tax increase in excess of the amount set by the Secretary State each year must pass a referendum. This is a Tory policy and the allowed percentage is always low. It means local people will face tough choices. A 15% Council Tax hike is huge. After a Tory government commitment to keep council tax rises low such a rise is massive. But each year council tax rises have remained low services have suffered and been cut. Add to this government mismanagement which has hit poorer areas more than traditional Tory supporting regions and there is little wonder so many councils are cash strapped. The previous rates system, which linked what you paid to the value and standard of your house, was viewed by many as unfair but in particular by the Tory Party. In 1989 the divisive and costly Poll Tax replaced the Rates. Protests against the unpopular Poll Tax led to a watered down version called the community charge which then morphed into our current council tax system. Each tax rebrand cost us all a great deal. New computer systems, staff training packages, necessary paperwork and more were utilised, binned and binned again. Thatcher and her ministers sold the poll tax to voters as a fair method of funding local public services. It was not and neither is the council tax. A re-look at Council Tax banding is long overdue but make no mistake when or if it is updated the poorest people in our society will be hit the worst. The system is loaded in favour of the very wealthy; those people who can afford to pay more but never do. Will Surrey get the go ahead for a 15% Council Tax increase? Will other councils follow suit? Will a 15% increase be enough or will they need another huge increase next year? More importantly can cash strapped citizens afford to pay such increases? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-38678629 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/council-tax-bills-could-rise-9652445 Op-ed: There was a time when people on buses with children in prams had to faff around, put the pram down and accommodate children on knees and or seats.
Wheelchair users and public transport did not really mix. It was an unwritten rule when seats on buses were all occupied that children stood as after all they were getting a free ride or paying a reduced fare. But times change. These days pensioners get a free ride on buses in England but I doubt younger people would expect them to stand because of that but you never know. But what about wheelchair users? Wednesday a man with disabilities, Doug Paulley, has won a Supreme Court case after a dispute over wheelchair access on a bus. A woman with a pram refused to move meaning the bus driver then refused the man entry to the bus. Locally wheelchair users get preference over prams and rightly so in my opinion. However in our 21st Century divided country "rules" vary around the UK. This led to wheelchair user Doug Paulley taking legal action after he was refused entry to a FirstGroup bus in Leeds in 2012 when a mother with a pushchair refused to move for him. Common decency is a mixed bag. Some people play a virtual game of musical chairs on buses to help accommodate prams and wheelchairs. Others move accordingly but grumble as they do so. And some like the woman in this case just refuse to budge. Changes which mean there is now access and space for prams and wheelchairs have been a mixed bag though on the whole a positive. Previously bus conductors would help passengers with prams when necessary but the role of conductor was scrapped many years ago. Putting a pram down can be an inconvenience but a wheelchair user usually has few options. The Supreme court ruling is that the company in this case should consider further steps to persuade non-wheelchair users to move but it falls short of making it a legal duty. Hopefully this case will lead to bus companies looking at who they prioritise. Simply passing the responsibility on to the bus driver should not be an option. And they must surely conclude that a wheelchair user is a priority? According to the Guardian "Disability rights campaigners have hailed a ruling by the supreme court that bus drivers must try to persuade other passengers to make room for wheelchair users. Drivers may stop the bus “with a view to pressurising or shaming recalcitrant non-wheelchair users to move” if they believe a refusal is unreasonable, the judgment declared." http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/bus-wheelchair-space-case-makes-history-at-supreme-court/ So BRexit remains big news though in truth little has happened in real terms since a majority in the UK voted for the United Kingdom to quit the European Union. The value of the Pound has dived, rallied and dived again each time unelected Prime Minister Theresa May opens her mouth when it comes to BRexit. Tuesday she came a little cleaner on her BRexit plans and this time the markets liked her words and responded accordingly. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn warned Tuesday against turning the UK into a bargain basement country which grabs any deals that come our way no matter what the cost. But there is likely to be increased costs to some people in the UK either in the short or even long term. One price hike already announced should be easily put in its place. Tuesday APPLE has announced a 25% price hike on its apps! The increases will apply to sales in the UK, India and Turkey. Simply explained UK app costs will numerically match those of the US. So if it costs $0.99 in the USA it will now cost users 99p in UK. But of the many things that will increase in price should this APPLE price hike even get a mention? Now that you know you are about to be ripped off by APPLE simply avoid the company like the plague. BBC News reports Tuesday: "Price tiers on the App Store are set internationally on the basis of several factors, including currency exchange rates, business practices, taxes, and the cost of doing business," it said. So re-think your APPLE product use NOW.
Look for viable alternaives and switch. Many people in the UK are hooked on their smart phones and APPLE products but boycotting products with over-inflated price structures is easy when it comes to the Internet. Have APPLE cornered the market? Maybe for now. BRexit may cause food and or energy price increases but shopping wisely and with the blinkers off you still might get some good deals. Be inventive and diversify rather than buying the same old same old no matter what the cost. It is amazing what a little personal or widespread boycott can do to prices. Let battle commence. NOTE: APPLE has been chancing its arm since BRexit vote day one. Check out: October 2016 http://money.aol.co.uk/2016/10/28/outrage-as-apples-new-laptop-costs-more-in-uk-than-usa/ September 2016 https://9to5mac.com/2016/09/08/apple-uk-price-rises-brexit/ July 2016 http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/brexit-news-latest-apple-iphone-price-uk-buy-cost-more There is a crisis in the NHS.
Unelected Tory PM Theresa May prefers to dismiss claims by the Red Cross that the NHS is facing a humanitarian crisis. Tory Health Minister Jeremy Hunt has gone to ground. So Mrs May tell patients left on trolleys in hospital corridors as our National Health Service fails to meet demands that there is no crisis. Just how did we get to this point? The following was written in 2012 and was titled "dismantling NHS services." "The UK NHS is under threat. Do not believe me? Well read on. Hospitals across the UK are cutting staff numbers. By and large this is being achieved through an amalgamation of the services provided. Those hospitals which have not yet achieved Foundation Trust status have to streamline in order to do so. Yet Foundation Trusts are not always the best way forward. There have been some appalling stories of late regarding the failures of certain Foundation Trust Hospitals. As hospital wards amalgamate beds are lost. Some hospital trusts have made a commitment to cutting the number of hospital beds they provide during the next five years. [Now it is January 2017 the chickens are coming home to roost] So where will all the patients go? More often than not UK hospital wards are bursting at the seams. They operate a traffic light system for bed availability, Red Alert being dire. However recently the dreaded Black Alert has been more common place. This means that the bed situation is beyond critical. In other words patients are queued up on trolleys waiting for beds. This tends to herald an earlier discharge than planned for some patients, and yes you have guessed it, an earlier re-admittance. [If you are discharged simply because another patient needs your bed is that acceptable?] Hospitals though are in a no win situation. The cuts are demanded by the coalition government's budget changes and NHS reform plans. Money is going to General Practitioners for them to buy in services and it is expected that some patients will therefore bypass the NHS. Private hospitals with Tory supporters at the helm are no longer fiction. This will be the way forward once NHS reform is fully operational. The NHS will of course still pick up the slack. The patients who are not easily cured or treated. This will have the knock on effect of making the NHS appear a poor alternative and undermine their services further. Those of you sceptical that the Tory Lib Dem coalition government are dismantling the NHS need to open your eyes. By the time you realise what is happening it will be too late. Once beds are lost they will be unlikely to be reopened. After all once skilled staff have been axed who will take charge of re-opened wards? David Cameron came to office on a dodgy mandate. He promised the NHS was safe in his hands. That is one of a long line of promises which he has broken. Perhaps it was lies rather than broken promises? Add to that the fact that in truth he did not have a majority to govern the UK and his arrogance beggars belief. Dismantling institutions such as the NHS should be down to a public referendum not the whim of a minority government." The above was written in June 2012. In December of that year this blogger walked out of her NHS clerical job of 13 years as she could not stand it any longer. She had around 15 months until retirement but for the sake of her health quit. Other members of staff became physically and mentally ill working under duress in a constantly changing working environment; one where if you work there long enough you will see each change come around again. Money and resources wasted making the NHS better or making it fail? It now looks like the big plan was failure and the Tory government is about to succeed on that score. Never let the Liberal Democrats try to score political points on the current NHS crisis. They helped make it when they opted to partner the Tories in government for five years. More; http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-privatisation-charges-professionals-in-house-agency-a7426966.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38541462 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/11/virgin-care-700m-contract-200-nhs-social-care-services-bath-somerset |
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