Fixing the figures once again.

The BBC has been doing some interesting research on Accident and Emergency departments in general, which has some relevance to St. peter's A and E, which was the original reason for starting up this Blog.

Way back when, A and E's had a target that they had to keep - 97 % of patients arriving needed to be discharged or admitted to a bed within 4 hours. It was felt this was the best way of measuring an urgent treatment department. Separate figures were kept for patients who waited longer than 4 hours to be dealt with, or longer than 12 hours.

The Conservatives, decided to reduce the target to 95% to be dealt with within 4 hours, to make it easier for the NHS to keep to it's targets.

NHS Trusts which consistently failed to meet the targets would lose money as a penalty, so it wasn't just serious for patients waiting at the hospital.

Last year, as things got worse in the NHS, the government quietly indicated that failure to meet requirements would no longer result in 'fines'.

In fact, over the last twelve months, the targets have been missed even by efficient and well run hospitals, mainly because it's now accepted that most of the NHS is underfunded and unable to manage it's targets.

Now the BBC has discovered that there has been some widespread misuse of 'Drop-in Centre's' to game the statistics.

Lets take, as an example, Ashford and St. Peter's NHS Foundation trust. It runs a traditional Accident and Emergency Department at St. Peter's where patients arrive on foot or in ambulances with problems that range from the trivial to the most serious. Obviously, on arrival they are subject o the collection of statistics leading to the figures that indicate whether the Trust can meet the four hour target.

In fact there is also a 'Drop-in Centre' next to Ashford Hospital. It's not an A and E, ambulances don't call there, it doesn't deal with emergencies.

In fact it's very useful; staffed by nurses you can go there without an appointment and get seen for minor problems. If it turns out to be serious the Nurse can arrange for a transfer to A and E. I went there to have dressings changed and it usually takes about an hour or so. In the past it was attached to a G.P's surgery which was intended by the Blair Labour Government to see people in the evenings and weekends. It's just been closed to save money.

The thing is, the Drop-in centre's statistics go into the figures for Accident and Emergency for the hospital as a whole. Now, no one attending the Drop-in Centre is going there instead of going to A and E - this is non serious problems. The kind of thing that the practice nurse at the Doctors could deal with - but you can be seen without an appointment.

So, in one way the Trust is encouraging people to come in to improve the number of people being seen within 4 hours, because most people attending have quick, simple problems. If you shut the centre, none of the people would be on their way to A and E.

In fact, the BBC has uncovered that not only is this a common practise but some unscrupulous Trusts have been including figures for patients attending Drop-in Centres that have nothing to do with them, in order to massage the A and E to look better.

This 'gaming' of statistics to make them look better is more common in the NHS than you would think - this time there may need to be a recalculation of all last years statistics to find out what the real position was at our A and E's.

The effect of this fixing of the figures makes life harder for patients and easier for over paid NHS managers.

We shouldn't let them off the hook this time.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Royal Surrey County Hospital - the scandal update.

It's just as well I hadn't planned to go down to Guildford Crown Court today to watch the start of the Peter Lewis trial - after months of delay he nipped in last week and changed his plea to guilty.

Check out the story and then I'll have my take on why this is symbolic of a real problem in the NHS;


get surrey
Royal Surrey County Hospital
Former Royal Surrey County Hospital IT director pleads guilty to corruption
charge

The cost to the hospital of the fraud committed by Peter Lewis and Richard Moxon is calculated to be some £81,000, a court has heard.

By Georgina Townshend
22 NOV 2016
 

Royal Surrey County Hospital

A former senior member of staff at Royal Surrey County Hospital and an IT company director have pleaded guilty to corruption in relation to the awarding of a contract for software to record data in the hospital’s A&E department.
 
At Guildford Crown Court on Monday (November 21), Peter Lewis, 57, of Windlesham, admitted receiving payments from Richard Moxon, 41, of Wybunbury in Cheshire, in return for awarding him an ICT contract worth £950,000 in 2011

Lewis originally denied one count of receiving corrupt payments in March, and was due to face trial next Monday (November 28).

At the same hearing in March, Moxon pleaded guilty to one count of making corrupt payments.

Surrey Police said Moxon each month would submit multiple invoices from different companies he controlled.
   
The invoices were all at, or just below, £15,000 - the value that Lewis was able to sign off without oversight.

In return for the arrangement, Moxon paid Lewis nine payments totalling £73,770, and made a further payment of £7,200 to a stables to whom Lewis owed money.

All the payments were made between January and December 2011.

The fraud came to light in December 2011 when the trust conducted a disciplinary investigation into his relationship with another supplier.

Subsequent work found that 40% of the ICT product supplied by Moxon did not meet the needs of the trust.

According to Surrey Police the hospital was able to recover some of the lost money by incorporating Moxon’s software into a new system in August 2012 but the trust still declared losses in its financial year of 2011/12 of £433,000 in respect of the project.

The direct fraud against the hospital was nearly £81,000.
 
Detective Sergeant Chris Rambour, of the Surrey and Sussex Economic Crime Unit, said: “Peter Lewis chose to breach the trust placed in him by the NHS and to feather his own nest.


"It was only through the diligence of the trust that his corruption came to light.

                              -----------//----------

All of that is fairly straightforward and not so surprising; a highly paid manager at an NHS hospital trust rips us off.

But there are a couple of twists to this story.

First of all, here's an extract from another article in 'GetSurrey', this one comes from 2012;

                         ----------//-----------

THE senior management team at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford has been thrown into disarray for the second time in as many months, after the deputy chief executive handed in her notice this week.

News of Sue Lewis’s resignation followed her husband’s recent dismissal from the NHS trust.

Mrs Lewis, who was also chief operating officer at the hospital, resigned from her post on Wednesday (February 8) following 17 years of service.

Her husband, Peter Lewis, the former informatics director, was fired following an investigation into irregular financial transactions.

Peter Dunt, the trust’s chairman, said the executive board understood and accepted Mrs Lewis’s reasons for stepping down and paid tribute to her "significant" contribution through many years of service.

“During the investigation which led to the disciplinary of Peter Lewis, evidence of irregular financial transactions emerged which the trust felt obliged to forward to the police,” he said.

“The police are now conducting their own investigation.
“These findings, and Peter Lewis’s dismissal from the trust in December, have been very difficult for the trust and undoubtedly had an impact on Sue Lewis as both his wife and our chief operating officer and deputy chief executive.

“As a result, she has been evaluating her position at the trust and has decided that the right course of action is to offer her resignation, which the board fully understands and has accepted.

“Sue has worked at the Royal Surrey for more than 17 years and has been a board member since 2003.
                              -----------//-----------

Now the first point is that while there is no suggestion that Ms Lewis had any involvement in her husbands dishonesty, it is surely completely inappropriate that a married couple should
both hold such senior positions in an NHS Trust - at the very least it raises suggestions of a conflict of interest.

So then I followed the subsequent career of Ms Lewis after she left Royal Surrey County Hospital in these unfortunate circumstances.

You won't be surprised to hear that she has had no problem continuing to earn a good living from the NHS.

For nearly two years she worked for Bart's Health NHS Trust
and here's an extract from her online CV;

• Member of the Trust Management Board
• Responsible for legacy Trust sites (including Royal London) and their performance
• Member of senior team that led the operational transition of the merger to form the largest Trust in England
• Responsible for identifying key issues in performance including A&E waiting times; RTT and cancer targets and supporting transformation in these areas.
• Led major bed modeling programme across Trust
• Trust lead for emergency pathway
• Represented Barts Health externally including HealthWatch, Tower Hamlets CCG and LA.
• Operational lead for Quality and Risk, including link for the CQC inspection
• Trust lead for Integrated Care, with membership of the WELC Pioneer programme.
• Supported the achievement of CIPs
• Deputised for COO for both functions (eg budget responsibility) and attendance at Trust and other meetings, eg FT preparation.

Now it was at this time that I was highlighting on my other blog, the extensive problems at this Trust. They certainly needed expert help. Unfortunately, it came to nothing - the medical and financial problems worsened until in 2015, Bart's Health was placed in special financial measures, because it's finances were in such a disastrous state.

So where did Ms Lewis do then?

She chose self employment and created her own consultancy company......which has been engaged by 'Monitor', the health service regulator which is there to raise standards in the NHS.

Here's what she's been up to over the last couple of years advising three trusts who were placed in special measures;

Working as an Improvement Director with the Health Regulator, Monitor/NHSI with three contracts over the last two years. One at East Kent Hospitals and a second at Colchester NHS FT. Have recently successfully completed a similar role at Peterborough & Stamford Hospitals NHS FT.Significant work in ensuring improvements in all areas performance alongside each Board.

Led refresh of Boards where necassary.

Drove improvement through PMO's.

Acted as challenger, advisor and supporter for Trust teams ensuring improvements.

Worked with various external stakeholders and other in the political landscape.

Last contract due to end September this year.

Now it may just be me (and there is no suggestion Ms Lewis has broken the law or is personally incompetent) but is she the most suitable person to be involved in highly paid roles sorting out NHS Trusts which have been placed in special measures?

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Sustainablitity and Transformation Plans.

As if wasn't enough to just be ill - the National Health Service is going through a major transformation and the funny thing is no one knows about it and no one (by which I mean us) has any say in what happens.

Since December 2015, the NHS has been drawing up a "multi-year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP)", which sounds just fine.

That involves creating 44 STP 'Footprints' which also sounds just fine.

However, it isn't fine and the clue is that we aren't allowed to know what the STP's involve, there has been no consultation and no democratic debate about the development of the plans and the NHS has been refusing to disclose information under the Freedom of Information Act, to which we ought to have access.

While there's nothing wrong in having a plan (heaven knows the NHS could do with one) the problem is that everyone knows that healthcare is currently not sustainable without a further injection of money or a reduction in services.

The problem is that as healthcare is bundled into bigger and bigger areas, they will cut services and centralise them with no thought about transport links or costs. So it becomes sustainability for the organisation and not for the patients or staff.

As the tory government has made it clear there is no more money available it means cuts are being prepared.

Effectively, the NHS has re-divided the map so that each STP area now includes a number of Clinical commissioning Groups; those are the doctors bodies that commission healthcare from hospitals. The CCG's were set up so that clinicians were, in theory, in charge of commissioning healthcare. The NHS Hospital Trusts were set up to be independent bodies which would become efficient suppliers of healthcare.

Grouping CCG's together at the same time as not increasing the money needed for an aging and increasingly ill population means cuts.

And as the majority of NHS Hospital trusts are now operating with financial deficits this means cuts in services.

Independent estimates are that all hospitals are likely to be cutting beds under the STP's and a third will be closing their Accident and Emergency departments.


Anyone who has attended and A and E recently will know that the service is already at breaking point, the statutory requirement of admission or discharge within 4 hours is now regularly broken even by good hospitals and the queues are incredible.

This week it was announced that (again in breach of statutory guidelines) hospitals are operating with 98% of beds occupied. Full beds mean A and E patients waiting on trolleys and routine operations being cancelled. How can more beds and wards be closed?

As I said earlier, neither patients, local authorities, parliament or the press actually know what is being planned. The only clue is in the new 'footprints which give a clue as to which Accident and Emergency departments will close.

You can try and work out how it applies in your 'STP' here by downloading the "map of STP footprints in England'.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/futurenhs/deliver-forward-view/stp/


Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Still angry today.

Yesterday about 1976, punk and about how angry I was.

This is a Daily Mirror special report about admissions to hospital for people suffering from malnutrition and about the increasing poverty which means that people are unable to afford food after they have found the money for rent, transport and other essentials.

It's one of many reasons why I'm still just as angry as I was all those years ago;

 22 Oct 2016
  
By Nicola Fifield
Daily Mirror
 
More than 16,000 cases of malnutrition were reported in hospitals in England last year
 
The number of people so ­malnourished they need hospital treatment has QUADRUPLED in 10 years.

In a shocking indictment of the nation’s food poverty , more than 16,000 cases of malnutrition were reported in hospitals in England last year, an average of 45 every day.

More than 900 of these cases were classed as severe – meaning patients were in danger of starving to death.

But these alarming NHS figures are just the extreme tip of an iceberg of misery and deprivation as GPs treat thousands more poverty-stricken patients for malnutrition.

Campaigners blame spiralling food prices, falling wages and ruthless benefits cuts and sanctions.

Simon Capewell, professor of public health at Liverpool University and vice president of the Faculty of Public Health, said: “It is a national scandal.

Mark Wood's sister says he starved to death after having his benefits cut

“The fifth wealthiest country on the planet is now suffering from Victorian diseases such as malnutrition, rickets, scurvy. These figures are shocking and need to be a real wake up call.
“Severe malnutrition is very serious and can be fatal. And what is really worrying is that for every person admitted to hospital, there will be five times that number getting care in out-patient clinics, and another 50 times that number getting care from their GP.
“These figures are only the absolute tip of the iceberg.
“It is a further burden on an already over-burdened NHS and it is absolutely avoidable and preventable.”

Prof Capewell added: “More and more people in England are living in food poverty.

“Between 2007 and 2014 food prices rose 12 per cent in real terms, while wages fell by seven per cent.
“For people in low paid work and on benefits it is a real struggle to put food on the table.

“Last year more than a million people accessed food banks – it is a heartbreaking sign of the inequality in this country.”

Stuart Vance / Daily Mirror 

Increasing numbers of people are relying on foodbanks

Figures provided to the Sunday Mirror by NHS Digital, a public ­information service, show that last year 16,314 hospital cases were diagnosed with protein energy malnutrition – a condition more usually seen in developing countries.

And in 1,557 of these cases the ­malnutrition was severe enough for them to be admitted to hospital, four times the number from a decade ago.

Labour MP Frank Field, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on hunger, said: “This new data on malnutrition, as well as the data we have uncovered on the numbers of ­children who are underweight and anaemic, paints a grim picture of life at the bottom of the pile.

"The Government has two tasks: help push up family incomes and help local ­communities divert the huge amounts of nutritious, good quality food ‘waste’ to the hungry.”

The UK’s biggest food bank network, the Trussell Trust, provided more than 1.1 million three-day food packages last year, up from just 25,899 seven years ago.
 
Benefits delays were the No 1 reason for people needing help from the food banks, followed by low income and benefit changes.

Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror 

Frank Field says the data paints a grim picture
Adrian Curtis, the charity’s foodbank network director, said: “Today’s malnutrition numbers are worrying.

"Every day we meet families who are struggling to put enough food on the table and hear from parents who go hungry so their children have enough to eat.
“Skipping meals for days at a time is dangerous, and could lead to malnutrition.

"This is why we’re working to engage the public, other charities and politicians from all parties to find solutions to the ­underlying causes of food poverty.”

The average age of patients admitted to hospital last year was 64, suggesting pensioners are hit hardest by food poverty. But 284 of the cases treated in hospital were children under-18.

Patients with severe protein energy malnutrition (PEM), the result of inadequate calorie or protein intake, have usually lost more than 20 per cent of their body weight.

It can lead to the swollen abdomens and loss of skin pigment more usually seen in famine victims.

Lesley Wood, Age UK’s malnutrition expert, said: “When an elderly person is malnourished they will be very frail and much more likely to fall and end up on a roundabout of constant hospital readmissions because their malnourishment is not always flagged up as a risk in their discharge notes. It is a huge problem.”

Increasing numbers of people are relying on food banks

Just this week Tesco’s UK chief executive Matt Davies warned that spiralling food prices, triggered by the plunge in the value of the pound, will be “lethal” for already struggling families.

A report by the Food Foundation think tank published earlier this year found an estimated four million people in Britain regularly go a whole day without eating.

The research, based on UN data, showed one in 10 adults suffered moderate levels of hunger in 2014, placing the UK in the bottom half of European countries below Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia and Malta.

A Department for Work and Pension spokeswoman said: “Work is the best route out of poverty.

"There are record numbers in employment and 557,000 fewer children in workless households than in 2010.

“We’re determined to move to a higher wage society, introducing the new National Living Wage and spending £90billion on working age benefits to ensure a strong safety net for those who need it most.”

Benefits cuts killed my brotherAsperger’s sufferer Mark Wood died of starvation five months after having his benefits cut.

He had wasted away to just five-and-a-half stone.

Food banks have multiplied, but many are still struggling to feed themselves Mark, 44, had a number of disabilities and mental health conditions, but was still assessed as being fit to work by staff from Government contractor Atos.

His housing benefit and employment and support allowance were all stopped and he was unable to survive on the £40-a-week disability allowance that remained.

His sister Cathie Wood said: “Mark’s BMI when he died was just 11.

The pathologist said it was incompatible with life. He had starved to death. He was a victim of the Government’s benefits cuts.”

Mark, from Bampton, Oxfordshire, was fiercely independent and was reluctant to seek help from his family, who were unaware of his plight until just before he died in August 2013.

Cathie said: “When he lost his benefits he didn’t really understand. "He had £40 a week to live off and there was no money left for food once he’d paid other bills – and he couldn’t even pay them.

"The benefits were stopped in March, and by April/May time he had run out of money completely.”

The Department for Work and Pensions admitted the decision to axe Mark’s benefits was wrong and ordered a review.

But Cathie, 50, from Oxford, said rising hospital cases of malnutrition was proof nothing has changed.

She said: “It is beating up the vulnerable when they are down.”

“People like my brother are seen as indispensable and that’s going to happen more and more as the government makes more savings.”
 
A doctor has told how he has resorted to prescribing nutritional drinks to patients who can’t afford to eat.

Plymouth GP Dr Richard Ayres took the drastic measure after seeing more patients suffering from malnutrition.

He said the high-calorie drinks– typically given to people who need building up post-surgery – were a lifeline.

“Over the past two to three years there has been a definite increase in the number of patients suffering from malnutrition,” he told a local newspaper.

“I am noticing patients who come in and are underweight say it’s because they simply can’t afford to eat. That’s where the nutrition drinks come in.

“They’re around 400 calories and they have all the vitamins a person needs.

“It’s not going to solve the underlying problems of food poverty but it’s one of the few things I can do to help.”
DailyMirror


Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The Junior Doctors Strike - All out this time!

We've been down to St. Peter's Hospital, Chertsey again, eating donuts and standing on the picket line.

Well, although I did eat donuts I wasn't too well and spent the time sat down.

It's getting really serious - this time it's two days of an all out strike including no emergency cover. The stakes are very high.

It has to be said that cover is being provided by consultants - no one is going to die as a result of this.

But Jeremy Hunt is threatening the very existence of the NHS and he has to be stopped.

Make no mistake, if this generation of Doctors goes off to Australia or the USA, the NHS will never recover.

I may have been sat down but we made plenty of noise;

Even if our banner is getting a bit tattered these days.

We urge everyone to support the Junior Doctors - join a picket line for a short while, hoot your support, hand over some donuts!

Their struggle is for the survival of the NHS.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Picketting with the Junior Doctors......again.

So, we found ourselves back on the Junior Doctors picket line at St. Peter's Hospital, Chertsey.

Once again there was a good turnout and lots of support.

The issues are getting clearer - there are now two legal challenges to The Health Secretary's decision - one of which deals with the disproportionate effect of the changes on women and single parents;

It's a real family atmosphere on the picket;

With a birthday celebration and a picketing dog;

We were hooting at passers by until my horn gave out;

It all gets very serious at the end of the month with the doctors withdrawing from Accident and Emergency work for two days. I imagine everybody is hoping that Hunt sees sense or the courts force him to do something before then.

Either way, we're supporting the strike!

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

65000 reasons to keep Blogging.

Once again, thank you for taking the Blog to 65000, which somehow seems quite a significant number......probably because things have been fairly tough recently.

I suppose I ought to update you on 'That Hospital'.

For the last 18 months, Ashford and St.Peter's have been building their campaign to take over the Royal County Hospital at Guildford.

It's a take over no one wanted - the only people who were asked (consultants at Royal County) overwhelmingly said in a poll that patients would suffer.

The hospitals are miles apart so any services closed at one site means a nightmare (and expensive) journey to another.

Ashford and St. Peter's conned their workers it would help them and they never actually bothered to ask their patients what they wanted.

The reality is that Royal County has a very good reputation and a specialism in cancer treatment, neither of which Ashford and St. Peter's have. They saw cancer as a big growth area and by taking over Guildford they thought they could hive off part of that to Ashford to try and steal some cancer patients from other hospitals.

Meanwhile they could close some other services at Guildford and move them to St. Peter's to save money.

As I said, no one wanted this.

Meanwhile a whole lot of money has been spent on getting the P.R. to bulldoze this through.

There have been endless studies and negotiations, there have been experts reports and consultants fees, there was a referral to the competition authorities which resulted in a whole years delay.

And they even organised a series of public meetings - not to consult us but to tell their patients why it was all such a good idea in the first place.

And then it all fell to pieces in their hands........

A couple of months ago Ashford and St. Peter's announced that they had gone into deficit; £195,000.

Then Royal County announced that it had done the same.......to the tune of £7-5 million.

Ouch!

To be fair, while a deficit can say that a 'Trust' is being badly managed, it doesn't automatically mean that.

So, a trust could be in surplus every year because it isn't doing enough for it's patients.

A trust could be in deficit because it's refusing to reduce treatment standards and has opted to spend money from it's reserves until it can improve it's income.

Both parties took a fortnight to reconsider and then announced how determined they were to continue.

Then suddenly last week it was all off.

We can all breath a sigh of relief but what a waste of time and money it's been.

These are publicly funded hospitals not some business out to make an empire and a profit.

Forget the money; what about the endless meetings, the precious 'Management Time' that should have been used to improve things for the patients and instead has been wasted?

Oh, by the way, we are still waiting for the trial at Guildford Crown Court of the former 'Infomatics Director' at Royal County Hospital who has been accused of allegedly accepting corrupt payments.

I'm expecting some rather interesting information to come to light there but I'll wait for the protection of legal proceedings before I report on it.

At the moment the former 'Infomatics Director' has pleaded not guilty to accepting corrupt payments while the person accused of paying him has pleaded guilty to making allegedly corrupt payments to him.

Hmmmmmh!

So I suppose I'd better go on Blogging!

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The 2016 Junior Doctors Strike at St. Peter's Hospital.

We've been back on strike - or at least we've been on the picket line supporting the striking Junior Doctors at St. Peter's Hospital, Chertsey;

There was a good turnout, bigger than last time. My photo was from early in the morning and as the shifts changed the numbers got bigger.

We noticed the doctors got a lot more support from passing drivers than last time too.

This is the Chief Operating Officer of the hospital, down to check us out!

I think Robyn's getting the wrong idea about picket lines. The Doctors are very popular even in Surrey. We got a lot of support from some very expensive cars, although some of them may have been consultants.

Very movingly, a lady drove up to donate a tray of beautiful chocolate cupcakes.

No police here, no violence, just support from the public; it's not always like that when ordinary people are sticking up for themselves.

Of course, everyone knows that this is about opening up the NHS to new working practices that will hurt every member of staff from the bottom to the top;

Then, when weekends are paid at weekday rates it opens everything up to the privatisation that is nibbling away at the NHS. You just can't make enough profits if you have to pay higher rates for anti social working.

No one is against seven day working for the NHS but with qualifications.

We obviously need a 7 day Accident and Emergency and the diagnostics and consultants that requires. Right now the problem is that often the least experienced people are left to manage when the A and E's are at their busiest.

However, whether every hospital needs to do that is another question. Elite specialist stroke and cardiac units may be far more effective, covering patients for a number of hospital areas.

And there is absolutely no point in having every department at work 7 days a week - people have lives to live.

Here's Robyn stealing my whistle again;

Like everything it's complicated but judging by the high level of support most people have got the message.

One driver stopped his car to suggest that the doctors didn't need to strike - just agree not to treat any Members of Parliament when they fall ill.....that should resolve things quite quickly.

Here's a Doctors joke;

Q. "What's the only good Tory?
A.  A suppository!"

Finally, I didn't feel well enough to walk all the way from the free car park at St. Peter's so I had to bite the bullet and pay.

Car parking at Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals has become a nice little earner for the trust - a tax on hospital visitors.

As a result, the local council took back the car park it used to rent out to St. Peter's at a 'peppercorn rent' and now has it's own charges.

Ashford and St. Peter's charge £4 for up to three hours. As you can see the local council's rate is considerably cheaper;

The Doctors now have to work out how they carry this on - we'll be back if they go on strike again, their cause benefits all of us because it strengthens the NHS.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The Junior Doctors Strike 2016.

We didn't take the 'Hopper Bus' to St. Peter's Hospital because when I checked up I found that (bizarrely for a hospital shuttle bus) you aren't allowed to bring walking aids on board for 'health and safety reasons'.

No wonder it's always empty.

We did make our banner - as you can see I got Robyn to help out with the lettering. Mines the top row....oops;

 

And on Tuesday morning we didn't get up as early as we should have - it was freezing cold.

We parked in my secret place where it's free but then we had a long walk to the picket line.

We went to the entrance to the hospital;

Which is the traditional place although we heard that there was another line at the front door - the ancilliary staff weren't allowed on hospital grounds at all back in 2014.

There were quite a few doctors there - the numbers fluctuated through the morning.

I brought my whistle with me which Robyn is using here;

I reflected on all the picket lines I've stood on in my life - this was quite the politest I've been on and the strikers were bombarded with biscuits and cakes from passers by.

In a way it was also very sad - these were the most idealistic young doctors you could meet. They are trying to protect their 'work life balance' but they are also trying to preserve doctors professional standards and the NHS as well.

Ranged against them is most of the press, the private health industry, the whole of the tory party, the remaining bits of 'new labour' which was always hand in glove with private health care and a growing number of people who just don't understand how important the NHS is and how it challenges the way we view our society.

The tories really do want to destroy it in its current form.

As against that, the strikers got a very good response from drivers who were hooting their support all morning;

For me there was a special satisfaction in picketing St. Peter's and I suppose this may also be my last picket line too;

If there is no agreement the strike will be on again next week and we will try to be there, dependant on when chemo starts.

Meanwhile, it was bitterly cold. It took me all day to warm up and as we drove home I saw how high the river was at Staines.

In the evening we got the first flood warning of the year! 

Stay tuned.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The Junior Doctors Strike 2015.

The Junior Doctors have voted to go on strike;

The regulator has pointed out that they can be struck off the register if they do.

The Patients Association has condemned their action.

What's the Blog's view?

Jeremy Hunt wants 7 day week working but he isn't prepared to pay for it. As a result of a failure to agree new contract terms, 37,700 Junior Doctors in England voted; 99% for some action, 98% for a full strike. 

 

It's nonsense to suggest that any doctor could be struck off for going on strike; it's a human right. Even under the Tories anti Union legislation if the ballot is carried out legally......it's legal.

 

It's almost impossible to get an incompetent Doctor struck off so there is no way they can take disciplinary action against 37,700. Apart from anything else it would take about 20 years.

 

Patients are more likely to be harmed by tired, depressed and overworked Doctors than by a one day strike where there will be Consultant cover.

I'm very firmly backing the strikers.

I have a little operation planned on 26th November but as long as I'm fit enough to make it, I'll be back on the picket line to show my solidarity.

The dates for industrial action are:

• 08:00 GMT 1 December to 08:00 GMT 2 December (junior doctors to staff emergency care)
• 08:00 GMT to 17:00 8 December (full strike)
• 08:00 GMT to 17:00 16 December (full strike)

I'll be there!

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

  

A tough NHS day.

I need to remind myself how great the NHS is because I've had a really bad NHS day. Not the worst but fairly bad.

First of all I spent over a week trying to get in touch with my doctor to get an appointment to renew my medication. Yesterday when I phoned in I got a message from the receptionist that I was to stop taking it.

Actually, it's a big deal. The failure of this last medication means the next step is Chemotherapy and it needed some discussion before.

Also it really is the last option, so it mattered.

Obviously I knew it was going to happen sooner or later because my bloods had been so bad last week.

Then as that was sinking in I had a call from Charing Cross asking me why I wasn't there for my operation.

That came as a bit of a shock because no one had told me about it. I need it doing quite urgently and as a result it didn't get done. Also someone else could have had an operation in that slot.

I was completely fed up by the end of that morning only 'fed up' doesn't really do it justice.

So this is by way of a celebration of the NHS and a demonstration of how good it is when it works.

In 2013 I'd exhausted all the (then) conventional treatments but Dr Feelgood had kept me going long enough for another drug to become available which until then had only been given after Chemo.

Where nothing had ever worked this worked like a dream for me.

No side effects (had lots of those) and later we discovered that it had shrunk my tumours away.

It was never going to be a cure; the median survival rate for this drug used to be four months - that means that 50% of patients got an extra four months.

I got just short of 24 months and apart from the little matter of a broken back, I was fit and well to live life in that time.

Of course, most people get years longer than I did but this kind of won me back some time I'd missed out on.

It meant so much to me that I kept all the empty containers and here they are all laid out on the front path;

 

 

Each one represents 28 days of extra life.

 

 

I should also add that each pot would have cost me about £3280.

 

So, 24 months is equal to £78,720. I hope you think it was worth it. I tried to use the time well.

 

There are two points;

 

1) The NHS used its reputation and buying power to get the drug company to reduce the price it pays for the drug - possibly by half.

 

2) I paid a lot of taxes over my lifetime and won't be getting the medical help and all the pensions that everyone else will be claiming.

 

All the same it's a big deal - all that money spent without any questions asked.

 

A decision taken just on the basis of medical need rather than ability to pay.

 

 

That's why the NHS matters so much although yesterday I had to go to the trouble of setting out those 24 empty pots on the front path just to remind myself.

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com