What do you want to ask me about the NHS?

Pingback by Park Lane Champagne on January 4, 2010 at 5:30 pm

[...] and let’s hope it is justified.  The general election campaigns appear to have started (David Cameron’s email today told me that there were under 150 days to go until election time) and banking bonuses are still in [...]

Comment by Dr Kadiyali M Srivatsa on January 4, 2010 at 6:35 pm

It is nice to hear that you are going to offer twenty four hours healthcare and allow A&E to survive. The biggest blunder Labour did was to take over the responsibility of providing OOH from GPs.
The cost of maintain this service is likely to escalate to catastrophic proportions and will not be sustainable. Using nurses, NHS Direct and walk-in clinics managed by nurses is not the solution and is likely be disastrous. Early diagnosis and the right treatment is essential to prevent morbidity and so the cost.
My passion is to reduce spreading antibiotic resistant bacterial infection and so want to reduce patients visiting hospitals and clinics.
Now I have a solution, and am sure this will be the way forward. You have an opportunity to review my contribution; if you don’t, I will release it in the internet any way, because I am fighting a battle that I may never win………..

Comment by wulf franzen on January 4, 2010 at 6:43 pm

Don’t rely too much on independent Trusts. From my experience working in the Health Service their Boards are far to powerfull and not meaningful elected. None of my nonmedical friends has any idea how they get appointed and who they are accountable to. I live a rural area with no realistic choice of hospital. So there is no market to correct any lone decisions taken.

Comment by Jack Hughes on January 4, 2010 at 9:48 pm

Dave,

You can boost the NHS budget by over £7billion.

Close down the foreign aid department. British money for British Hospitals.

The usual suspects (BBC, Guardian, Arhbish) will squeal but tell them to spend their own money on foreigners – not mine.

Comment by Arnold Whittle on January 4, 2010 at 10:26 pm

Dear David, It is crucial that the NHS remains intact for the health of the Nation’s citizens, although great saving can be made, and modification to the running and supply of services must be looked at if the Conservative Party are elected to Government, because there is terrible waste in the NHS. Last week I recieved information that GP services were being over run with migrants wanting to be listed on GP practices across the Country, this cannot continue with out great problems it will bring the system to a grinding halt.

Comment by justin flavin on January 4, 2010 at 11:20 pm

watch the newsnight debate few minutes ago. i hope to God you guys know what to do to rescue Britain. dont want to give the Labour lurkers any ideas.

Comment by Jan on January 5, 2010 at 3:19 am

Excellent manifesto. Regrettably, quite a few comments, questions and blog proposals regarding eligibility to “free” NHS care would differentiate between British and non-British nationals. As a Dutch citizen and legal UK resident of 11 years I have an unalienable right to equal NHS access & treatment as British nationals. The latter is reciprocated with equivalent entitlement for Britons residing in Holland to use the Dutch health care system. This is how it currently works and, in the foreseeable future, will continue to work under a prospective Conservative government.

Comment by Catherine Greenall on January 5, 2010 at 10:47 am

As an undecided voter, what I would really like to know is what is the Conservative policy on:
Reducing abortion & euthanasia
GM crop growing in the UK, its regulation and proper labelling & how they will improve the enforcement of this
Hunting – polls have shown that to most normal people it is not a priority to bring this back now or ever. If the law is not working then fix it so it does. The majority is against this barbaric practice & the Tories are showing their true colours by saying the Hunting Act will be a priority for repeal. This is one of the best things that Labour have done.
Equality & its enforcement, especially sex inequality which affects more people.

Comment by Paul Orchard on January 5, 2010 at 11:21 am

It cant go on like this
It cant go on like this
It cant go on like this
It cant go on like this
It cant go on like this

Yesterdays press conference was pathetic. Getting your little soundbite in so many times I had to turn the TV off. You are not offering anything new, you are attempting to be Tony Blair. Start straight talking leave the soundbites out of politics. Be honest.
You are coming across now as someone who cant be trusted.
Your health spokesman got up yesterday and said the same phrase that you and George Osbourne have been pushing in the same press conference.
Where ever I go in the NHS they tell me “It cant go on like this”
NO THEY DONT – Thats what some ponce with a pony tail in PR told you.
Stop trying to treat us as idiots.
All show and no substance.
Maggie would never have given us this twaddle. She might have been hated by a percentage of the population but even they would admit they knew where they stood with her.
I am truly starting to despair.
I want real debate, not the stage managed rubbish that you are delivering.
I want REAL conservative policies.
Not the eco tree hugging tax rising rubbish that you are threatning.
I want an end to Gordon Browns Premiership.
Yet strangely, with every passing conservative press conference Gordon Brown looks less incompetent.
Come election day when the time comes to put the x in the box alot of us real conservatives wont want to vote for a Blair clone. So we will vote UKIP or BNP.
That will get Gordon another 5 years.
But that is filling me with less fear every day.
Well DOne David.

Comment by Dee Speers on January 5, 2010 at 12:40 pm

“It must never happen again” until the next time it does, when we will review and reach the conclusion “this must never happen again”
Please lets deal with reality and treat us with courtesy in our knowledge that things are dire and must be addressede…..but honestly and fairly please!
The All party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health had public funding to produce a report on mental health in Parliament. Please can we see this being addressed too!
http://www.mind.org.uk/news/2596_mps_not_immune_to_mental_health_problems

Comment by Paul Topham on January 5, 2010 at 12:47 pm

As a undecided voter it is not clear how the conservative party will cut the UK’s debt.

Gorden Brown seems to have done a great job in managing the finanical and economic crisis though he is not media savvy.

What are the real Conservative Policies, it seems all talk and no solutions. Surely after all these years the Conservatives have a responsibility to offer us solutions and not just blame the labour for the global crisis. What specific actions (not high level statements) would the conservatives have done to bring us out of the crisis faster – not give the money to the banks and allow the economy to fail. Information please not jus talk.

Comment by Paul Topham on January 5, 2010 at 3:25 pm

Dear Dave,

The UK needs a Obama. Someone with real vision and real passion. It is a shame that in the UK we do not have a system that enables a person such as Obama to become a PM.

We need to imrpove the state of the “top” three UK governmentr parties. There vision and capabilitiy to implement effective policies.

Shame, just when the UK needs real leadership.

Comment by john arkless on January 5, 2010 at 7:15 pm

Dear David,

as the people are growing weary of the wars and see it as a no win, expensive waste of life that is self creating. and people are starting realise there is a hidden agenda. can we spend the money more productively?? you can be the first world leader to extend the real hand of piece! i know you will do great things.

you are the man.
best regards
john.

Comment by sammie on January 6, 2010 at 6:48 pm

My son who is disabled has recieved a shocking service from the nhs for over six years .

One of the complaints is being dealt with by the goverment ombudsman .

The service is failing disabled children nationwide not just in my authority and money that was allocated to disabled children via the nhs has gone missing and it is not accountable .

Whilst i am pleased that parents forums are now law and we get to request what services this money gets spent on .I strongly feel we need to do more to address the issues surrounding disabled children and the nhs .

For example long waiting times for vital services , poor communications between services and i fear when all services merge into one in 2012 as they are incapable now .

We are desperate for change and we here in Sefton are setting up groups etc to help parents of disabled children .. please make a stand for our children and ensure they recieve better services .

Comment by David Bruce on January 7, 2010 at 10:02 pm

Dear David,
I heard on the radio that Drunk and incapable people who are picked off the floor by Ambulance staff and subsequently brought into the A&E dept and looked after for the night, should be CHARGED for the services provided.
You would have the support of alot of nursing staff and paramedic staff, if this charge were to be brought in.

Comment by Paul Orchard on January 7, 2010 at 11:21 pm

At best the general election will be a hung parliament. Considering the state of the nation and the unpopularity of the present govenment its a disgrace that we arent 20-25% ahead in the polls. No one trusts DC. They think he is a smarmy blair clone.
The only real option we have is Boris.
Gaffe Prone a bit off the wall but what a breath of fresh air he would be in No10.
And we would all know where we stand with him.
David, you just aint cuttin gthe mustard.
Do you know the one thing that really irritates me about DC………the fact that for months we have all being responding to his spin laden blogs. Has anyone had any feedback? Nope. No response at all. Not even to the email I sent to Davids House of commons personal email address.
Eric Pickles if you read this can you maybe have a response page from David. Its no good DC being all smarmy looking for the floating voters. He is losing traditional conservative voters and that will cost him the election.

Comment by Christina on January 7, 2010 at 11:54 pm

The NHS doesn’t change its technology and practices quickly enough, therefore it takes much longer than it should to get a diagnosis and eventually costs more to treat patients because their condition is much worse. How will this change by introducing ‘markets’ – what about the capital investment needed and training of technicians, etc? What choices will people have if there’s only one hospital for 20 or more miles and you don’t have much money to travel, or you don’t drive, have limited mobility? It’s a bit like choices for schools – only those who are well off can have choices. Capital investment into scanners, etc, plus training technicians are what is needed in the NHS instead of having number crunchers. Why do governments fail to introduce technology that works – multi-national companies are linked by computers – sales, production, etc. It seems beyond the wit of humankind to do the same in the public sector, and as I work in the public sector I know this only too well. High salaries are paid to senior managers who fail to perform as well as their counterparts in the private sector yet they expect to be rewarded for failure. Not just the bankers who are lacking good business judgement!

Comment by John Smith on January 9, 2010 at 7:36 pm

my daughter in law, a qualified nursewas a few months ago left alone in charge of 2 wards because the manager had let all of the other staff have holidays at the same time. To make matters worse she had taken the time off as a holiday herself. If this is the sort of managment the NHS currently has it needs reform to get rid of this sort of useless beaurocratic structure. No wonder the cost of employing agency staff is going through the roof. Ring fence the NHS by all means but don’t prevent it from being scrutinised asnd made more efficient.

Comment by Michael Powell on January 12, 2010 at 6:11 pm

I spend a lot of time out of the country and see much better health services in Germany, France, Greece and even Turkey. Will you consider looking at how others run their services and apply the lessons to the NHS?

Comment by Richard Waddington on January 13, 2010 at 9:55 am

The NHS is buckiling under the strain of uncontrolled immigration. We need a referendum to get out of Europe, but we didnt get one on the Lisbon treaty as was reneged on by David. His CAST IRON appereared to have been reliable as the hull of the Titanic

Comment by Richard Waddington on January 13, 2010 at 9:56 am

Michael those countries dont offer the soft hand outs we do. It is pathetic

Comment by Faz on January 13, 2010 at 3:38 pm

The NHS is in crisis and this is mainly the result of utter management incompetence and mismanagement resources. How are the conservatives going to solve this?

My Perspective is that of a Foreign Junior Doctor who has worked in other parts of the wolrd and I can catagorically say that the Doctors here are not practicing medicine and the health service here is starting to resemble parts of the developing world. Many of the Junior Doctors here are glorified secretaries and admin clerks. Surely instead of wasting the talents of these bright people they should be trained to their best ability in as short a time as possible and instead of wasting money using them for admin work the NHS should employ admin clerks who will be cheaper.

Whereas in most parts of the world most Doctors are trained within 4 years to become specialists, in the UK it can take between 8 to 10 years. The result is that many of our brightests people are leaving the country in droves to train elsewhere and never returning. Also it means that we have to recruit specialists Doctors from other parts of the world and ultimately cannot communicate properly with their patients. What a disaster.

What is sad about all this is that the BMA knows the problems facing Junior Doctors but they are so concerned with how much senior doctors earn that they have completely discarded the affairs of Junior Doctors. They should be ashamed.

One last point is that the current NHS management should not be rewarded on cost saving schemes as they are putting lives at risk by recruiting less Junior Doctors to cover shifts.

Comment by J B Walker on January 28, 2010 at 7:04 pm

Why don’t the conservatives promise to help fund the NHS by directing the profits from the National Lotto? This policy would help the Quango reduction policy as a side effect.

Comment by C Farmer on February 3, 2010 at 12:35 pm

David –

You talk about giving patients choice, and improving standards in the NHS. I would like to hear how you plan to improve the psychiatric and mental health system in this country. This is a highly taboo topic, and many previous primer ministers have chosen to make funding cuts from this area in exploiting this. However, the mental health system is in crisis. Psychiatric wards are still medieval. Assault rates on these wards are firghteningly high, and mixed sex wards are the norm, despite the statistics on sexual assault on the wards, as well as in the life history of many patients.

Staff on psychiatric wards are under-staffed and under-paid, which means you don’t always get the best people for this challenging job. under-staffing these wards puts staff at risk, which means many stay in the office and spend little time with patients. Substance use and psychiatric wards are frequently mixed, and equipment is cold, sterile and old – not the relaxing environment needed for people in acute psychiatric distress.

I would advise that you visit several of these wards around the country, and see the extent of the problems. Can you please tell me what you and the conservatives would do if elected to improve this dire situation?

Comment by Peter on February 27, 2010 at 7:45 pm

How is that Labour poored billions of extra pounds in to the NHS not long after they came to power, and its actually got worse.
What the F— happened.

Peter

Comment by terry coates on March 26, 2010 at 10:57 am

I have just rec’vd from the Buckinhamshire NHS a booklet advising me that one of their aims is for patients to be able to see a specialist within 18 weeks. I have gone private. How does this stack up to what labour claim is the best service in the world.

Comment by john fredrick charlies feve on April 2, 2010 at 11:26 pm

people that need N.H.S have been left bye the way side, for watt the high expectations of a few that thought they could save money but in fact as coast billion,s I wonder is all this in aid to sell the N.H.S off …. the way forward is to take .. its so simple labour as sent me a letter for more information but like i told them family’s go hungry while they fill there pocket,s .. N.H.S can save
billion pound or just under or more and will leave the N.H.S with more to spend after the first year … labour gave surestart a boost well I call this (IT,,WORKS) helping hand sometimes is all it take,s)
but i do say things will get better sooner or later …

Comment by Sam Krommendijk on April 21, 2010 at 8:59 pm

If you truly care about this countries health and want to win more votes in the election…… Why not lower the age for cervical smears from 25 to 20?

My best friend has recently been diagnosed with cervical cancer she is only 24 and by chance had a smear test early, which hopefully will save her life IF it has been caught early. However she has recently undergone cauterisation of her cervix, numerous biopsies and two scans, she then had to wait 2 WEEKS for her results. Well to find she doesn’t have the results of the biopsies and cauterisation but of the scans and the scans have shown cysts. It is unknown whether these cysts are cancerous or whether they have spread but due to them being in her womb it is likely they can spread easily, however she will not be seen by her next doctor for another 10 DAYS. She will have to have part of her womb removed to try and get rid of the cysts and depending on whether they are cancerous and have spread to her lymph nodes may have to undergo radiotherapy or a hysterectomy. If she would of had a smear test when she was 20 this whole mess could potentially have been avoided. Apparently the reason why smear tests are not carried out at a younger age is due to cells not fully produced and may show up as abnormal, but I would rather be told I had abnormal cells and see a gynaecologist then be told I have cancer. Has Jade Goody’s death taught us nothing???? She was lucky to have two beautiful sons before dying at a young age, my friend may not have that chance.

I’m sure hundreds of thousands of Woman will agree with me the age for cervical smear test should be lowered and if I have to start a petition to prove this to you I will, but please take this into consideration doing this may save millions of lives!!!!

Comment by Marilyn Castleton on June 23, 2010 at 9:24 am

Well done to H.M. Government on the sensible Budget! Great! But I was disappointed to hear ALCOHOL is not being made more expensive and the news about cider being let off the hook. ‘Drowning one’s sorrows’ (The Chancellor, yesterday) if we lose the World Cup, is a cliche we should stop quoting if we want to change Britain’s strange relationship with alcohol at toxic levels. Please be brave about alcohol.

Comment by Paul Gray on June 29, 2010 at 8:17 am

Where are all the forms for public sector workers to comment on savings in there releative areas of expertise, as promised, or was this just a gesture to get people to vote, my wife is a nurse and has many ideas on cost cutting but nothing from you yet to let them be aired

Comment by Wessex Woman on July 30, 2010 at 10:30 pm

Re White Paper – I have concerns about GPs managing an organisation which is responsible for the governance of primary care and distribution of budgets. How can something be managed and governed by the same people? Please put something independant in the place of SHAs – a trimmed down SHA for instance??!!

Comment by Tim Wardlaw on August 2, 2010 at 3:57 pm

Why can the NHS not be centrally run with hospitals left to care for their own patients.
this way the postcode lottery for drug availability would go in an instant, too many cases of drugs not available in one PCT whilst they are next door.
If hospitals were run in the way they used to be with Matrons an administrators the expensive management could be cut and more funds directed to patient care and a national system providing the same care for all would be viable.