A slow hand clap for Andy McGovern, a London hospital nurse who has proposed that the Royal College of Nursing supports a £10 charge to visit a GP. On its own terms, the proposal is an unacceptable assault on the very foundations of the NHS: that it is free at the point of use. But the suggestion is so menacing because of where it originates from. The many enemies of the NHS – who have to be diplomatic, knowing that the NHS “is the closest the English have to a religion”, as Nigel Lawson once put it – will rejoice. “Aha!” they will think. “Now even the nurses are debating NHS charges, we have been given the political cover we need!”
Monthly Archives: June 2014
A £10 charge to visit a GP would be just the start of a slippery slope for the NHS
We either let our NHS be trashed by the privatisers and cutters, or we defend a properly funded, publicly run, universal system that is free at the point of use
A GP with a patient. ‘This ideological assault is being accompanied by an actual attempt to dismantle and privatise the NHS.’ Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian
Carers unveil new book offering support
Barbara Shearer (Mayfield), Wanda Gosz (Penicuik) and Patricia Thorp (Mayfield) at the launch of the new booklet
Midlothian carers have put pen to paper to produce a new booklet aimed at supporting people who care for those with dementia.
The booklet was launched as part of National Carers’ Week.
Army Of Home Carers Plan ‘Virtual Strike’ In Heartbreaking Plea To Iain Duncan Smith
An ‘army’ of home carers are planning a virtual strike on 21 June 2014 to highlight the governments non-recognition of those who work ’round the clock’ caring for sick, elderly and/or disabled friends and relatives.
The organiser behind the event, who is unnamed but describes herself as a ‘carer with attitude’, says that she has been caring for her daughter for 13 years, whilst also working single-handedly to earn enough money to support herself and her family.
Writing on the campaign website, the organiser says: “I’ve spent those 13 years in a haze of exhaustion and poverty and anxiety, listening to other people telling me how tired, hard-working, ill-paid and hard pressed they are.”
