Category Archives: health

NHS reforms will return health service to 1930s

March 7, 2011   Arthritis, Cancer, dementia, disability, health, mental health, Multiple Sclerosis, Older care

NHS reforms will return health service to 1930s

The government’s NHS reforms will return medical care to the standards of the 1930s and 40s, a leading doctor has warned.

By Laura Roberts 8:00AM GMT 07 Mar 2011
Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMA’s hospital consultant committee, said proposed changes would create an “increasingly tattered safety net” for people suffering from complex illnesses such as heart failure, diabetes or obesity.

He claimed that for patients in some parts of the country, care would return to “what we thought we had left behind when we founded the NHS in 1948”.

Private healthcare firms could “cherry pick” patients with the simplest conditions to treat while local hospitals could face closure if they are forced to compete with independent, profit-driven healthcare providers, he said.

This would leave the NHS as a “provider of last resort” for patients denied treatment by private practises because their conditions are too expensive to deal with.

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Your chance to ask Andrew Lansley a question on Health

March 6, 2011   health

Ask Andrew Lansley your questions

March 4, 2011

Independent journalist Sharon Alcock will be putting your questions to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley on Monday, March 7, between 7pm and 8pm.

You can watch the Q&A live on the British Medical Association (BMA) website.

Questions can be submitted in advance on Twitter using the hashtag #lansleylive or the BMA’s Facebook page.

You can also email questions to the BMA.

>> More information about the Q&A

http://healthandcare.dh.gov.uk/ask-andrew-lansley-your-questions/

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Third of carers ‘don’t want to wake up’

March 5, 2011   Alzheimer’s, Arthritis, benefits, Cancer, health, mental health, Multiple Sclerosis, Older care

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhnNAjOuR1I

New research shows more than a third of carers claim their financial situation is so dire they do not want to wake up in the morning.

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