Health
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My eye – the blurring of Foundation Trusts and private medicine By Diane Langford
Only when I was summoned to an appointment at a private hospital I’d never heard of, for a procedure I didn’t need, did I begin to question how NHS Foundation Trusts are obliged to raise money from private patients – and the pressures on them to set up private units through a complicated web of… Continue reading
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We all already own the NHS – the latest ‘mutual’ spin is about taking it out of our hands By Caroline Molloy
Here we go again. Turning the NHS into a ‘staff-owned’ mutual or ‘social enterprise’ has been re-launched more times than Liam Fox’s career, generally to a resounding wave of indifference or hostility from NHS staff who are generally less interested in being ‘social entrepreneurs’ than in getting on with doctoring and nursing. Continue reading
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Stop distracting us with the ‘health tourism’ sideshow By Kailash Chand
Hunt commissioned research from two firms, Prederi and Creative Research, to come up with the £500m a year figure – but the companies themselves admitted this research was “based on incomplete data, sometimes of varying quality, and a large number of assumptions”. Actual ‘deliberate’ health tourism was estimated by Prederi to cost between £20 and… Continue reading
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On TTIP and the NHS, they are trying to bamboozle us By John Hilary
The TTIP trade treaty talks re-open in Brussels this week. We should not be reassured by the convenient ‘leak’ of a private letter between key TTIP advocates claiming the treaty poses no threat to the NHS. Continue reading
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Take our ‘treatment’ or we’ll stop your benefits, Tories threaten mentally ill By Louise McCudden
Proposals to strip benefits from depressed people who ‘refuse’ treatment are unethical, ignore root causes, and are likely to force people into inappropriate treatment or penury. Continue reading
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“Save our Surgeries” call goes out on NHS birthday By Doctor Ron Singer
As the NHS turned 66 on Saturday, patients and health workers marched through the streets of East London in protest at the threatened closure of scores of GP surgeries. Continue reading
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Destroying the NHS: Time to get even with Stevens By John Lister
New NHS boss Simon Stevens has revealed his true privatising colours with this week’s announcement on personal health budgets – which would wreck NHS services and leave the field clear for big business. We have been waiting to see whether – and how – new NHS boss Simon Stevens would work round to furthering the… Continue reading
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“Handing patients NHS cash” is just rebranding cuts By Peter Beresford
Personal health budgets are to be rolled out to many more patients and combined with social care personal budgets, Simon Stevens, NHS England’s new Chief Executive announced yesterday. But as spending on both social care and the NHS contracts, what is the evidence underpinning this massive shift in resources? Continue reading
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New disability payments system responsible for deaths in Britain By Dennis Moore
A new disability benefit, Personal Independence Payments (PIP), brought in by the UK government to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA), has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. In addition, many seriously ill people have been left without a payment months after applying. Continue reading
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Britain’s National Health Service “fraying at the edges” By Paul Mitchell
In 2012-2013, one in four A&E visits (nearly 6 million) took place after patients had been unable to get an appointment with a GP. Previous research has shown that the reasons include the change to GP contracts in 2004 allowing them to opt out of providing night and weekend cover, leaving it to other agencies… Continue reading
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Cameron is wrecking our world-beating health system By James Lazou
After all the negative headlines over the last few years you would be forgiven for thinking that the NHS was a mediocre, failing, bureaucratic service destined to collapse. That is the message that Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, would like you to believe. Since becoming Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt has seen it as… Continue reading
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Monsanto’s “Insidious” GM0 Food and its Dark Connections to the Military Industrial Complex
Monsanto, the world’s largest genetically modified (GM/GMO) seed producer, has been at the centre of controversy for decades as evidence of the harmful effects on humans of GM foods continues to mount. Joined with the likes of DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred International and Syngenta, Monsanto and partners comprise the corporate nexus of Big-Agri, where the control… Continue reading
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Acquiescing to Big Biotech: Relentless Drive to Force GMO Crops into Britain By Colin Todhunter
A report just published by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee on food security in Britain supports Environment Secretary Owen Paterson’s plan to push ahead with growing genetically modified (GM) crops in England. However, it doesn’t mention which crops would actually be grown. Continue reading
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The Glyphosate Toxicity Studies You’re Not Allowed to See
On opposite sides of the globe, pesticide regulators are refusing to release to the public the key industry studies on glyphosate that underpin regulatory authorizations and safety limits set for the herbicide. Continue reading
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UK Parliament Meeting Brings ‘Dangers’ of Roundup into Public Focus
In what was one of the most comprehensive meetings ever held in Europe on Glyphosate and Roundup, experts from around the World gathered in London to share their expertise with the media, members of a number of UK political parties, NGO representatives and members of the general public. Continue reading
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UK Committee Tells Government to Push ‘Benefits’ of GM Crops
A report on Food Security published by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee today supports Environment Secretary Owen Paterson’s plan to push ahead with growing genetically modified (GM) crops in England, but is silent on the crops that would actually be grown Continue reading
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London: A talk on the politics of cancer in an age of austerity
On 2 July Wendy Savage and Hilary Wainwright join Mike Marqusee to launch his new book on the politics of cancer and NHS privatisation at Housmans bookshop in London. Continue reading
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Held hostage by Big Pharma By Mike Marqusee
In an exclusive extract from his forthcoming new book Mike Marqusee slams the drug companies exploiting his cancer to gouge the public purse. Continue reading
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Scots NHS satisfaction soars as England’s falls By Dave Watson
Since devolution, the NHS in Scotland has taken a very different path to that of NHS England. It has embraced co-operation rather than competition. And new figures show that Scots reckon that it delivers for them. Continue reading
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Nurses fight back against trade treaty that threatens NHS By Martin O’Beirne
The fight against an international trade treaty wrecking our NHS receives a boost from the nurses and activists, though most party leaderships are strangely quiet. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 