We deplore the involvement of Capita in the administration of retired doctors’ return to the NHS workforce. Reported delays of over two weeks to inclusion back on the performers’ list, while NHS 111 remains overwhelmed, are unacceptable. Valuable, willing expertise is being underused at a time of national crisis. Inexperienced call handlers are being recruited […]
Category: Defend the NHS
The COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the vital importance of a comprehensive, publicly funded and universal health service. The choices we make during this crisis will shape the future of the NHS and our wider society. We are already limited by poor decisions made before the virus struck. The Conservative’s ‘hostile environment’ policy, where people with a […]
In recent weeks we have among others seen Boris Johnson, Matt Hancock and members of the Royal family (all of whom it’s safe to guess have never used the NHS) joining in the public applause for key workers. Additionally, there have been a number of structural changes and commitments to increased funding that make it […]
In response to Covid-19, Doctors in Unite urges the government to:
• Extend day-one sick pay to those on zero hours contracts, in the “gig-economy” and self-employed members of society
• Ensure that workers are not under pressure to attend work while they are unwell and may inadvertently pass on the disease: both financially and in regards to staffing.
• Allow the NHS to requisite private health care facilities to accommodate effective Covid-19 treatment and quarantine provision if needed
Given the chronic underfunding of the NHS, it is no surprise that rationing appeals to commissioners as a way of limiting expenditure. However, this goes against the NHS Constitution, which establishes that “the NHS provides a comprehensive service, available to all” and “access to NHS services is based on clinical need, not an individual’s ability […]
Recent performance figures show that it is groundhog day once again in the NHS. A series of unwelcome events (missed targets) recur in exactly the same way. But behind these statistics are human stories of unnecessary suffering, that shame those politicians who have tenaciously supported the failed Tory policies of the past ten years. A […]
Michael Walsh, a shoulder surgeon, has been sacked by Spire Healthcare and accused of subjecting scores of patients to unnecessary operations that left many in pain, traumatised and unable to work. This is a depressingly familiar story, with echoes of the case of Ian Paterson, the rogue breast surgeon who also worked for Spire. Paterson […]
The annual NHS winter crisis is now a continuous crisis. The latest performance figures for emergency departments are the worst ever and waiting lists continue to increase. The government has promised much, but there is little hope this will translate into real improvement. The situation continues to worsen due to chronic underfunding of health and […]
Doctors in Unite 