Yesterday I discussed the state of the GP service with some local doctors. They told me they are seeing substantially more patients now than just before the pandemic struck, as there has been a surge in demand. They see the majority of patients face to face. Some patients agree a remote consultation makes sense and may be more convenient for them. I have not been receiving complaints about this surgery and am grateful to them for the work they are doing.
They also drew my attention to the need to receive prompt confirmation of sufficient budgets for their patient list size and workload. There is a danger the new commissioners, the Integrated Care Board, will delay or misjudge the competing claims of GPs and hospitals. There is also a need for NHS England to limit  the number of additional demands or changed commands they issue in year. There needs to be a clear understanding of the split of the workloads between hospitals and GPs where primary care effectively undertakes some of the work for the Hospital Consultant.
Good GPs are concerned about some of the commentary suggesting surgeries are not doing enough or are refusing to arrange easy face to face appointments. Those who allege this or circulate rumours need to be more precise over who they are criticising and what the evidence is. All GPs under contract to the  NHS do have to run proper complaints procedures so people with a concern should use these.
It is important that the large sums approved for health in the last two years are directed to those in primary care and hospitals who can do most to provide great care and help clear the backlog.
November 20, 2021
‘Good GPs are concerned about some of the commentary suggesting surgeries are not doing enough or are refusing to arrange easy face to face appointments. Those who allege this or circulate rumours need to be more precise over who they are criticising and what the evidence is.’
In other words, don’t complain and stop expressing concerns. Use the official channels to express your concern which translates into ‘the NHS will simply ignore your concerns’.
This temerity and arrogance of the NHS and its employees is all to familiar. We saw this culture at Mid Staffs where concerns and rumours were dismissed and ridiculed only for them to materialise in the most vile and horrific manner, and were the covered up to protect union members.
Yes, John we all know how ‘the system’ works. It works against the public
My advice. Don’t complain to the NHS but as a patient check legislation to protect your rights against an incompetent, self-serving and bureaucratic entity that the NHS now is
Instead of pandering to the NHS maybe you should reform it in a manner than benefits patients and the taxpayer rather than employees, unions and the State
November 20, 2021
+1
Spot on!
November 20, 2021
Anyone interested in political science might like to dig out a copy of Trotsky’s celebrated 1936 attack on Stalinism:”The Revolution Betrayed”,particularly the chapter “Is the Bureaucracy a ruling class?”
November 21, 2021
“Political science” – now there’s a term on which to reflect.
November 22, 2021
Everything was a matter of science to the Soviets!
November 20, 2021
As a state-run monopoly offering “free” treatment for all it will always be thus.
November 20, 2021
@SJS; As a state-run monopoly offering âfreeâ treatment for all it wasn’t always thus, only in the last 40 or so years.
November 20, 2021
@DOM; “!We saw this culture at Mid Staff”
Yes, a culture brought about by the policies you approve of… By comparison, do you have any idea the number of medical litigation’s there are each year in the USA?
November 20, 2021
Mid Staffs was a dreadful scandal of incompetence and failed management.
Many people died.
It is ridiculous but nit unexpected Jerry that you would try to dilute and excuse that incident by making a comment about litigation in America
November 21, 2021
@Peter2; Your double standard are astounding, as is the height to which your knees can jerk!
So in your opinion it is totally wrong for me to point out other health care systems also have cases of incompetence and/or failed management (often multiple, resulting in class-action lawsuit) but it is completely OK for someone else to use dreadful scandals -such as the one involving the Mid Staffs NHS Trust- to promote their political agenda…
November 21, 2021
No that isn’t what I said Jerry.
Read it again.
November 21, 2021
@P2; I did read, and understand, what you typed, granted it might not be what you intended…
November 21, 2021
Well at least you tried Jerry.
Well done.
November 22, 2021
Whatever… More tolling from Peter2, is this his hobby, getting on for 50 posts over the weekend from him, not one actually directed towards the points of debate.
Yes P2, I have tried to work out what you meant, you obviously having written one thing whilst thinking another; but that seems to be the way you operate, buck loads of Whataboutism to deflect from the facts you dislike, play the ball man, defend/debate the polices you support/dislike, stop playing the man all the time..
November 22, 2021
Descending to using the troll insult again Jerry I see.
Very poor
At least I’ve helped you stop using your hard right knee jerk reaction to anyone who challenges your numerous opinions.
PS
Jerry
Quite hilarious that you are counting posts yourself, especially coming from someone who posts endlessly and pedantically against others on here every day for years.
November 23, 2021
@P2; Whatever, yes I post many replies, most are in reply to your attacks on me!
If you don’t want to be called a troll stop posting like one all the time, try playing the ball for a change, debate the issues, not the language used etc.
Funny how YOU use comparisons, but woe betide others doing so, hypocrite! As @hefner said the other day…
November 23, 2021
No, wrong yet again Jerry
You attack loads on here with your contrary posts.
Not just me.
But you carry on with your petulant insults if you really feel it wins your original argument.
Shouting troll just reveals how weak your original argument is.
November 21, 2021
P2, As you do yourself by commenting on continental Europe every time people here try to address specific British problems. Last one has been about water utility companies and sewage spillage in seas. Have you got a mirror? If not provide your coordinates and Iâll send you one for Xmas.
November 21, 2021
Thanks heffy
Not sure what this odd post is on about but if it pleases you.
November 20, 2021
@DOM +1
November 20, 2021
I do shudder at how much death by incompetence was covered under the umbrella of “Covid-Death” on certificates in this crisis.
November 20, 2021
At last someone who recognises that as much as areas of country, county,city and towns are all different the demands put on the medical services will be the same also depending on its location.
One brush coats all management and operational processes is and never has been the panacea to what is wrong with the NHS. The bigger it has grown the more unmanageable it has become.
Learn from the military small dedicated fast reaction teams, each team self managing focused on the critical mass of health problems. That with harder vetting, go back to the old days when a GP could tell you there is nothing I can do to help unless you stop smoking, binging, excessive drink and drugs,don’t exercise.. Life style and poverty play its part but if people want a better health service at their local level they too have got to change. They cannot abdicate their responsibilities to the local GP and Health Trust. All the doctors I worked for had agreement over one thing. 80% of their work load came from 20% of their patients. The majority of them being the irresponsible element of their local society.
November 20, 2021
+1
I see exactly what you are saying.
It must be more difficult for GPS now what with wokery and pc.
They have to bow down to some and walk on egg shells.
Then they take it out on the rest of us!
Nothing has changed for some during these past two years.
Psychiatric appts.Dermatology.Root canal and so on.
Come Ye not nigh for others!
November 20, 2021
I read something yesterday about JR and Mr Letwin producing a paper/consultation ( when Mrs Thatcher was in power) entitled âŠ
âBritainâs Biggest Enterprise ideas for radical reform of the NHSâ January 1988
Wondering if this happened in any way?
It was supposed to be a privatisation by stealth?
I really wish it had just been done then.
Reply It supported free at the point of need. Labour and Conservative governments now do buy in private health care for NHS patients.
November 20, 2021
It should not be completely free at the point of need for people who can afford pay only, for people who really cannot afford to pay.
The way the system works currently then patients are a nuisance to be deterred & delayed. So that is exactly what happens. “Free” at the point of use kills most competition and ensures the dire, state monopoly, communist NHS continues. But no party dares to even try to sort out the mess. Fools like Javid just order people to “just respect the NHS”. Why should I respect this dire failing organisation? Some of the people who worth there certainly I do but not the politicians or this dire failing wasteful organisation.
They killed about 1000+ extra people (and wasted ÂŁmillions) just by failing to vaccinate men about five years earlier than women in the vaccine roll out – so inept were their “experts” even after this was pointed out to them! No political will to save them it seems! They are now killing many thousands as is clear from the figures due to failures to treat many perfectly treatable conditions promptly.
November 20, 2021
They also have a new CEO who has already shown herself to be either rather or totally innumerate & inept etc ed She has a degree in Modern History (Oxon). I would want someone who was numerate, understood cost and benefits analysis, running efficient businesses and had medical training. But no we get an innumerate Oxford Historian who has worked for (and held top positions) in the incompetent NHS almost all her life. Someone rather responsible for the total inept mess that it is perhaps?
November 20, 2021
+many!
November 20, 2021
Too true L/L.
November 20, 2021
Provide proof that 1000+ deaths were actually caused by not following the LifeLogic patented vaccination preferences.
November 20, 2021
Reply to reply.
Thanks.
Maybe if things had gone further down a private route we would not be in this situation now.
There isnât enough proper competition in anything any more.
The customer does not count.
November 20, 2021
Indeed get the power to the customer by charging all who can pay and let’s have fair competition between private and state sectors in medicine.
One currently has to pay four times over to use the private sector. Once for the NHS for others, then tax on the money you need to earn for your medical insurance premium, then the premium then the 12% IPT tax on top then you pay privately for your drugs too! Similarly for education – though no IPT tax here but the socialist dope Gove & the dire Labour Party have threatened/promised 20% VAT on private school fees!
November 20, 2021
Oh, I don’t know.
We’ve got eminent right wing politicians competing frantically, for who can be the very worst example of their kind, it appears.
November 20, 2021
NLH But we don’t get their policies.
November 20, 2021
Fairly simple maths – a women was at about the same risk of dying from Covid as a man ~ 5 years younger so during the roll out of the vaccine it would have been far more effective vaccinating the higher risk men about five years younger than women (this while it was in short supply during the roll out that is). Not only is this clear but the victims and their widows are fairly identifiable. They are men who died (whom had this policy been adopted) would have been vaccinated in time.
November 20, 2021
The trouble is JR, that the surgery approached WOULD be nice and cooperative towards YOU.
Let me tell youâŠthey can be absolutely HORRIBLE, unkind and threatening (yes!).
Largely they hate those patients who do not belong to any identity group.
They have NO care for customer satisfaction or comfort.
November 20, 2021
Agreed. At our surgery, the large ventilated waiting room, with seating, hasn’t been used since the first lockdown. People visiting the surgery have to wait together in a small unventilated foyer, with no seating, and wait for the nurse/doctor/prescription to be ready. There is one shared intercom where you announce your arrival and the reason for your presence (to all present), and then it announces permission to enter (eventually)! You need to bring your own chair if you are not well enough to stand for long periods, or sit on the floor! I know I avoid going there as far as I am able.
I complained to my consultant about the difficulties of getting access to, and help from our surgery and blamed the admin staff, rather than the doctors. The consultant wisely asked me who was in charge of the admin staff, and gave them their instructions!
November 20, 2021
I do have some sympathy for GP’s (maybe!). The housing available in our tiny town has doubled in recent years, but no new doctors surgeries. Are GP’s obliged to take on an unmanageable patient list. Who decides how many patients can be safely cared for?
November 20, 2021
+1
November 20, 2021
Leave voters are, absolutely, an Identity Group.
Aren’t they?
November 20, 2021
Do you all wear special badges NHL?
November 20, 2021
NLH
please give it a rest, youâve become very tiresome, I skip your mostly rude comments because youâre SO predictable, canât you find another platform to spew your bile about Brexit?
November 20, 2021
I like NLH’s contributions.
November 20, 2021
One of the very few demonised groups.
Havenât you noticed?
November 20, 2021
Yes perhaps our host should have approached a receptionist out-of-area unannounced and see how far he got.
November 20, 2021
Indeed, why not try and visit the surgery that many people have complained about JR, given its probably one of the largest in the Wokingham area, with up to 14 registered Donors practicing there.
Not complained myself, as fortunately not had anything I regard as seriously wrong with me, and could perhaps afford to go private as an absolute last resort (no private insurance cover) if I really had to.
I know of plenty of others who have had problems, including other extended family members who would not have dreamed of contacting yourself for a solution.
As commented before, a family member had a video appointment with a “PUSH DOCTOR” who was working from his home in Yorkshire. How much did that cost the NHS out of its Budget?
Never heard of a push Doctor before, but I guess it’s a last resort after patients getting pushed from pillar to post by the local surgery.
Reply I have not had any recent complaints. All surgeries tell me they do offer appointments.
November 20, 2021
Dear JR.
They tell you what they want you to hear!
November 20, 2021
Oh sorryâŠand what they know you WANT to hear!
November 20, 2021
JR should try getting an appointment at Wokingham! My doctor works only on a Monday and has limited appointment numbers each week (apparently all by phone). She is actually quite good when you get her and she does phone back eventually for “urgent” queries. I have never seen her face to face or been offered that. As my serious complaint was a heart attack it was dealt with in hospital and copious notes sent to the doctor. She does do staff training and other admin and tick box work for two days a week. Logically patients on her list should be combined with another doctor’s list to ensure continuity of treatment, not sure the NHS doctor listing would cope with this though!!
November 20, 2021
reply to reply ….I have to stop laughing Sir John. Of course they do, maybe a couple per week?
November 20, 2021
Fill in an official complaint record? REALLY! Certain to mean you will be unloaded at the first opportunity and refused a switch to a GP in the area.
November 20, 2021
+1
November 20, 2021
You can’t get a face to face with a GP in our surgery for love nor money.
If you want details I can email them.
November 20, 2021
@Ian Wragg; Stop bleating, what exactly did have trouble comprehending when our host said “All GPs under contract to the NHS do have to run proper complaints procedures so people with a concern should use these”. Also are you telling us a/. you have complained but have not received resolution, b/. John Redwood is your MP?
November 20, 2021
Yes Ian, immediately do what Jerry demands.
Stop bleating says Jerry and you know he is always right.
November 21, 2021
@P2; Stop trolling. I did not demand anything, I merely reminded Ian as to what our host asked, you did read his article didn’t you, and that it is usual equate to take problems to your own MP.
November 21, 2021
You demanded he stopped bleating Jerry.
Read your post again.
November 21, 2021
@P2; Were exactly did i use the word “demand” in my reply to Ian Wragg? Stop trolling, stop trying to add words in to comments others have not used..
November 22, 2021
You said “Stop bleating”
Those were your opening words.
Therefore you are demanding he does what you say.
Pretty straightforward Jerry.
PS
I notice when your argument fails or someone dares to challenge your opinion you resort to calling people trolls.
Rather sad and unnecessary.
November 22, 2021
@P2; I ask again, were exactly did I use the word âdemandâ in my reply to Ian Wragg?
Cite or retract.
Peter2, if you post like a troll do not be surprised if people call you a troll…
[my emphasis] Internet troll; Verb: (to post inflammatory material so as) to attempt to lure others into combative argument for purposes of personal entertainment and/or gratuitous disruption, especially in an online community or discussion.
November 22, 2021
Demanding is when you tell someone to stop doing something Jerry.
Pedandtic on stilts from you.
And your troll insult again I see.
You cant debate it’s just post, then insult anyone who dares to challenge you.
November 23, 2021
@P2; Stop trolling, and now stalling, either put up or shut up. I’ll ask once again, were exactly did I use the word âdemandâ in my reply to Ian Wragg?
Cite or retract. Nor is there is nothing pedantic about asking for a citation.
“And your troll insult again I see.”
When the cap fits… I even gave you a dictionary definition for “Internet Troll”, if you dislike that definition check the OED or Collins yourself. If you do not want to be seen as a troll, stop behaving like one!
November 23, 2021
Just to add, for those who think Peter2 might have a point, check my interaction with @Richard II elsewhere on this page, two opposing views but total civility debating the issue, read the comment Peter2 placed into the middle of that discourse (otherwise ignored by both myself and Richard II)…
November 23, 2021
Appealing to others won’t save you Jerry.
Try again.
You demanded someone who made a reasonable post with a reasonable argument to “stop bleating”
Your very first words of your response
Who is the real troll eh?
November 20, 2021
Similar – at my Surgery we now have to telephone for a telephone appointment!
Before lockdown there was an on-line booking service which was excellent, and for those without the internet who had therefore to telephone for an appointment – the telephone was not perpetually busy.
November 20, 2021
Indeed but if you want a vet to take a look at you dog, cat, horse or pet snake no problem. I wonder why? Could it possibly be that they get paid, even if they do not see you as they have you money already?
November 20, 2021
Indeed. I was tempted to use my dog’s insurance to get my knee treated.
A collar, some fake ears and a waggy tail off ebay.
November 21, 2021
Can one not just self identify as say a Springer Spaniel now?
November 20, 2021
Over the past few yearsâŠ..
We have not been informed of the sole GP retiring and a new doctor replacing him.
The amalgamation of the surgery with another.
The death of the head of the new surgery.
They did not contact us regarding the jab as stated on that letter and would not discuss it when phoned.
âDO NOT PHONE AGAIN.YOU WILL BE CONTACTED. WE HATE THE PM.â ( which I found upsetting at the time!).
And no contact since.
(I WAS contacted some 5 years ago and threatened with being struck off the patient list for non attendance over 3 years. I had not been ill!!!)
Do not be taken in by GP surgeries or there will never be improvement.
And I have even worse anecdotes from the past! Much worse.
And if one complains âŠthatâs itâŠfinishedâŠfor all surgeries in the area.
November 20, 2021
I have received one communication in 3 years. Offer of a flu jab in February last year. At 63 I was too young to qualify earlier apparently.
November 20, 2021
+1
November 20, 2021
Seems to me the doctors complaints were aimed at how govt is running the health service, not the Integrated Care Board per se, yet another quango set up by the govt to pass a buck or two.
Good news these doctors were able to correct the record, at least with our host (and his audience), about face-to-face appointments and actual numbers of complaints etc.
November 20, 2021
‘Correct the record’, Jerry? I think you mean ‘give their point of view’. Unless they presented SJR with
documented facts and figures. No doubt if they did, we might hear about them.
I’m sure patients of Wokingham surgeries trying to see a doctor would have plenty to inform our host about, not just rumours. As reported at the end of September last, Healthwatch Reading found five local in the bottom 10% of the country on measures such as the ability of patients to get through to someone at the practice on the phone, overall experience of making an appointment, and overall experience of the GP practice. These are Wokingham Medical Centre, Loddon Vale Practice, Twyford Surgery, Woosehill Medical Practice and South Reading and Shinfield Group Medical Practice.
Reply Yes they showed me figures for their activity levels
November 20, 2021
reply to reply…you saw activity, but not the phone-in queue, the terminated calls, the answering ‘triage’ service avoidances, the eventual real triage, the delay for a DR call back….the lack of referrals, the ‘we don’t do blood pressure -buy your own, the ‘pod’ means entrance to the inaccessible surgery, we don’t do blocked ears…..
November 20, 2021
@Richard II; Nice of you to tell our host that you think he is easily ‘fobbed off’!…
Also who are “Healthwatch Reading”, given the lack of info on their website, given their domain is third party registered? For all anyone knows they might be a bit like the now closed National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association -a self appointed pressure group with their own agenda, certainly nothing on their website, in clear view, to suggest they have any official working relationship with ether the NHS or DHSC.
November 20, 2021
I didn’t tell our good host anything, just gave him an opportunity to say more, which he did.
Healthwatch Reading is not ‘self-appointed’, it is run jointly by Wokingham and Reading councils:
https://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/15789769.wokingham-and-reading-borough-councils-to-combine-over-plans-for-healthwatch-services/
I hope that deals with your point.
Whatever it was.
November 20, 2021
Jerry just likes an argument Richard.
If you you say you like red he says you are wrong blue is best.
November 21, 2021
@Richard II; You questioned the facts our host came away with, suggesting our host was mistaken (taken in) by mere opinions, rather than those Doctors correcting the record.
Thanks for the info about Healthwatch Reading although I fear it leaves even more questions than answers, and I would be asking the same about any ‘Healthwatch Islington’ (for example) too, in similar circumstances.
November 20, 2021
Tesla drivers say they have been locked out of their cars after an outage struck the carmaker’s app.
Dozens of owners posted on social media about seeing an error message on the mobile app that was preventing them from connecting to their vehicles. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk personally responded to one complaint from a driver in South Korea, saying on Twitter: “Checking.”
Mr Musk later said the app was coming back online. The Tesla app is used as a key by drivers to unlock and start their cars. Owners posted a multitude of complaints online about not being able to use their vehicles. “I’m stuck an hour away from home because I normally use my phone to start car,” one owner tweeted.
So, if the app has a fault, or upgrade, or even the local mobile signal goes down you are stuck…great technology.
November 20, 2021
One of my companies makes about ÂŁ500K PA it is perhaps worth about ÂŁ2 to 3 million.
Valued on a Telsa P/E my company would be worth ÂŁ176 million – so has the world gone mad? I would prefer an old diesel/petrol estate myself (available second hand for ÂŁ2K) to a new Tesla.
November 20, 2021
Yes, Lifelogic.
Too many things to go wrong.
Most of my car problems have been with things I just did not need but could not avoid buying.
With an old car you could fix virtually anything by the side of the road with a basic tool kit. When a new car goes wrong IT GOES WRONG.
A door lock issue can be a total failure.
The idea is that modern cars (such as a Tesla) aren’t designed to get old. They are not constructed with the second or third owner in mind.
November 20, 2021
Good to know that after you have bought your (up to) ÂŁ80K Tesla they can cut it off as they choose or just in error!
November 20, 2021
If you really had a company making half a million a year, you wouldnât spend half your life on here posting endless repetitive posts and you would be after a better car than a 2 grand banger.
November 20, 2021
That’s the thing about it. All the rich people I know drive old bangers and have smelly un-designer dogs.
BTW. I’m not saying the late and adorable David Amess was rich but he was known for driving old bangers by So17, with whom he was very popular.
November 20, 2021
Only one of my companies. Why spend more than the ÂŁ2,000 when it does the job just fine?
November 20, 2021
what do you do with the rest?
November 21, 2021
Believe as you wish to but the point about Tesla and valuations is still valid.
November 21, 2021
No, your point is wrong I am afraid: the recent average P/E of different sectors have been: automotive 30, distributors 40, grocery/food 40, online 130, building supplies 150.
if Tesla P/E is so high (~360 in 11/2021) is that within its market sector there is a very high demand for Tesla products (and they are not only cars but also âregulatory creditsâ paid by other car companies) whereas that for your products (whatever they can be, in whatever other sector) is much smaller. And this is reflected in the P/E. Applying the average (or in the Tesla case the very high) P/E in one sector to a company in another sector does not make sense.
November 20, 2021
MT
Does that mean if you lose your phone, the finder could steal/use your car ?
I guess there is a security number that has to be entered as well.
But what if your phone battery runs out ?
Nah, Tesla would have thought of all of those potential simple problems wouldn’t they. !
November 20, 2021
The more complex they get, the more to go wrong. I am still not entirely trusting of electric windows with some of the experiences I have had in the past. The days of doing anything other than checking oil and water and tyres are long gone. We are entirely in the hands of people selling us services.
November 20, 2021
I have an old golf cabriolet and the passenger electric window does not work. The car is worth less than the ÂŁ1000 they want to fix it. At least it is not on the driverâs side!
November 20, 2021
Micky. Hilarious.
November 20, 2021
Not really. The app is an extra. The cars come with a keycard – like a credit card – to open the doors and start the car. This is effectively the key and is independent of the app. Why would drivers not take their car key with them?
November 20, 2021
you tell us – as you deny having one, but know the details – the car has an ID card, but I bet you will not carry a state ID card? – just guessing?
November 20, 2021
MT : So basically although you have bought the car (Tesla) each time you want to use it you are effectively asking Mr. Musk for his permission?
If he wants he can block your use?
I’m sure our Government will be switched on to this feature for all EVs as well as the possibility to draw electrical power from and grid connected EV car batteries when the wind fails to deliver the power required.
You may go to bed thinking youâre charging your EV battery overnight only to discover in the morning that it is completely flat because the Government needed the energy.
November 20, 2021
Lots of ‘advanced’ car models have these sort of internet based features….state control gaining ground every year.
November 20, 2021
+1
November 20, 2021
I for one am simply and utterly uninterested in the views of NHS employees. I am tired of the unionised, protected, politicised and frankly insulated public sector playing the ‘poor me, poor me’ victim card as though they are in some way exposed to harm. This tedious propaganda has become toxic
I am more interested in people DYING AND SUFFERING because their GPs refuse to see them or rolling out the crap about being ‘overwhelmed’. I am more interested in patients exposed to malpractice by NHS staff in hospitals who treat them like an inconvenience
And then we have the dirty Tory embrace of Marxist strategy of clapping a public service designed to promote itself and destroy criticism and opposition to its newly found deity status to control access to services we pay for.
Is this North Korea?
The public are tired of lies, bullshit and State coercion. I thought John was a small State, free-market, low tax libertarian when all along he and his party are simply defenders of the Socialist status quo. Well, you weren’t elected to defend and strengthen Labour’s client state parasitism, you were elected to expose it and dismantle it
the lights are once again going out across Europe and Covid has delivered a divine gift to every despotic minded politician. Shameful
November 20, 2021
-and the EU does it better, the free, wonderful community of 26 are an example to the world.
However some build barbed wire borders, use watercannon, lock people in if free-will means unvaccinated, alarming pandemic rises when it was supposedly almost eradicated, insist on mining and burning coal for another decade, commit to power reliance on the biggest threat to European economy – being Russia. The list goes on and on and on.
November 20, 2021
I will be bearing the coffin of a beloved uncle in December.
Two consultations missed during lockdown and appalling treatment (a total absence of it) by his GP and the NHS. The only mercy was the staff local charity hospice where he died. (As with my father McMillan were terrible.)
Total is now nine of my friends and associates who have died in this crisis – many clearly through neglect and none of Covid.
Lockdown kills.
November 20, 2021
I sort of agree, No Longer, though I didn’t know of anyone who died or got seriously ill during the lockdowns, whereas I know of several since then. It seems rather puzzling to me.
November 20, 2021
And not forgetting as Paul Dacre puts it, this country is run by a left wing blob, namely the Civil Service.
We all know it and âyouâ are incapable/petrified/donât see the need etc to do anything about it.
Cue political correctness, iron clad jobs for life, working from home using the exercise bike, fewer outcomes, zero performance management, a guaranteed knighthood and a vast indexed linked pension.
So gurgle gurgle.
A bright spot. A new free port has opened on Teesside with the Tories crowing. And who was it that cancelled the licenses of the previous ones. Ah yes, the Tories.
November 20, 2021
An exercise bike is very CO2 wasting form of “transport” – you burn a very carbon inefficient fuel (human food) and you do not even get anywhere after wasting all that CO2. Thought you warm yourself & the house up a bit.
Almost as bad as billionaires going up into “space” in rockets and landing back at the same place a bit later!
November 20, 2021
Oh, well, if Dacre says so then that’s the end of it eh?
November 20, 2021
No it is just a debate which you want to close down.
November 20, 2021
Unusually, today’s article contains not a single figure or quantitative comparison either between practices or across time for this practice. Let’s see proof to confirm or refute these allegations across every practice in Wokingham area. The rosy picture at one practice can’t be used to comment on the overall situation.
As to worries that GPs would need to do more than their due in comparison with secondary care, I suspect the ACTUAL PROOF of GPs shunting people off to A & E or pharmacies suggests otherwise for the moment.
November 20, 2021
I can remember a time when to visit a surgery you would find it packed out. Having visited two surgeries this week they were both calm oasis’s with only two people waiting. Interestingly one required you to wait outside
– in all weathers- to collect a prescription. A&E are the new GPs..
November 20, 2021
Triage nurses are the new GPs to be more specific.
A serious injury of mine earlier this year was seen only by a triage nurse until a consultation nearly 7 months later.
I understand the pressures but please, no-one say that the NHS was saved.
November 20, 2021
The lack of GPs is a major issue, for which NHS management are fully responsible for. What are they doing on that account?
The NHS management also dictated the terms of appointments, encouraging telephone contact, which has proven to be inadequate, and they have also devised the means of making appointments which is very far from adequate and can take hours/days.
It is unfortunately the GP practice that gets the flack when things go wrong because of imposed procedures.
Is the way forward adding more layers of NHS management?
I don’t think so.
November 20, 2021
In any public sector organisation you can never have too many layers of management.
November 20, 2021
and regular reviews leading to reorganisations.
November 20, 2021
I see that now all predictions/conspiracy theories ( except prison campsâŠyet!) have come true!
The Austrian authorities fired on protestors yesterday.
November 20, 2021
And in Holland.
All going according to plan.
November 20, 2021
You missed a bit.
The protesters were throwing rocks and fireworks at the Police, and torching Police Cars.
It is said that the Police were outnumbered, and feared for their lives.
Iâm just filling in the details, for some balance .
November 20, 2021
CG,
Right. But their government put the police in that position by infringing civil liberties of the innocent and quarantining healthy people.
As an ex police officer even I’m on the side of the rioters.
We complied patiently awaiting the outcome of the vaccine and the authorities have declared that it is not good enough.
In WW2 masks were manufactured to a standard and issued to the whole population.
Today no masks are issued and no standard of mask is declared.
It is now time to issue properly fitted N95s to people who are unvaccinated and with known comorbidities on the basis that they don’t have to wear them if they don’t want to.
Let the rest of us live healthily and normally.
Lockdown kills. It is injurious to mental and physical health.
Masks that you wouldn’t rely on to dismantle an asbestos roof are certainly no good against Covid; they are useless in this situation, they inhibit communication, create a state of constant anxiety but sure as hell reinforce the importance of the State and compliance to it.
Just how many people are Governments prepared to shoot in order to stop them dying of Covid ?
November 20, 2021
Mandatory vaccination is in effect politicians forcing me to protect myself. The same is true of the seat belt law. Politicians have no business doing either.
November 20, 2021
If people vote for a party on the basis that they will pass those laws – and they win, then who are you to say that they have no business to pass them?
November 20, 2021
To stop them dying of Covid. So that’s OK then.
November 20, 2021
So you spoke to GPs and they said GPs were doing nothing wrong and in fact weâre very much victims of government and NHS policy and NHS cash allocation ? Amazing. At my GP you literally canât book a face to face consultation, an on-line consultation is mandatory, after that they might decide to see you in a few days.
November 20, 2021
I am lucky enough to have access to an excellent GP surgery which seems to have no difficulty in providing face to face consultation (in the home if necessary) if that is found to be appropriate after an initial telephone conversation.
A great problem I have found with the NHS is wide variations in quality between different units even within quite a narrow geographical area. There seems to be no concept of establishing and replicating best practice across the whole service. Units appear to operate as silos with very little communication between them. One wonders what the legions of expensive managers do all day. Getting a consistent level of service across the whole business was one of the major parts of my job when running a national network of offices.
November 20, 2021
Sir John
What you appear to have be told isn’t at least here in Xxx mirrored in practice. After not being able to get a Doctors appointment my Wife phoned the NHS 111 line ( very helpful and efficient) the advice was it was indeed very serious and needs urgent medical attention and should see her GP straight away. That is now a couple of months back, still no appointment, still no access.
In part the Xxx practice appears to have a problem, they just don’t have any GP’s. They haven’t been able to retain them since they amalgamated them into the one building. The GP’s when they are listed are not local but travelling considerable distances for a day or so at the surgery each week. This has been the situation pre-Covid and continues. To me, an outsider, its suggests its a management problem, more than just a GP problem.
A couple of years back just after the merging of GP Surgery’s, when we used to have designated GP’s. My GP of 10 years or more phoned me( I was not a regular, just one visit in that time) to say he was leaving the practice. When asked why he stated as a GP it was no longer the right place for him.
To any one that has worked in any Business/Industry outside of State control – it is NOT money that is the problem, its just poor and inadequate management. The State Sector appears for the most part or at least all the headline stuff (were things go wrong) to recruit the type of person that couldn’t hold down a job in the commercial sector. The gut feeling is the endemic Wokery that has permutated through all recruitment of the State Sector, it doesn’t search out the best for the job but who will most likely ‘look’ on message. More Diversity Management than front facing service management
Report I have had discussions with the practice you mention. If you wish to pursue a complaint please contact them, or send me an email with details.
November 20, 2021
all sounds very familiar. We found out that the senior partner had left by accident, my wife ‘bumping’ into him in Wokingham, he agreed he hadn’t ‘left’ the way he would have liked. What followed has been over a year between each assigned Dr (name found out again by accident) and then 4 different GPs, each moving on within 18 months of starting. Now almost 2 years of Fort Knox.
November 20, 2021
Nota
All sounds so very familiar, I do believe you must have had the same Dr as our family, given the comments made, and certainly the same practice, now with a metal security gate closed (but not locked) across the entrance, in order to deter anyone from entering unannounced during opening hours.
November 20, 2021
Some UK Government, sometime, will have to re-
organise the NHS. The current model doesn’t work.
November 20, 2021
The NHS is not a service for sick and infirm. Its is not a service that has any accountability, certainly not to those that pay for it(taxpayers) or even any responsibility.
The NHS is just another in the list of State Created Empires that demands taxpayer money, but is not accountable for any of its actions. UK Governments with this Government head and shoulders above all previous ones just ‘Love’ to ‘GIVE’ taxpayers money away. Its not invested money or money to buy a product or service but just someone else’s money to throw at a headline and be popular.
Taxpayer’s money given away with no accountability to those that are beyond reproach – is that good household management?
November 20, 2021
It’s very doubtful that GPs would be aware of the difficulty patients have in getting through to their GP practice or booking an appointment commensurate with the urgency of their need. JR’s survey does not cut the mustard and should not be used as the basis for policy or legislation.
My local GP practice has got two full time GPs and fifteen part time GPs. I did not join this practice but got amalgamated into it. Eleven of the GPs are partners and six are salaried.
There is something very wrong with how GP practice is organised in this country. Ever since Harold Shipman murdered his way through his practice list, the government has been forcing doctors to amalgamate without considering whether that was in the best interests of patients. Was Shipman even English? He didn’t look it.
Medical schools should prioritise male students because female GPs are practically always part time. They also need to take more well qualified students because presently GP services are rationed by the difficulty patients have in getting to see a doctor.
Reply I did not survey all local surgeries. I reported an interesting briefing .
November 20, 2021
“because female GPs are practically always part time”
Or on light duties or accommodated shifts. That’s certainly how it is in my industry.
November 20, 2021
… then the minority of blokes left end up doing the grotty shifts as I was last night. Using inferior equipment because (despite lots of recruitment) there STILL aren’t the staff qualified to prepare the stuff I needed to do the work.
November 20, 2021
Paul Dacre, as ever, gives us a clue:
âTo anyone from the private sector, who, God forbid, has convictions, and is thinking of applying for a public appointment, I say the following: The civil service will control (and leak) everything; the process could take a year in which your life will be put on hold; and if you are possessed of an independent mind and are unassociated with the liberal/left, you will have more chance of winning the lottery than getting the job.â
âI wish Ofcom all the luck in the world as it faces the awesome challenge of trying to regulate the omnipotent, ruthless and, as weâve learnt, amoral tech giants without damaging freedom of expression â a freedom I spent 28 years as an editor fighting for both publicly and privately with ministers.â
âIâm taking up an exciting new job in the private sector that, in a climate that is increasingly hostile to business, struggles to create the wealth to pay for all those senior civil servants working from home so they can spend more time exercising on their Peloton bikes and polishing their political correctness, safe in the knowledge that it is they, not elected politicians, who really run this country.â
November 20, 2021
Mr Dacre’s “infelicitous dalliance with the Blob” was an unpleasant experience at the hands of yet another unelected, unaccountable, unsackable “Commission.” Parliament funked the last attempt, but it still needs to get to grips with these left wing abusers of power.
November 20, 2021
Off topic, the editor of the staunchly unionist Belfast News Letter is in a pessimistic mood:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/ben-lowry-the-prospects-of-article-16-being-triggered-to-suspend-ni-protocol-are-receding-3465352
“I was initially sceptical that Article 16 to suspend the protocol would ever be invoked, as Lord Frost implied it would be. I was expecting the usual pattern of tough talk from Britain, that is believed by many unionists, followed by nationalist Ireland and the EU getting what they demand. But I began to believe in recent months Art 16 was going to be deployed. Then within the last fortnight there was a softened tone. Lord Frost even warned the EU this week against reading too much into the softened tone.”
And he particularly cites the intervention from Michael Gove:
“Last night Michael Gove praised âa constructive [EU] approachâ âand Lord Frost has signalled that while, of course, itâs always possible that article 16 may require to be invoked, weâre confident that weâll be able to make progress without it.â
More about that here:
https://www.politico.eu/article/post-brexit-northern-ireland-row-can-be-solved-without-unilateral-action-uk-minister-says/
Well, what should we expect from a man who kicked off the myth that with Northern Ireland still in the EU Single Market and under the jurisdiction of the ECJ its businesses get “the best of both worlds”:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/11/10/the-eu-has-clearly-broken-its-uk-agreement-and-northern-ireland-protocol/#comment-1275202
Most soi-disant “Conservative and Unionist” MPs don’t seem much bothered what happens.
November 20, 2021
Oh, look at this; do you think anybody in the UK government could publicly remind the EU and its member state governments that under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement the intensity of customs checks is supposed to be based on objective risk assessments, and whatever the UK may do about Northern Ireland it is very unlikely to affect the risk associated with the UK goods crossing the Channel?
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/article-16-uk-rhetoric-dialled-down
“While it would take the EU months to introduce tariffs on British imports, ministers have been warned that more stringent border checks could be unleashed “in a matter of hours” by member states if Johnson went ahead with suspending parts of the treaty agreed as part of Brexit talks.”
“Port authorities in France, Belgium and Holland can escalate customs procedures, SPS procedures and summary declarations overnightâ
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/03/13/goldilocks-policy/#comment-1215662
“4.2 Each Member shall design and apply risk management in a manner as to avoid arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination, or a disguised restriction on international trade.”
Maybe Dominic Raab should say something, a little reminder of their own international obligations.
November 20, 2021
More on topic, another unwanted and unnecessary complication:
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-maros-sefcovic-david-frost-uk-european-commission-northern-ireland-medicine/
“EU-UK fail to agree new rules for medicines in Northern Ireland”
November 20, 2021
âThey [the GPs] also drew my attention to the need to receive prompt confirmation of sufficient budgets for their patient list size and workload.â
GPs practices are private companies and are paid according to the number of patients on their lists plus I think extra for patients with particular illnesses.
Hence, for instance, the keenness to define as many patients as possible as asthmatic.
I think payments to GPs should be based not upon numbers of patients but the amount of work they do.
November 20, 2021
So how many people are the Dutch Govt prepared to shoot to stop them dying of Covid ?
Lockdown there is looking dangerously like a declaration of war on the people.
November 20, 2021
Far, far fewer, than the thousands each year, that gun nuts do in the US and for no reason whatsoever, one would be fair to assume.
November 20, 2021
NLH – What’s that got to do with GB and EU ? About as much as George Floyd, I suppose. But that won’t stop you using the issue to further your own agenda.
November 20, 2021
How is that relevant NHL?
Gun nuts versus their own government.
November 20, 2021
+1 and not that different in the UK. The idiotic Javid ordering people to ârespect the NHSâ!
November 20, 2021
How much money did the NHS waste on a smarmy nauseating 4 page-(8 sides) leaflet through every door (I received one today) telling people how to cope with the colossal psychiatric problems caused by this Government; its fear mongering and brainwashing and general destruction of our lives and our dignity, and the introduction of a permanent totalitarian regime.
Encouraging people still to get the covid- clotshot even though in UK alone about 1750 deaths and a million injuries reported on MHRA Yellow Card System. Reports piling up all over the world of people paralysed, kids with cardiac trouble, countless blood clot problems, blindness ; YET IN THIS DISGUSTING LEAFLET, THE NHS STILL IS PUSHING PEOPLE TO GET JABBED. Of course it did not mention that this means they’re being used as guinea pigs.
Then, just when I didn’t think this Government could sink any lower they started unleashing this horror on CHILDREN.
The smarmy leaflet needless to say did not miss the opportunity to encourage the execrable mentally and physically harmful and dehumanising facemasks.
Facemasks harm the wearer , and no risk benefit analysis justifies forcing them on people ubiquitously . Children too are forced to wear these filthy disgusting things. An abomination.
And of course promotesthe leaflet Test and Trace, the purpose of which is too hoover up as much of our data as possible plus tests with false positives were very useful to drive up “case”numbers and inflate the size of the outbreak.
I don’t have words bad enough to describe this execrable Government and its string pullers.
November 20, 2021
Look at the many videos on You Tube “Vaping through a mask” ALL of the vapour comes out sideways and backwards.
If you really do believe the virus is as dangerous as ebola would you be sitting near anyone wearing a tubular buff or something off a market stall ?
If you wouldn’t strip an asbestos roof wearing one then don’t expect it to stop covid which is far smaller and more airborne than fibres.
Now is the time for fitted N95s to be issued by the Govt to those vulnerable people who need them. In WW2 they issued the whole population with a standardised mask so this should be do-able.
—-
O/T A mental hospital near me has been closed and vulnerable and dangerous patients released back into the community. I suppose that is down to the loss of money caused by lockdown.
November 20, 2021
Basically it all revolves around money and waste.
https://wp.me/p1R7BZ-e4v There is a report by the Norwegian Government highlighting the incorrect perception of costs made by our PM. It shows that the world largest off shore array of turbines (Dogger Bank) is running at -ÂŁ1bn per annum. Just imagine what could be done with that sort of money and that is only one windfarm? Reported on the Not a Lot of People Know That daily blog. What is the real price for all this Net Zero?
November 21, 2021
There’s no option. Fossil fuels will run out at some point. Nasty foreigners may well cut us off too.
November 20, 2021
I find my GP practice, upon which I rely but use infrequently for now, to be well-organized, responsive and appropriately pro-active. An elderly relative using another is similarly content, liking the consultations by telephone with consequent relief from travel.
I do think the NHS is unmanageable and so have great sympathy for Mr. Javid.
Since you pointed out the ÂŁ230 billion NHS budget takes all the monies raised by IHT, CGT, SDLT, and income tax, I await with interest the reaction of the British people when, faced with no choice but to be candid, a prime minister (not Boris, obviously, but his successor but two or three) has to admit to them that they can no longer afford the NHS.
November 20, 2021
When western political leaders publicly express their thoughts and preferences regarding the verdict in a criminal trial by Jury then one must start to express serious concerns about what these now political activists masquerading as elected politicians have in store when a Jury verdict clashes with their own grubby political ideology
The west is teetering on the cusp of a new dark age in which Marxist ideology and those who propagate such filth will try and take control of the judicial process and exercise such powers for political advantage. We saw this political show-trial exhibitionism under Stalin and Hitler and it is happening again
It is not for western political leaders to express approval or disapproval of the jury’s verdict in a criminal trial in the way Biden and Johnson did some months ago
And with people being shot in Rotterdam, it’s just all too depressing and indeed a tragedy for those who believe that the State must be subservient to the civil population not the other way around
November 20, 2021
I see Boris is apparently âexasperatedâ over the number of people illegally entering this country from France in rubber dinghies. 24,500 so far this year. 5000 in November alone. He is exasperated because he was hoping for 100,000 this year – to fill the empty houses, to give our struggling hotel sector a much needed boost and to give our underworked GPs something to do.
Surely he could get P&O to bring people over in comfort and luxury. Britannia takes several thousand at a time. Come on Boris, get the numbers up to sensible levels.
November 20, 2021
The P&O method would be preferable were Boris to deliver an address The People as I suggested yesterday.
We are a pragmatic nation. Talk to us honestly. If there is a good enough reason we will accept it.
It’s the deception that rankles. The RNLI/BF interceptions, the use of the word “stopped” are a gross insult to our intelligence. Ostensibly a humanitarian mission but in reality an unofficial ferry service with a Boris wink (and game show fop) to traffickers to “COME ON DOWN !”
He’s taken the traffickers’ side and not ours.
Big mistake. The BBC blackout can’t hide this. It is the talk of the town right now – in light of all the sacrifices he wants us to make.
I have ditched the RNLI and haven’t sent back their Christmas appeal with a snarky note but I read of many who have. I also ditched the National Trust – if stately homes are rooted in so much wickedness I say let them go to ruin, don’t turn them into yet another day of bloody woke lecturing. We get that all the time on the State broadcaster, the f****ng BBC.
November 21, 2021
NLA, it’s formal to capitalise legally defined terms such as “The Agreement” etc.
However, in neither England or Scotland are “the people” recognised as a defined entity, and although things like “the public” and “the public interest” are frequently used in law, I don’t think that even these terms have ever been defined in any declaration.
On the other hand, the US constitution begins “We The People…” and asserts them as the paramount entity.
In the UK, if anything, it is Parliament. The people don’t feature anywhere.
If you think that they should, then join the campaign for a proper, modern, written constitution.
That is something which unites people right across the spectrum from Farage to Corbyn, though they would no doubt disagree over what should be in it.
November 20, 2021
The prime minister’s decision to order a review in the face of failure to develop policies to stop the channel crossings represents a tremendous loss of face for Home Secretary Patel. Had she honour she would resign now: had Johnson gumption he would have sacked her.
November 20, 2021
I have the solution.
DONâT GET ILL.
As an aside, my 40 year old nephew, twice jabbed, very fit (lot of cycling) has Covid at the moment and is so ill he cannot get out of bed. Itâs a bit worrying that the jab has not been been effective in his case.
November 20, 2021
How do you know how ill he would have been without it?
He might have died, plenty of 40-year-olds have.
November 20, 2021
Not that uncommon sadly – often young barely middle-aged and really fit succumb and have a terrible time.
November 20, 2021
Still very very rare, thankfully.
The stats still show it is those with underlying issues and the aged who are most at risk.
November 20, 2021
Also – the best exercise for over 40s is weight training. Sarcopenia is the enemy and aerobic activity tends to accelerate it from middle age onward. A phenomena called ‘skinny fat’ afflicts many runners and cyclists.
November 21, 2021
not that rare- I know of an example in Devon asssisted breathing. Outlook not good after several weeks, family told to fear the worst.
November 20, 2021
Best of luck to him.
Best to avoid in general being male, old, blood group A, overweight, low on vit. D and bald it seems. Not that I am suggesting he is any of these things.
November 20, 2021
I quite like e-doctor consultations. I have concerns about privacy and who can see my file but I had this before with gossipy GP staff anyway. It was a complete faff to set up my account though, send your passport photo, no we canât read it, send again, I hate having to resort to getting other family members to help me to sort things out but I had to so I dread to think how my parents would cope, in fact they didnât even try. I think you should be able to access your Spine account and see who has accessed your record on what date and it should leave a digital footprint of anyone that has read your notes.
I have found that once I send in a query it is answered promptly. Once the GP phoned me the following morning and asked me to come and see her that late afternoon, I was hoping she could just prescribe without a visit.
I donât like receptionists calling you with your diagnosis because if you have questions about say the pills they want to prescribe you for life you want to ask a GP about them because the receptionist doesnât have the skills to answer those questions.
I dread having to go into A&E the incidents Iâm hearing about Leighton and the Royal Stoke are quite frightening. I do think there should be un notified inspections of these units around the Country at random on say a Friday evening. It should be noted what people are going for? Why didnât they see a GP earlier in the day, did they even try? Are they registered with a GP? Are they a critical care patient or not? There will be plenty of time to interview people theyâre going to be there for hours.
I wonder how many more face to face visits those GPs are doing this November compared to November 2019 did they tell you? Have they taken on any more patients or are their patient lists the same numbers?
November 20, 2021
I wonder if I should complain about the laziest diagnosis ever, for diabetes, that has resulted in me now having spent over a year in hospital with a neurological disorder? That was even before lockdown, after which they virtually shut shop, seeing one patient (Dr in full hazmat) through a partially open car window!
On second thoughts, how would my wife then cope when they remove us from their patient list?
Sadly Sir John, their is no credible alternative, just the state monopoly and they can treat, or not, patients (customers) as they please. Now due to the madness of lockdown, the stupidity of Govt, GP’s failing their patients and a terrorised nation by government scientists their is a +- six million backlog of diagnosis and treatment.
What an all round failure, except for big pharma shares.
November 20, 2021
We need to know how many GPs work part time. Rumour has it many only work three days a week because they earn enough in three days, any more just means high tax. It costs a great deal to train a GP. Shouldnât they work full time. If they did the work load would not seem quite so bad.
November 21, 2021
We have 3 GPs at âourâ surgery. Two are locums. My wife asked the receptionist the other days what days the âfull-timeâ GP worked. Monday, Tuesday and Friday was the answer.
So, 2 days on, 1 day off, I day on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 1 day off, I day on, 2 days off, etc. Nice work if you can get it. Often she isnât there at all as she is âon leaveâ. Seriously, these people are overworked?!
November 20, 2021
I am amazed that the Government allow GP surgeries to close for lunch.
Not even a receptionist on duty.
Which other businesses close for lunch these days?
Having said that I have been very happy in the past to be able to go directly to A&E with the excuse that my surgery is closed for lunch and get far better treatment and a step closer to getting the operation I needed.
November 20, 2021
Netherlands: Police fire warning shots at Covid protesters.
Dutch police fired warning shots and used water cannon after rioting erupted in Rotterdam over new Covid-19 measures. Protesters threw rocks and fireworks at them and set police cars ablaze.
Civil disorder – don’t think it can’t happen here….unrest brewing.
November 21, 2021
When they impose another lockdown (Iâm thrice jabbed, me), and they will, we will slink back into our homes like good, frightened, spineless little boys and girls. We are a supine bunch. And THEY know it. Oh, if only we had a bit of backbone like the French.
November 21, 2021
It takes years to train up most NHS workers.
Throwing money at the NHS will not solve anything.
The problem is lack of long term contingency plans.
November 22, 2021
The new care commissioners and the Integrated Care Board are an unnecessary overhead. The fewer expensive resource allocators there are the more resources are available to do things.
November 22, 2021
Whatever the experience of your local doctors, or (more importantly) the accuracy with which they are communicating it to you), I can assure you that in my local, professional middle-class local area, the universal experience of local patients of the GP practice is – and has been since March 2020 – “They’ve just all disappeared.” An observation I hear constantly repeated made by whomever I ask locally. I myself have been unable to persuade any of them to see an injury that has just had its first birthday.
Perhaps we need a Habeas Corpus Act for general practitioners.