Save Our Surgeries

Today patients and doctors from three East London boroughs picketed outside a meeting of NHS England and took a petition to the Department of Health in an effort to save their GP surgeries from cuts and reorganisation of GP surgeries in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Hackney.

They are campaigning against the removal of the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) which the Department of Health has decided will be phased out over the next 7 years. The Jubilee Street Practice in Tower Hamlets estimates that this will be a loss of income in the region of £1 million over the next 7 years. A devastating blow for any practice.

Facebook, emotions and big data.

Over the last few days all the major media outlets have run stories about how Facebook can change your emotional state. The basis for this story is a piece of research conducted in 2012. Most of the media outlets have focused on the supposed potential for emotional control the study claims facebook might have. But there is another issue. Why is Facebook doing scientific research in the first place and how did it get ethical approval for the research without our consent?

Open letter to the BMA on user fees.

When services are underfunded and understaffed it puts increased pressure on the professionals who work in those fields. The past few years have been no different for the NHS, as reconfiguration, spending cuts and privatisation have forced decreasing numbers of healthcare professionals to do more, with less.

 

During these times it can be easy to blame the problems that are directly in front of your face for the wider issues. On the 22nd and 23rd of May General Practitioners in the British Medical Association will be asked to do exactly that. A motion has been tabled to the Local Medical Committees' Conference (the BMA decision making body for GPs). The motion calls for the BMA to support directly charging patients through a 'user fee' for using NHS General Practice services.

 

These proposals are regressive, and will harm patient care. It is important that healthcare professionals and patients stand together in the face of damaging changes to our health services and not allow ourselves to be divided by policies aimed at breaking up our National Health Service.

 

A group of medical students have written an open letter to the BMA outlining our opposition to user fees within the NHS. Please add your signature to the open letter here: bit.ly/1n6TYre and share the letter with your friends. More info on why users fees don't work can be found here: tinyurl.com/mythuserfees

 

The draft text of the letter can be found below.

 

We, the undersigned, categorically oppose the introduction of user charges for NHS GP services, and any proposals to that ends. It will be against the best interests of patients and the public to charge for GP visits. User fees are a disincentive to accessing healthcare, and target the poorest disproportionately. They lead to worsening care for chronic conditions, and more people seeking care at Accident and Emergency services, increasing cost and straining A&E departments. This will be to the detriment of the public health of the entire population, with the poorest and sickest suffering the most. The BMA, as the largest organisation representing doctors and medical students in the UK must stand on the side of patients and the public, and oppose any user charges in the NHS.

We acknowledge that there are serious issues that need to be addressed in the delivery and financing of primary care at the moment. The solution has to be better public funding of GP services, and sustainable investment into primary healthcare services. The poorest and sickest in society must not foot the bill for the lack of political commitment to sustainable funding for GP services.

NHS Zombie Flashmob!

On the 30th November students from across the country took part in zombie flashmob's in order to wake people up to the devastating affect of the changes ongoing within our NHS.

This video is a highlight reel of some of the best bits.

Cops off Campus - Message of Support

Students for the NHS sends their support and solidarity to all students taking part in the Cops off Campus National Day of Action on the 11th December 2013.

Free Trade deal will bind NHS to private providers for good.

Picture: FT

There are ongoing talks between the United States and the European Union to open the trade borders across the Atlantic.

This means that US businesses will have equal rights to sell goods and services within the UK as UK businesses. They will also have equal rights to bid for contracts put out to tender.

In healthcare this will mean that US private healthcare companies will have the same rights to bid for, and run healthcare services as local NHS providers.

What's happening to the NHS?! - An introduction

The NHS is a huge organisation, with many complex issues that are certainly not new. We have always loved to talk about the NHS in the media, it is a staple part of British life, and praising and at the same time complaining about it is commonplace in all parts of society. Going forward it is important to remember that whilst the NHS has certainly not been perfect, for the last 65 years Britain has had of the most equal and efficient healthcare systems in the Western world.

Pritchard C, Wallace MS. Comparing the USA, UK and 17 western countries' efficiency and effectiveness in reducing mortality. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Short Reports. 2011;2(60).

So what makes the changes happening now so important?