Wednesday 7th January 2015

[citizenJA]

Read and weep - in anger and frustration. What a disgraceful situation to be in. They need to think in a completely different way about rural health / care services. They should have local authority brokers advertising and recruiting for specific individuals in their immediate locality ... and sorting out the relevant training etc for them. Spot purchase - minus the care company intermediary.

The patients who can’t leave hospital – as no one will make a profit
Elderly and disabled becoming ‘bedblockers’, despite wantiing to go home, as private care firms refuse to take on their cases
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... kers-care-

Jenny Abel, the hospital’s lead clinical specialist practitioner for discharge planning, explains that it has proved impossible to arrange help for her, simply because of where she lives – in a village 15 miles from Cambridge. “We just can’t get the care for her,” admits Abel. “The problem is that, although it would be a 15-minute call to see Mrs Lee, it would take 20 minutes to get there from Cambridge and 20 minutes to get back, and that would happen four times a day.

“But because of that, and because there’s no one else in her village receiving a care package, all of the four care providers who provide those packages – private companies – are saying that they don’t have the capacity to do it. They don’t have enough carers, or they don’t have enough care [to provide to others] in that area to make it viable.”

Hence, someone who is keen and fit to leave the NHS bed she is occupying unnecessarily is unlikely to be able to do so any time soon, because no one can make a profit from her doing so. It is a situation the charity Age UK describes as madness, in which there are only losers and no winners. Crucially, it is causing entire hospitals to get clogged up, leaving them unable to admit new patients as quickly as they deem necessary.

I knew it. Exactly what would happen if health & social care is restructured in order for 'efficiency savings' but not thinking about the work people actually do to care for people in a civilised society! No, let's spend a fortune on commissioning more efficient health care providers in the market to get the absolute lowest price possible on a service none of the defenders or creators of the Health & Social Care Act of 2012 care if it's delivered or not...just keep WurkGangs4UCheap LLCs profitable for a few.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ashcroft has a mega poll out today, most of it seems to be rehashes of previous marginal polling though, going through I was reminded of this unpleasant specimen, more commonly known as Chris Skidmore, he should be a character from some devise your own bastard Tory board game. All being well he'll be out on his arse come May. I know this is over two years old, but Christ, why do these people get taken seriously?

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehous ... unpopular/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


http://lordashcroftpolls.com/constituency-polls/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Correction, they all seem to be rehashed.

If you want more Skidmore, he had a pitiful column in the DT where he supposedly reported from the Select Committee- ie agreed with Gove all the time.

Roger (Schoolswot) was frequently very amused.

[Tubby Isaacs]

NHS Property Services Ltd is a limited company wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Health. The company was created to take ownership of estates previously held by primary care trusts and strategic health authorities that were not transferred to NHS providers on 1 April 2013. This is one of the biggest property portfolios in Europe, worth an estimated £3 billion. Again, as a new body, it took time to implement appropriate controls and governance frameworks.

Can someone please tell me the implications of that last quote, please? Is it as outrageous as I think it is? I thought so too.

http://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/upload ... erview.pdf

Hmm...I'm guessing a sale on 31st March bringing in a nice little bit to reduce national debt.

Well after all it's not the government's job to own property is it?

Too near the election. Even "what about PFI?" won't cover their arses.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Oldham sponsor NMU has walked.

http://www.nmu.co.uk/oldham" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AngryAsWell]

The Vale of Clwyd Constituency Labour Party and Chris Ruane MP
are proud to invite you to a Labour Fundraising Event
An Audience With..

Dennis Skinner MP

http://www.skinnerseasidetour.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TheGrimSqueaker]

A moving, and defiant, piece in the FT from Simon Schama in response to the events today in Paris. The FT, to their credit, have made it open access.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5ac371cc-9695 ... z3OAmWNN91" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[citizenJA]

“Public Health England is accountable for achieving the public health outcomes the Department of Health wants, but it is local authorities who are responsible for delivering improved public health. The agency is developing a good relationship with its local stakeholders to whom it is providing tools, support and advice. There is a difficult balance to be struck between localism and the agency’s responsibility for improving health. The agency’s ability to influence and support public health outcomes will be tested further if the grant paid to local authorities were no longer to be ring-fenced.”
http://www.nao.org.uk/report/public-hea ... thorities/
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office , 17 December 2014

Spending on different aspects of public health varies significantly between local authorities, reflecting the differing needs and circumstances of different areas. The NAO found, however, examples where spending decisions were not obviously aligned to local needs and priorities. The NAO found that PHE could be doing more to identify these examples and offer appropriate advice and support to local authorities.

Public health funding increased by 5.5% in 2013-14, reflecting the importance the Department of Health places on this issue. Historic local decisions on public health funding by the NHS have, however, left some local authorities receiving a significantly greater or lesser proportion of the funding than they would have been allocated based on need. The Department has not decided how long the ring-fence will remain in place. According to the NAO, PHE’s ability to influence and support public health outcomes will be put to the test in future, should the grant cease to be ring-fenced.

The agency was formed from staff from over 100 different bodies, but unequal terms and conditions in both PHE and local authorities has led to dissatisfaction among some public health professionals. At local authorities, interim positions still account for 16% of directors of public health.

Very polite, Amyas Morse. Politely summarising Tories & the NHS. Disaster for both. The NHS can recover; it will.

[howsillyofme1]

A moving, and defiant, piece in the FT from Simon Schama in response to the events today in Paris. The FT, to their credit, have made it open access.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5ac371cc-9695 ... z3OAmWNN91" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and there is this as well, more emotional

http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2015/0 ... ra_1175771" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HindleA]

Sheffield Star reporting the Red Cross has been called in to help Northern General.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

A moving, and defiant, piece in the FT from Simon Schama in response to the events today in Paris. The FT, to their credit, have made it open access.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5ac371cc-9695 ... z3OAmWNN91" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and there is this as well, more emotional

http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2015/0 ... ra_1175771" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Taxed my French to its limits but, yes, a lovely & heartfelt piece. Thank you for sharing it.

Good night all. Let us hope tomorrow is a brighter day.

[AngryAsWell]

Labour would end this Government’s demonisation of benefits claimants – Chi Onwurah MP

http://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2015/0 ... nwurah-mp/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HindleA]

"The Tories are wrong to think 2015 is 1992 all over again"


George Eaton.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... over-again" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HindleA]

Excuse musings,but the mention of terror threat levels,revived memories of childhood.It replaced "bikini state levels"which I used to see displayed on entry to 33 Signals Unit in Cyprus I was for some time bemused as to the outlining of the colour of swimwear.

[rebeccariots2]

There have been so many wonderful cartoons in response to the awful killings in Paris. It has reminded me just how powerful the creative commentary can be.

[ErnstRemarx]

The Vale of Clwyd Constituency Labour Party and Chris Ruane MP
are proud to invite you to a Labour Fundraising Event
An Audience With..

Dennis Skinner MP

http://www.skinnerseasidetour.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Go!

[AngryAsWell]

We need action, not another investigation, into energy bills - Caroline Flint
http://press.labour.org.uk/post/1074042 ... ation-into" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rebeccariots2]

Michael McCann MP ‏@MichaelMcCannMP 10m10 minutes ago
Just watched the item on health on Scottish news. Amalgamation of health & social care is required. Nothing else will solve bed blocking.

Michael Thomson ‏@MrMrsGardens 5m5 minutes ago
@MichaelMcCannMP You're right. I used to be a social worker in a combined health & social care team in an A&E dept in Sheffield. #synergy

[TechnicalEphemera]

Excuse musings,but the mention of terror threat levels,revived memories of childhood.It replaced "bikini state levels"which I used to see displayed on entry to 33 Signals Unit in Cyprus I was for some time bemused as to the outlining of the colour of swimwear.

I never got that one either.

Shocking though the events in Paris are, I worry about the 24 hour news narrative about bad things world wide. The beast needs action, in recent weeks we have had:

The Australian Cafe siege.
Air Asia.
Paris shootings.

But the far more immediate (than Air Asia) drama of the Greek ferry rescue was ignored - no live footage presumably.

Bad things happen to good people all the time, I worry that this obsession with globally bad things adds to the sense of perpetual apathy - The Oh Dear narrative, or worse the feeling of perpetual war and THE TERROR THREAT!!!!!!

Being very parochial for a minute do the events in a foreign country (short of huge disasters) merit quite this much UK media coverage? Clearly they are all newsworthy but should they saturate UK news coverage, issues in France and Australia do not necessarily map directly to the UK even if they look like things that could happen here.

Not that I think any of the above are not in fact very bad things.

[citizenJA]

Goodnight, everyone. Please rest well & keep love in your heart.
JA

[Tubby Isaacs]

Harry Lambert ‏@harrylambert1 4m4 minutes ago
One thing terrorists didn't want & couldn't have dealt with: every paper in Western world publishing cartoons. And so many press have failed

Not very confident about this fellow, but he seems to have got a right scoop in interviewing the terrorists.

I don't want a mass reprint of cartoons because they make perfectly innocent people feel uncomfortable, and there's going to be enough shit heading their way.

Je suis Charlie has been the right thing.

[Hobiejoe]

Nicely done by The Onion

http://www.theonion.com/articles/it-sad ... :1:Default

Evening all at the end of a day of despair at the desperate hatred of zealots, and deep sadness at the loss of writers and cartoonists standing up for the right to poke fun at such zealots, and for the police officers who were killed trying to protect them. Awful, awful stuff.

And if the FN try to use this for political gain I shall hereby renounce my atheism and embrace God on the sole condition that he has his opposite number primed and ready with a fresh circle of hell for the whole damned lot of them.

[rebeccariots2]

A Call To Arms.jpg (16.14 KiB) Viewed 5439 times

banksy ‏@thereaIbanksy 2h2 hours ago
A call to arms! #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/x8tHALVV2c

https://twitter.com/thereaIbanksy/statu ... 34/photo/1

Goodnight all.

[LadyCentauria]

A Call To Arms.jpg

banksy ‏@thereaIbanksy 2h2 hours ago
A call to arms! #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/x8tHALVV2c

https://twitter.com/thereaIbanksy/statu ... 34/photo/1

Goodnight all.

Excellent cartoon from Banksy, there. There's a good Matt cartoon on the front of Thursday's Telegraph: two men in black with balaclavas and Kalashnikovs about to go through a door, one says "Be careful, they might have pens."

[LadyCentauria]

In other news, today, one in five parent with childcare costs will either reduce their working hours or consider giving up work completely in 2015 according to the charity called 4Children.

And scientists in the USA have grown 25 new antibiotics with one described as 'very promising', according to a study published in the journal Nature. Experts believe this new haul of antibiotics is just the 'tip of an iceberg.'

[HindleA]

A good summing up of the select committee session into the sanction regime.


http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... vulnerable" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;