Health Inequalities

David Cameron's comments about the National Health Service today have been heartening to say the least.

They've served to highlight another issue however.  The inequality between the services provided by the NHS in each of the Home Countries.   Dr Gill Morgan, who is the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, is reported to have said that devolution has caused even more of a 'post code lottery' in health care.  

The Daily Telegraph reports the situation here.

She suggests that there is unlikely to be any 'health migration' within the UK.  That comment misses the point to my mind. The fact that there are inequalities in the service provided in each of the home countries is bad enough.  What is worse is that the situation remains where MPs from the three nations with devolved powers continue to decide on the health policies of the nation that has no devolved government.

It's time that English MPs voted on English matters.  Only then can the health priorities of England be truly, democratically addressed.

Polly Toynbee

Polly Toynbee was on Start the Week on Radio 4 this morning. Andrew Marr was asking his guests to make predictions about the year ahead.

Ms Toynbee made the prediction that we would become wealthier, healthier and safer next year, as we have done in each of the past ten years.

She also predicted that we would also not feel any of these things and as a result moan more than we had in the previous year.

Surely that's the point. It's not whether we are, according to statistics, wealthier, healthier or safe, the salient point is whether we feel that way or not.

National GDP may have risen and the economy may continue to grow, that doesn't mean that I am feeling any wealthier at the end of this year than I did at the end of last. I also know that my taxes have increased, as has my mortgage, as has the cost of running my car.

I also know that the turnover of my business has decreased, that I am facing greater costs as an employer due to increased legislation, taxation and regulation.

We may be living longer yet that doesn't mean I am feeling any healthier or that my family is any better off health wise. I know that my family might be healthy, but also that access to NHS services has not improved and that my mother is still facing a month long wait for an appointment at her local pain relief clinic.

Crime statistics may show that the level of crime is decreasing nationally, however my experience this year has been to have my car broken in to twice, two more times than in any of the previous five years. I hear daily from people that they feel there is no point reporting minor crime because the police are unable to respond quickly and seem unable to offer any prospect that the culprits will be caught.

Isn't it about time that commentators like Ms Toynbee stopped talking about the national statistics and started viewing the everyday experiences of real people? Then she might understand why people are likely to complain more in the coming year.

500 Binge drinkers admitted to hospital every day

This story about the number of drink related admissions to hospital made the front page headline in the Daily Telegraph today.  

The figures revealed by the Telegraph's investigation are shocking but not surprising.

Their assertion is that the ease of availability and low cost of alcohol have been the main causes of increases in drink related illness.  I'm not sure personally whether an increase in the opening hours of licensed premises has had a dramatic effect on the amount alcohol being consumed.  I am sure, however, that its availability and cost are a major factor in the growing problem alcohol plays in our society.  

I wrote the following article for one of our leaflets back in October:

"Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Mid Dorset and North Poole, Nick King, is putting forward a clear agenda to deal with alcohol fuelled anti social behaviour in the area. 

Nick, a member of Dorset Police Authority says: “Much of the problem comes from the inappropriate sale and use of alcohol.  Alcohol costs too little and is therefore too freely available, too much ends up in the hands of young people.  I’m proposing measures that will tackle the cause of the problem rather than spending money on dealing with the symptoms.”

Nick’s proposals include the following: 

1. Extend the prohibition of alcohol consumption to all unlicensed public spaces.
2. Give police the power to confiscate alcohol.
3. Place a levy on town centre bars and clubs to pay for additional policing.
4. Impose minimum pricing on alcohol sold through shops and supermarkets.

Nick explains: “We have to get away from a culture that says drinking in public is acceptable.  We need also to give the police and local authorities powers to control where alcohol is consumed, to make areas alcohol free and allow the use of others at certain times.”

For me the most important part is the last one.  Drink is readily available and often sold at a ridiculously low cost.  Locally we are lucky that our local authority licensing teams work well with Dorset Police to maintain a standard minimum price per alcohol unit sold through bars and clubs.  This stops many of the irresponsible practices that encouraged dangerous drinking, such as the 'one charge for all you can drink' evenings.  

This kind of intervention should be rolled out nationally and, more importantly, should be extended to all off sales of alcohol too.  There should be no need to increase the taxes charged on alcohol, it should be enough to ensure that the cost per unit is maintained at a reasonable level which prohibits the purchase of enormous quantities.

Campaigning against NHS cuts

Thanks to everyone who signed our Stop Gordon Brown's NHS Cuts petition on Saturday. We spent some time in Wareham, Poole Town Centre and outside ASDA at Canford Heath and collected over 500 signatures to boost the petition.

If you didn't get a chance to sign out petition, you can do so online here.

Why are we campaigning on these issues?

The Royal College of Nursing estimated in August that 18,000 jobs have been cut from NHS hospitals in recent months, 81 community hospitals are still threatened by cutbacks or closure, according to the Community Hospitals Association; 2,036 bed losses have occurred since April

This is on top of the 2,500 beds which were lost from NHS hospitals in 2004-05 and the 6,000 beds cut from NHS hospitals in 2005-06. In just three years, therefore, the NHS is set to lose 12,500 beds – a cut in capacity of 7 per cent.

We want an end to Labour's interference, the NHS has just gone through its tenth reorganisation since Labour came to power nine years ago. We believe decisions affecting local services should not be taken by distant politicians, but by the patients and frontline staff who use and work in our local NHS.

Too much money has been diverted from patient care by an NHS bureaucracy which has swelled its ranks by over 100,000 people since 1997. Gordon Brown's financial mismanagement is forcing short-term decision-making. Hospitals are closing their wards to patients without replacing them with the services needed in the community.

We believe that short-term cuts in the NHS at the expense of building services for the future are unacceptable, and that this short-sightedness will prove even more costly in the long run.

I have a number of friends and family members who work in the NHS, their experiences bear these comments out. We should be very proud of our health service, the dedication of the staff working within it is examplary. It's such a shame that it's the politicians who have let it down, it's time it was freed from being a political football and placed under the control of an independent board.

Finally, it was good too to see our local Lib Dems campaigning at ASDA as well, I support wholeheartedly their campaign for more funding for our local police force. I wish them luck with their campaign and I hope we'll be seeing them campaigning as often as we are on these vital issues.