tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post4758660380509626324..comments2024-03-27T09:14:27.496+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Untangling Theresa May's Attack on GPsPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-9337270229163078372017-01-15T20:16:17.572+00:002017-01-15T20:16:17.572+00:00I think with this kind of underhand tactic enough ...I think with this kind of underhand tactic enough mud sticks for the government to take the risk.<br /><br />They have been very successful in evading responsibility for a huge variety of problems, and the range of scapegoats is impressive. It is truly ironic that hard-pressed local authorities with next-to-no freedom of action come in for more stick than Westminster. Igor Belanovnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-82020846647387008542017-01-15T14:59:45.166+00:002017-01-15T14:59:45.166+00:00«It's almost as if the Tories are willing to r...«It's almost as if the Tories are willing to run down the NHS further»<br /><br />It seems a long run plan, a "salami slicing" or "boiling the frog technique", as per two of my usual quotes that taken together seems quite explicative, the first from K Clarke's memories, where he report being able to slow down the plan:<br /><br />www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/19/kenneth-clarke-views-no-10<br />«<i>His first challenge at health was heading off Thatcher, who "wanted to go to the American system", he reveals. "I had ferocious rows with her about it. She wanted compulsory insurance, with the state paying the premiums for the less well-off. I thought that was a disaster. The American system is hopeless … dreadful." He prevailed on her to take a different route by introducing more competition into the NHS. It became known – in a phrase he didn't like – as "the internal market". Ever since then, successive governments have pushed in broadly the same direction.</i>»<br /><br />The second from the Thatcher archive, her letter to Hayek where she says that the goal is to establish a Pinochet-style economy, but little by little:<br /><br />www.margaretthatcher.org/document/117179<br />«<i>«I was aware of the remarkable success of the Chilean economy in reducing the share of Government expenditure substantially over the decade of the 70s. The progression from Allende's Socialism to the free enterprise capitalist economy of the 1980s is a striking example of economic reform from which we can learn many lessons.<br />However, I am sure you will agree that, in Britain with our democratic institutions and the need for a high degree of consent, some of the measures adopted in Chile are quite unacceptable. Our reform must be in line with our traditions and our Constitution.<br />At times the process may seem painfully slow. But I am certain we shall achieve our reforms in our own way and in our own time. Then they will endure.</i>»Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-77472735629078151922017-01-15T14:50:12.864+00:002017-01-15T14:50:12.864+00:00The GPs are *partially* responsible for the NHS cr...The GPs are *partially* responsible for the NHS crisis: thanks to Tony Blair and his love of the «aspirational voters who shop at John Lewis and Waitrose», among them of course doctors, they got very, very generous pay packages if consultants and very, very generous profits if they run general practices. Plus they have severely restricted access to the profession via limited university places.<br /><br />In addition every government have piled huge extra bureaucratic and continuous-training requirements on doctors and dentists, in response to various incidents or worries, mostly to cover-their-asses by making-believe that they had mandated all that could be mandated.Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-43934946214296182822017-01-15T14:45:32.195+00:002017-01-15T14:45:32.195+00:00«opt for "softer" areas than - say - Sto...«opt for "softer" areas than - say - Stoke or Sunderland»<br /><br />As to that a lot of NHS problems are due to the dumping of older people onto it because local council care services have been savagely cut; and we all know that local council budgets have been cut especially severely in the north and other Labour voting areas. So there is a strong regional aspect to the NHS crisis.<br /><br />To a large extent the «conservatory building classes» of the south are quite happy with that as they don't see why ever their taxes should be used to fund even bronze-plated public services for "useless scroungers".<br />Many of them can easily fund going private from their massive property capital gains.<br /><br />And even today Labour, especially of course the PLP, will not draw attention to the consequences of the cuts in the north and in their "core vote" areas, because it might irritate the «conservatory building classes» as being "divisive" and "class war".<br />Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-31270569481517383322017-01-15T14:38:47.974+00:002017-01-15T14:38:47.974+00:00«the closure of GP surgeries thanks to an ongoing ...«the closure of GP surgeries thanks to an ongoing recruitment deficit,»<br /><br />There is no recruitment deficit: rather the acceptance rate for medical degrees is around 6%, because medical degree courses are very expensive and the government has incentivised universities to restrict places to save money, and then to rely on ready-trained immigrant doctors to fill the gap. For Conservative and New Labour governments most universities are pre-employment holding areas to keep reported unemployment down, and the goal is to minimize their cost.<br />Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-37594016374730419402017-01-15T12:32:23.009+00:002017-01-15T12:32:23.009+00:00The government seems to assume that having the doo...The government seems to assume that having the doors open longer equate to more appointments. Untrue, given the recruitment crisis for GP's, the propensity for what new recruits there are to opt for "softer" areas than - say - Stoke or Sunderland - and the increased demands driven by demography.Walsiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14287542481842382567noreply@blogger.com