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Health Matters - PHS Newsletter Winter/Spring 2012
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Contract Negotiations
Following extensive contract negotiations and a tender process PHS are pleased to announce that for the next three years BMI Healthcare and Nuffield Health will be the main providers of private healthcare. BMI continue to provide first class healthcare for our members and we know that Nuffield Health will add to and enhance what we already know to be a first class service to members. We look forward to working with both providers until at least December 2014
Medical Insurance bills set to rocket
This was the stark headline within the Money section, Sunday Times on Saturday 8 January 2012. The article states that private medical policies could become unaffordable for millions as insurers pass on double-digit price rises, adding that Britain's largest providers are increasing premiums by up to 20% this year, citing the rising costs of medical treatments and consultant fees.
The article continues by citing that most medical premiums are rising at above inflation rates to fund the cost of the latest medical treatments with the average annual increase about 7.6% over the past 3 years.
At PHS we are bucking the trend and through prudent management and being conscious of the current economic climate we are holding our subscriptions until at least January 2013.
Nearly 300 NHS beds to be cut across hospitals in Birmingham, Solihull and Sutton Coldfield
Report by Alison Dayan in Birmingham Post 15 November 2011
Almost 300 beds are to be slashed at Birmingham's largest hospital trust in a battle to save millions of pounds for the Government.
Up to 20 per cent of the 1,200 beds across the three hospitals run by the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust are set to be axed, warned Chief Executive, Dr Mark Newbold.
It follows 400 job cuts made at the trust to meet Government saving targets to £11 million this year.
For more info go to http://www.birminghampost.net/dailybulletin/news2/2011/11/15/nearly-300-nhs-beds-to-be-cut-across-hospitals-in-birmingham-solihull-and-sutton-coldfield-65233-29782826/
Rising NHS waiting times may cost lives, doctors warn
Analysis of official NHS data on England's six main waiting times target shows that five are increasingly being breached.
The number of patients waiting more than six weeks for a diagnostic test such as an MRI scan has quadrupled in the last year, an extra 2,400 per month are not being treated within 18 weeks, and 200,000 patients waited longer than four hours in A&E compared with the same period in 2010.
Dr Mark Porter, Chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee said the growing delays were "inhumane" because the ensuing uncertainty added to the patients' fears and suffering.
The growing number not being tested or treated within the required time limits was of particular concern, Porter said, "If patients are now exceeding those times, then those patients' treatment options are being limited, and if that happens then there's a potential for patients suffering harm. It may be that someone's disease progresses beyond that point where surgery might usually give a cancer patient a potential cure, but the patient then receive palliative care only".
Professor Jon Rhodes, president of the British Society of Gastroenterologists, said the rise in waits for procedures such as colonoscopy was "alarming". He added: "NO one should have to wait more than four weeks for a diagnostic colonoscopy, since delayed diagnosis is a major factor underlying the country's relatively poor survival rates for colorectal cancer"
Latest changes to the Police Healthcare Scheme
The Scheme is always looking to improve its services and is pleased to announce the following changes.
- Members of the Special Constabulary can now join the Scheme.
- Ex-dependants of members, regardless of their age, are now entitled to join the Scheme. If they are aged between 18 and 22 and in full-time education, they only pay 50% of the usual subscription rate.
- Previously, the Scheme did not cover treatment that was readily available through the NHS within six-weeks. This rule has now been revoked.
- We have increased the cash allowance to £250 per night for members who receive non-emergency treatment in an NHS hospital.
NHS ‘Failing to treat elderly with care and respect’
The NHS is failing to treat elderly patients in England with care, dignity and respect, an official report says.
The Health Service Ombudsman came to the conclusion after carrying out an in-depth review of 10 cases. The ombudsman, which deals with serious complaints against the NHS, said the patients - aged over 65 - suffered unnecessary pain, neglect and distress.
Charities said the findings were “sickening”, while the government admitted improvement was needed While the ombudsman’s care and compassion report is only based on 10 cases, the obmudsman said they were far from isolated examples.
Of nearly 9,000 complaints made to the combudsman last year, 18% were about the care of older people. In total, it accepted 226 cases for investigation – twice as many as for all the other age groups combined.
For more information go to http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/improving-public-service/reports-and-consultations/reports/health
Health Matters - Latest PHS Newsletter
Autumn/Winter 2010
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Click here to view Asaf Khan's Story PDF
An Unhealthy paradox: NHS cuts to run deep as spending goes up
Reported in Guardian Monday 18 October 2010
Unlike many public services, the NHS will get a “real terms increase”. Some economists think this may be as much as £3bn extra each year for the next four years for the NHS in England.
The paradox is that while the NHS budget will rise in the coming years – as pledged in the Tory manifesto – it will not be enough to keep up with costs of new drugs, the ageing population, and the looming lifestyle challenges such as the growing incidence of obesity.
Although not officially covered by this weeks’ comprehensive spending review, thanks to the wider squeeze in public spending and the political difficulties of raiding other departments, the only option is to curb spending. The NHS will have to do more with less.
While numbers are being crunched health trusts desperate to save money are resorting to curbing frontline care. Doctors complain that patients are being denied basic surgical procedures that could improve the lives of thousands of people. In other cases managers have announced the closure of services for a week at a time – saving millions for the public purse but lengthening waiting times.
For more information visit www.Guardian.co.uk
Revealed: NHS fails to curb lethal painkiller errors
Exclusive report in Guardian Friday 13 August 2010
1,300 dosage mistakes leave three dead as research finds patient safety directives not being met
Health workers made more than 1,300 mistakes involving the use of strong pain killing drugs in less than a year, resulting in at least three deaths and severe harm to two other patients, the Guardian can reveal.
Nearly one in five dosage errors involving morphine, diamorphine and similar opiate drugs resulted in some harm to NHS patients.
Figures released under a Guardian Freedom of Information request show mistakes in England and Wales continue at a high level despite the publicity that followed the Guardian’s revelation in May last year about the death of David Gray. The 70-year-old died at his home in Cambridgeshire when he was injected with a tenfold overdose when he was injected with a tenfold overdose of diamorphine by Daniel Ubani, a locum GP who had flown in from Germany that day.
For more information visit www.Guardian.co.uk
Thousands of NHS Jobs 'being cut' despite promises
Reported by Nick Triggle,
BBC News,
Tuesday 6 July 2010
Thousands of NHS jobs in England are being cut despite government promises to protect frontline services, a union says.
The Royal College of Nursing has identified nearly 10,000 posts – double the number from two months ago.
While the NHS budget is being protected, the health service has been told to save up to £20bn by 2014. Peter Carter, RCN Chief Executive, said these latest findings suggested that the health system was simply falling back on “crude” and short-sighted” cuts. “Our figures expose the myth that frontline services will be protected. If this trend for cuts continues the NHS will soon be straining at the seams”.
West Midlands Newsbeat ‘Spot the Ball’ Competition
PHS, together with our sponsors BMI and Ramsay Healthcare are happy to announce the two winners of the West Midlands Newsbeat ‘Spot the Ball’ competition. They both win an official Adidas ‘Jabulani’ 2010 World Cup football:
- Andy Parsonage from Steelhouse Lane
- John Norgrove from Stourbridge
Police Federation conference 'Spot the ball' competition
PHS, together with our sponsors BMI and Ramsay Healthcare are happy to announce the five winners from this years' Police Federation conference 'Spot the ball' competition. Each one of the following wins an official Adidas 'Jabulani' 2010 World Cup football:
1. Brian O'Dea Co.Dublin, Ireland
2. Paul Amoo, London
3. Phil Gilroy, Suffolk
4. Sharon Nissen, Bedfordshire
5. Gary Chambers, South Wales
Patients Hit as NHS Cash Crisis Forces Big Cutbacks
Reported in the Guardian Newspaper on Friday 5th March 2010
More than a third of NHS primary healthcare trusts, which fund hospitals in England, are running deficits that have led to a cutback in surgical operations and seen calls to close casualty departments, according to a joint study by the Guardian and the thinktank Civitas.
Figures from the public board meetings of 100 trusts, shows the health service overspend this year is more than £130million. The Department of Health has warned trusts they cannot enter the new financial year in the red and health authorities who do not cut costs face repaying cash from next year’s budget or being subjected to central control.
GP’s in Hertfordshire are being told to get “approval” for a list of procedures including hysterectomies, removal of “skin lumps and bumps” and tooth extraction. Managers have advised the family doctors that in many cases “it is usually better to wait to see if symptoms resolve themselves”.
Health economists say England’s big cities will bear the brunt of the cutbacks. John Appleby, chief economist of health thinktank the King’s Fund, said “In London there is a plan to close a third of hospital beds that is being floated by the NHS. It’s not out in the open yet and already it’s attracted huge opposition.
NHS Trusts Give Wrong Hospital Peformance Data to Public
Reported in the Telegraph Newspaper on Monday 8th March 2010
The majority of NHS Hospitals have been incorrectly assessing their own performance, leaving them open to accusations of misleading the public about levels of patient safety.
The Care Quality Commission, which is in charge of inspecting hospital trusts, found that 17 of the 28 it inspected last year had assessed themselves wrongly. The figures come as mounting evidence suggests some hospitals are drawing up plans to cut more than 10 per cent from their budget in an effort to save the NHS as much of £20billion over the next three years.
Labour Hid Ugly Truth About NHS
Reported in the Sunday Times on Sunday 7th March 2010
The Sunday Times reported that damning reports on the state of the National Health Service suppressed by the government reveal how patients’ needs have been neglected. They diagnose a blind pursuit of political and managerial targets as the root cause of a string of hospital scandals that have cost thousands of lives. One report, based on the advice of almost 200 top managers and doctors, says hospitals ignored basic hygiene to cram in patients to meet waiting-time targets. “Managers crowded in patients in order to meet waiting-time targets and, in the process, lost sight of the fundamental hygiene requirements for infection prevention” the report said.
