The health secretary admitted there would be difficult decisions to be taken on staffing, because “some parts of the NHS in England have taken on too many doctors and nurses”.
Good grief, Hewitt is bonkers.
I'm beginning to think that 'Care in the Community' for our mentally ill has gone a bit too far when one of them has become Secretary for Health.
Now come on – a politician learning about the task they are responsible for BEFORE spouting off? The only place you are likely to hear that story is on the rejuvenated “Jackanory”Spitting tacks again? Damn right!
No there are not too many Doctors and Nurses Patricia there are too many administrators and management. When the NHS has 260,000 Admin staff and only 170,000 beds then there are too many admins. What do all of these admins do? and why do we need 1.5 admin staff per bed?Oneday we may get a polotician to tell the truth and accept responsibility when they mess things up but that day is a long way off. If it ever does happen I expect alot of people to die of shock.
Oh for fu…………That's the kind of Minister who would make football more interesting by “…making half the defence and the goalkeeper redundant, as there are too many people in front of the goal – and whilst we're at it, we'll widen the goal to equal the width of the penalty area! That should create more goals! Oh – and every player has a ball. So, if we say 'x' goals per team by March next year, these measures should ensure we have the Premiership in goal-scoring balance thus proving I have done a good job!”
IT'S NOT ABOUT “PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY”, PATRICIA, IT'S ABOUT SAVING LIVES YOU SILLY MOO!
On the upside, I sincerely look forward to reading her
I've got egg all over my face' speech– sorry, I mean resignation letter – next year sometime…….if not sooner………Some parts of the NHS, when they saw the increases in funding in the early Labour years, thought 'woohoo, an end to our staffing woes' and recruited extra staff without really thinking about, or challenging, what these staff actually *do*. I know everyone feels busy and stressed, but that doesn't mean that they're busy or stressed because they're doing the right things.I'm not saying that the government is tackling workforce modernisation properly, because it's not, but it's a challenge that needs to be met.
This is the New Politics – you repeat an untruth with total conviction (too many doctors and nurses, war on terror, WMDs 45 minutes from deployment on YOUR child's schoolroom) and enough people will believe it to carry the day.Meanwhile, the minority who question the facts will end up sounding like tinfoil hatters and generate the inevitable cry of the sheeple:
“MI5/Patricia Hewitt/George Bush is the leader in this field, I think we should value their expert assessments over your obviously uninformed guesswork and biased opinions.”
Works every time.
Tom,That is absolutely right.
And, did you notice, Patricia also announced that she is personally “taking responsibility for the NHS”
As opposed to what she has been doing until now!
John
Don't worry she's going to make sure there are no debts by the end of the financial year. Mmm, wonder how- oh I know, no hospitals , no doctors or nurses and only rickshaws available if you dial 999
Don't worry she's going to make sure there are no debts by the end of the financial year. Mmm, wonder how- oh I know, no hospitals , no doctors or nurses and only rickshaws available if you dial 999
I'm looking forward to comrade Hewitt falling on her sword next year when the NHS is still in defecit. Strange how nu-Labour needs to sack doctors and nurses to 'balance the books' in the NHS yet can come up with another 900m for the Olympics and 1bn to replace trident. And apparently life expectancy has gone up again; it'll be back down to third world standards by the time 'tricia's finished.
I don't know when the government will eventually realise that the good British public can easily spot when someone is spouting what can only be described as “bull poo poo” even when speaking with seemingly utter conviction…Patricia also announced that she is personally “taking responsibility for the NHS” .. I will leave somebody else to decide whether in fact this is a good thing, considering….This is my first post on this website and thought I would start how I will probably (unintentionally) go on…with a godo old rant…
The deficit is due to two main factors:Too many management consultants brought in to tell the NHS bigwigs what they already know. (Absolute millions here)The NHS never queries maintenance/supply invoices. If a contractor is called in to replace a split tile, he will spend 5 minutes covering it with masses of sellotape and charge 500. And suppliers are known to up their prices for NHS goods.
For the love of all that is is good, get a grip woman. The only way she's going to get the NHS back in balance by the end of the year is to remove all peripheral services, close all but 2 hospitals in the country and fire everyone. Worryingly I don't suppose that's beyond the government. “I'll take personal responsibility” generally means that she has struck a deal with the powers that be that means when it isn't in balance they can say “It's all Hewitt's fault and we trusted her” then fire her from her position. She will immediately be given a very lucrative job as an MEP, riding the Brussels Gravy Train. I trust nothing that these minsters say or do, every one of them has their feet in the trough and not one of them gives a crap about the country, only feathering their own nest.
Its quite frightening as someone who is about to qualify as a doctor what kind of health service Im coming into. I train in a cash strapped hospital where doctors and nurses are leaving in droves to go and work abroad, isnt it sad that we are demoralising our workforce so much that they are taking there skills and talent abroad leaving us with an even worse situation. Perhaps Miss Hewitt should come out of her nice posh office and actually spend sometime in a hospital then she could talk about the health service with some actual knowledge!!
Can you please give me the formula for the correct ratio of administrators to beds? Can you perhaps use your imagination and think that the NHS does not just consist of hospital beds? And doesn't just employ “doctors and nurses”? Say that there are too many administrators, and say that there are not enough beds, but there is no causal link between the two. It's as valid as saying that most of your brain is wasted because you have more brain cells than teeth.
There are plenty of people who say this, and I continue to, up to a point, disagree. I think there are some non-clinical posts that should be rationalised, but take a closer look at where these admin and management posts are. They are either in place to help monitor performance against management targets (well intentioned, badly carried out) or because Doctors still have an unwarranted massive power base and can expect to have two or even three secretaries! Docs should all be forced to pool their admin staff, not have one secretary here and there to hold their bloody hands for them when they have two different meetings to go to on the same day – Typing pools / secretarial pools should be the norm.
P.S. I'm leaving the NHS at Christmas. Why? There are no middle management posts out there to apply for! I've been looking on and off for a year and they've totally dried up.
It's not just hospitals though, sadly. The way to do things now is ti “improve results on services” by…..well……”cutting back on services”! The fewer services we have, the easier it is to hit targets – that's the thinking. For example, Virgin trains used to stop at Milton Keynes and get into Euston in about 35 mins (guess how many people were happy about that and commuted – me one of them till I saw sense and emigrated). Then I hear that they are going to “improve punctuality ratios” by…………..not stopping at MK! Some wag commented that Virgin and other firms would probably hit 100% if they didn't stop anywhere at all……..Hewitt is thinking the same way it seems……or not thinking at all more likely.
Who was it who said “The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it”? Oh yes, that's right………..Hitler! No I'm not comparing them but the political tactic sometimes doesn't seem too dissimilar……mass control, mass propaganda, mass conversion to ideology through manipulation of truth, people, etc……..
I can't believe the breathtaking arrogance of the woman – is it me or are all government ministers and junior ministers becoming Blair clones. The pauses for effect and hand gestures – Ruth Kelly being case in point.However, I digress. Every time I see Patricia Hewitt on the telly my blood boils just at the sound of her patronising tone. She makes Virginia Bottomley look competent. Hewitt also reminds me a little of Joyce Grenfell and you could imagine her in a cabinet meeting going “Gordon. Gordon, don't do that!”
Close, but no cigar. It was Hitler's propaganda minister – Goebbels.
Thanks for the correction! Oh and it's okay losing a cigar so long as it wasn't a nice big fat original Cuban cigar 🙁
if the NHS overspends, then where does the money come from?
Who decides the budgets? If the budget is cut back, there's less money to do increasing amounts of work.
the budget has been going up every year (and will do again next year)