NHS ‘should renegotiate’ PFI repayments
By politics.co.uk staff The NHS may have to consider renegotiating the 30-year repayments it faces following New Labour’s private finance initiatives, a health expert has suggested. It follows the revelation that the NHS in England will end up repaying six times the cost of the original value of the new hospitals and mental health units […]
Milk U-turn ‘reflects coalition chaos’
By politics.co.uk staff Labour leadership contenders have jumped to criticise Downing Street’s intervention on free milk for under-fives, after David Cameron quashed a junior minister’s proposal yesterday. Public health minister Anne Milton had been exploring options to replace the free milk funding with more money for the Healthy Start voucher. No 10 indicated it had […]
No 10 blocks free milk scrapping
By Alex Stevenson The Department of Health’s plans to end a scheme providing free milk for under-fives have been ruled out by No 10. David Cameron’s intervention was confirmed by a Downing Street spokesperson, who said: “As the prime minister has emphasised, protecting those most in need will always be this government’s priority.” The spokesperson […]
Legal threat against Lansley’s NHS plans
By Ian Dunt The government’s controversial plans for the NHS are facing a legal challenge from Unison, the UK’s largest public services union. The union said NHS chief executive, Sir David Nicholson, is pressing ahead with plans that have neither parliamentary approval nor legal backing. Sir David is accused of pre-empting the result of the […]
Flexible NHS staff ‘face privatisation’
By Alex Stevenson The government is to seek private sector investment in the management of 50,000 temporary NHS staff, prompting fears about privatisation of the health service. Karen Jennings, the Unison union’s head of health, told politics.co.uk plans by the Department of Health (DoH) to explore investment opportunities at NHS Professionals were “purely about Tory […]
Coalition restless over working hours cap
By politics.co.uk staff EU rules preventing doctors working more than 48 hours are “clearly unsatisfactory”, the Department of Health has said. It came after the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) published a survey yesterday showing the damaging impact the working time directive (WTD) was having on patient safety and training. The WTD, which came into […]
Tories accused of death tax U-turn
By Alex Stevenson The Conservatives stand accused of abandoning their outright opposition to Labour’s ‘death tax’ proposals for funding social care. Terms of reference for the independent commission tasked with probing the future of Britain’s care services for the elderly were open-ended. It means the commission on the funding of care and support, to be […]
Mental health concerns over NHS reforms
By politics.co.uk staff Mental health services could be hit by the sweeping reforms of the NHS revealed last week, two polls have suggested. Health secretary Andrew Lansley’s reforms are based on the transfer of responsibility to GPs. But over 75% of GPs warned they would struggle to cope with taking on patients with mental health […]
Lansley under pressure as NHS reform costs spiral
By politics.co.uk staff Health secretary Andrew Lansley was under intense political pressure today after it was revealed his cost-cutting reorganisation of the NHS would cost £1.7 billion this year alone. The sum – seven times what the scheme aims to save – is the cost of kick-starting the process, which aims to replace whole tranches […]
Health white paper: Labour’s NHS architecture swept away
By Alex Stevenson GPs have been handed sweeping powers in the coalition government’s health white paper, which confirms that primary care trusts will be abolished by 2013. Ringfencing of the NHS has resulted in other departments facing budget cuts of 25%, but today’s white paper does not hold back in promising prosperity for the NHS. […]
