Shadow health secretary funding row
By Sasjkia Otto Andrew Lansley, the Conservative shadow health secretary, came under fire yesterday at a hustings for the alleged role of big business in his party’s finances and policies. Mr Lansley and his party were criticised at the hustings held in central London for accepting funding from the wife of the chairman of Care […]
Hospital deaths anger leaves Stafford campaign critical
By Alex Stevenson Campaigners have rejected Andy Burnham’s latest attempt to suppress concerns about accountability at Mid-Staffordshire hospital. A follow-up inquiry announced by the health secretary into the foundation hospital was dismissed as inadequate by Cure The NHS, a group of bereaved relatives of those who died as a result of the hospital’s poor performance. […]
Audio: Stafford’s David Kidney on hospital failings
Stafford MP David Kidney explains his position on the difficulties at his local hospital – and answers questions put to him by campaigning group Cure the NHS:
Kingston: Conservative candidate attacks MP over Kingston hospital campaign
By Richard Chidwick Conservative candidate in Kingston and Surbiton, Helen Whately has accused the constituency’s Liberal Democrat MP of scare-mongering about hospital ward closures. Ed Davey, the Lib Dem MP is running a Save Kingston hospital campaign on his website and claims that his party would prevent the closure. Despite discussions in parliament, no plans […]
Labour accused of ‘playing politics’ with NHS
By Alex Stevenson Labour faced multiple accusations of foul play from the Conservatives over their use of the NHS as the first full week of campaigning began. The Tories said Labour had sent cancer scare leaflets to patients, canvassed support from GPs using their work email addresses and broken Cabinet Office guidance on the launch […]
Anger over NHS managers’ pay
By politics.co.uk staff NHS managers have received an average pay increase of seven per cent, a new report has found. The Incomes Data Services report into boardroom pay found senior managers have an average salary of £147,500. Chief executives earned seven times the salary of nurses, the report found. Unions have questioned the above-inflation salary […]
Liverpool Wavertree: huge investment in hospital may not save Labour
By Chris Bradley A previously safe Labour seat in Liverpool may be lost – despite a government announcement on a new hospital. The Royal Liverpool University Hospital in the Wavertree constituency is to be rebuilt at the cost of £450 million over the next five years. Luciana Berger is Labour candidate for the seat, currently […]
Health and the NHS
When compared with levels seen in the first years of Tony Blair’s premiership, public satisfaction with the NHS is sky-high. It’s the same for all the high-profile public services: a decade of unparalleled investment has reaped dividends. The consequence for the 2010 election is that the desperate desire to improve the NHS is significantly diminished. […]
MPs fed up with social care ‘point-scoring’
By Alex Stevenson MPs have called on the major parties to avoid “pre-election point-scoring” and come together to achieve consensus on social care reform. The report from the Commons’ health committee comes after a conference on Wednesday in which the Conservatives criticised health secretary Andy Burnham for failing to make up his mind on the […]
No respite for carers
By Alex Stevenson Less than a quarter of government funding aimed at giving carers a break to go on holiday has been used in this way, new figures have shown. A freedom of information request by the Princess Royal Trust for Carers showed that in 2009/10, primary care trusts planned to use just 23% of […]
