“The 5 reasons Addenbrookes really ?failed? ? and what it means for the whole NHS “

September

25

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A informed resident highlighted for us this article on the OURNHS website – here’s an extract:

So where did it all go wrong?

Not just for Addenbrookes ? damned by the CQC for understaffing ? but for the three quarters of Trusts this week exposed as facing similar problems?

The Tory led Coalition government inherited an NHS in 2010 that had the highest ever satisfaction ratings and the lowest ever waiting times.

Under the guise of ?deficit reduction?, David Cameron promptly set about shrinking public services and creating a ?permanently?leaner state?, which he admitted in 2013 was an ideological project that would continue regardless of the global economic situation. It is all about selling off the public services we are proud of to his friends in the City.

Firstly Cameron and Osborne imposed homeopathic increases to the NHS budget year on year. ?These NHS budget increases were below inflation – so in essence, cuts. You can?t maintain a decent health care system with below inflation rises ? something has to give.

Second the Tories imposed the disastrous reorganisation on the NHS, the Health and Social Care Act 2012. This put earlier pro-market New Labour policies on steroids, and diverted vast amounts of both energy and cash away from frontline services, into running a the NHS as an expensively bureaucratic ?marketplace?.

Thirdly Chancellor George Osborne slashed social care spending by up to 40% and then blamed the local authorities who had no choice but to cut services. Patients were ?stuck? in hospital beds unable to be discharged because the social care provision had been cut to the bone in the community.

Fourthly Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt urged Trusts to move to a ?paperless NHS?, as part of the Tories? ?digital revolution?. Last year Addenbrookes ? the first to adopt US firm Epic?s ?e-hospital? system – was being hailed as ?highlighting how eHealth can have a transformative effect on patient experience and outcomes?. But the system was a disaster ? a report in November revealed that A&E performance had dropped by 20% since it was implemented.

And lastly the Tories imposed year on year pay cuts to every NHS staff member, even as workloads increased due to frontline staff shortages and time wasted on ?market? paperwork. To justify their attacks, Tory politicians vilified doctors as lazy and greedy, and nurses as cruel and uncaring. Unsurprisingly, morale plummeted. It was as if they were punishing nurses, porters, midwives for the misdeeds of the bankers, who carried on enjoying their multi-million pound bonuses.

Right now, they are attempting to impose a pay cut of up to 40% on junior doctors ? which looks like it?s about to prompt a massive brain drain of doctors at the start of their career. Morale has never been so low as it is amongst our NHS doctors….

Full article here.

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