Apologies for the lateness of the hour – I was trawling through my ballot paper for the Party’s internal elections… Braverman appointment: Lib Dems call for Cabinet Office inquiry Cancer diagnosis postcode lottery revealed as over 60,000 wait more than two weeks in August alone Fiscal plan delay leaves families in a cloud of uncertainty […]
20 October 2022 – today’s press releases
You don’t expect press releases to become obsolete quite so quickly but the past forty-eight hours have been historic (or hysterical, depending upon your perspective), so these, published in chronological order, perhaps sum up the events of the day… Trevelyan refuses to back Truss: Conservatives way past their sell by date NHS waiting list in […]
The Conservatives fail because they think they know best.
One of the characteristics of this awful government is that they manage to present even ideas with a modicum of sense in a way which ensures they will be unpopular. Yesterday we had a classic example in the news that the new Health Secretary, Thérèse Coffey as part of her ‘Plan for Patients’ is planning […]
Taking a stand on mental health
The recent pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have caused a severe deepening of a mental health crisis that was already facing the nation. It is astonishing that mental health has not featured at all in the Conservative Party’s conference. Contrast this with the commendable motion put forward by the Young Liberals on “Taking a stand […]
Lord help us all….Lib Dems react to new Cabinet
So Liz Truss is now ensconced in Downing Street appointing her new Cabinet. And it looks like it is going to be one of the most socially as well as economically conservative governments in over quarter of a century. This is somewhat surprising given that she is the first Prime Minister of my lifetime who […]
NHS crisis: Never have so many been ignored by so few
The NHS is in an unparalleled crisis and the whole system seems at the edge of breakdown. Everything from care primary from ambulances, A&Es, staffing of hospitals, through to discharge to care is in crisis. Yet, the NHS is being almost ignored in the leadership debate and by the zombie government. Last night, ITV news […]
Tom Arms’ World Review
Europe is burning sounds like the title of an apocalyptic Hollywood blockbuster. Unfortunately it is an accurate newspaper headline as the continent this week sweltered in record temperatures. In normally temperate Britain the thermometer topped 104 fahrenheit. In Spain it reached 109. Spontaneous fires were widespread. The London fire brigade reported its busiest day since […]
Welcome to Obs and Gynae
The camera follows a man on a hospital trolley. He gurns at the audience and is wheeled away with his hand up to some unfortunate woman who is screaming. “Welcome to the NHS” he opines to the audience. We all laugh. It’s the opening of the series “This is going to hurt”. About an obs […]
17 August 2022: Ambulance Domesday in West Midlands
If you live in the West Midlands and are going to fall ill, you better get on with it. Certainly, don’t leave it until 17 August because if you want an ambulance, you may not get one. That’s the apocalyptic prediction from a director of the West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS). Ambulance provision in the […]
The NHS is dying … it’s about the workforce
While everyone is focused on the very real and acute cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine the NHS is quietly imploding, more staff leaving than joining and therefore services collapsing. It’s not simply a matter of throwing more money at it, we are way past that stage, and as we learned from […]