View image | gettyimages.com All of us have been moved by the Germanwings plane crash, feeling for those who have lost loved ones or colleagues. The circumstances of the crash, caused by what seems to be a deliberate act by the co-pilot, has provoked much comment in the press, much of it deeply irresponsible. Headlines […]
Opinion: Plain Packaging: Will Tobacco Be the End or Just the Beginning?
While I think I was pleased to see the vote by MPs earlier this month, introducing plain packaging for tobacco products, it did also set off faint alarm bells – with me at least. There is something rather drastic about passing a law that requires legally produced and distributed goods to be wrapped in plain […]
Clegg launches Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation
I think it’s fair to say that Nick Clegg may not exactly rock the tracksuit look, but he did do something very valuable today. In one of his last engagements as Deputy Prime Minister before the election campaign, he launched the Charter for Mental Health in Sport and Recreation aimed at kicking the mental health […]
Annette Brooke MP writes…Choice at the end of life is vital – free social care can make that happen
There are no dress rehearsals when it comes to where we are and who we are with when we die – so it’s crucial that people have as much choice and control over the situation as possible. This is important not only to the person who is at the end of their life, but also […]
Opinion: Time to dump the 4 hour A & E target
View image | gettyimages.com To be frank, as a doctor, I have been underwhelmed by our Liberal Democrat offering on health issues over the years; certainly we are not as strong on health as we should be. The almost daily drip feed from the right wing press on NHS shortcomings and failures is demoralising to […]
UKIP’s official health spokesperson: “I have no experience in health whatsoever”
Louise Bours MEP, UKIP’s health spokesperson, made a startling admission to the Independent in an interview published today. She said: One thing that irritates me more than anything, and you see so much of it the higher up the political hierarchy you go, that’s it’s full of a load off… people who aren’t particularly honest, […]
Clegg’s letter to Burnham: “you may have inadvertently misled” Commons on Labour’s NHS privatisation record
Nick Clegg fielded Prime Minister’s Questions today, during which he noted that Labour’s shadow health secretary Andy Burnham is “the only man in England who has ever privatised an NHS hospital”. Mr Burham complained that Nick had misled the House of Commons over the issue of Hichingbrooke Hospital, accusing him of “sheer inaccuracy”. The Lib […]
Liz Barker leads first ever Lords debate on Lesbian, bisexual and transgender women’s health
Last Wednesday, Baroness Liz Barker, who made one of the most fantastic speeches of the entire debate on same sex marriage, led the first ever debate on health services for lesbians and bisexual and transgender women. The ignorance and even ridicule LBT women have faced from health professionals in the accounts Liz and others shared […]
LibLink: Norman Lamb on integrated funding for health and care
In an interview with Public Finance Norman Lamb says that he has his sights on 2018, as the date by which all health and care spending will be pooled in England. He said: I want the approach to evolve rather than having anything imposed. The only imposition is to say that we have got to get […]
LibLink: Norman Lamb on integrated funding for health and care
In an interview with Public Finance Norman Lamb says that he has his sights on 2018, as the date by which all health and care spending will be pooled in England. He said: I want the approach to evolve rather than having anything imposed. The only imposition is to say that we have got to get […]