Urgent - Amendment to Save the Health Secretary's Duty to Provide Healthcare

Please read this post by Jonathon Tomlinson on the proposed amendments being put before the House of Lords on the duty of the health secretary to provide healthcare. Then email your adopted lord and tell them. And don't give up now; it only takes an email for goodness sake, five minutes out of voting on X Factor or complaining about your Blackberry crashing. Do it.

All is Not Lost?

I was directed towards this letter in the Guardian written by Shirley Williams. Perhaps the Lords are planning to mug Andrew Lansley over tea and scones after all.

Perhaps all is not lost.

Study Used to Promote HSCB is Flawed, Says Allyson Pollock

Do take time to check out this analysis of the Zack Cooper paper, 'Does Hospital Competition Save Lives?' by Allyson Pollock et al. This was the study used to promote the Health and Social Care Bill with regard to 'choice'. Allyson Pollock concludes that it was flawed. You can reach the paper via the Scottish Health Campaigns Network's website here.

Best Comment on the HSCB?

"I think that the NHS is in need of reform, and to achieve this cost saving reform, we need to employ an army of consultants and buisness advisers, and create three extra layers of management, so that the blue sky thinking can take place without the interference of the people who are treating patients. And we all want a knighthood when we leave in 5 years having separated the root from the branch."

See here for more comments on theWestminster bridge block today.

We Have Your Details..

Some years ago in California, there was a speedboat accident in which a couple of people were killed. The men had been drinking and had ignored a host of safety precautions that they should have taken. When the Governater of California, Arnold Scharzenegger was asked if he was going to tighten up the law, he replied, 'No. You cannot legislate for stupidity.'

This is a prime example of why we should not have a centralised medical records system. Because no matter how many laws you make to protect information, you cannot legislate for stupidity. Period.

With thanks to National Death Service Blog.


Update: it looks like the NHS aren't the only ones guilty of absentmindedness. At least it was left in the best possible place to ensure a return..

How the Lords Can Defeat the Government

I came across a very interesting paper in my hunt for information about how the Lords work. If you still think the Lords can't defeat the government on the Health and Social Care Bill, read this.

Better to Light a Candle than Curse the Darkness

I have risen from the slough of despond that I went into, after the Health and Social Care Bill got passed through Parliament. I have adopted a Lord and I have been given an interesting choice. I'm not going to tell you his name, but the above picture should help you work out who it is.

So have you adopted a Lord yet? Here's something to encourage you if you haven't. This is the breakdown of the political parties in the House of Lords;

Conservative 218

Labour 240

Liberal Democrat 91

Crossbench 184

Bishops 24

Other 31

So it should be possible to stop this bill, if we all write. Go on. I know how we're all feeling just now, but it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. Do it.