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By beakie, on June 21st, 2010
Georgie-boy Osborne gets up tomorrow in front of the House and indicates from which part of the national body he is going to rip his pounds of flesh. Coalitionomics requires us to feel the pain now in hopes of a better, fitter, leaner future.
Well, actually only some of us are going to feel the pain. Millionaires like Osborne and Cameron may feel a small flutter in the wallet, but generally life will be as peachy for them as it’s always been. It’s the rich wot gets the gravy etc. Enough of that before someone accuses me of the politics of envy.
But what does this all mean for the NHS? When the hustings were in full swing, CallMeDave promised to “cut the deficit not the NHS”, and several noises have been made about the need to protect front-line services . Now, I don’t pretend even to begin to understand finance at this level – one glance at my bank balance would be enough to convince you that when it comes to cash, mine have not always been a safe pair of hands. In my callow youth, I’d see something shiny and I’d buy it, worrying about little things like food and clothes at a later date. But I do know a thing or two about pre-registration nursing education, and it’s here, I think that the promise that cuts won’t impact on front-line services looks decidedly dodgy.
Continue reading Be afraid, be very afraid
By beakie, on May 12th, 2010
Before the election that nobody won, the Prime Minister commissioned a report into the future of nursing. Did you know that? No? Well, you can find it here (PDF)
It’s 115 pages long, but thankfully, you can skip straight to the 20 recommendations, which appear from page 100 onwards. What pleases me and, hopefully, [...]
By beakie, on September 19th, 2009
Mental asked if anyone wanted to do Slapheads: Lecturers. Well, of course it falls to me to do this seeing as lots of my working week is spent dealing with my colleagues in the ivory towers of academe. But I also thought I would widen it out to include slaphead mentors, who are, after all, our partners in the assessment of students. I am sure students could add some more categories to this, but these are my observations as a one-time student, a one-time mentor and a now-time lecturer.
*goes off to make a cup of tea before starting*
(an important aside here – as a lecturer, I am constitutionally incapable of responding to an email, marking an essay or preparing a lesson without a hot beverage to hand, therefore if you are one of my students please don’t expect a cheery welcome if you corner me in my office before I’ve had chance to boil a kettle. But I digress)
Continue reading Slapheads: lecturers (and a mentor)
By beakie, on September 9th, 2009
I’m collecting examples of service user writing for a course I’m helping to run. I’d like to use some blog posts to illustrate how service users are employing new technology to discuss their experiences. I know a few of the service users who contribute here also write their own blogs, so if anyone is [...]
By beakie, on June 10th, 2009
The NHS faces a massive shortfall in its budget.
The NHS Confederation report says the health service in England will not survive unchanged, the BBC has learned.
Managers at its conference will be told they face an “extremely challenging” financial outlook…
…The report, to be published on Wednesday, warns any modest cash increases could be outstripped by rising costs within the health service.
This would leave the NHS in England facing a real-terms reduction of between £8bn and 10bn over the three years after 2011.
Continue reading No more Crocs on the ground
By beakie, on June 7th, 2009
The BMA comes out against jargon
The British Medical Association and Plain English Campaign have criticised the use of words such as service users and clients to describe patients.
They said gobbledygook phrases were causing confusion for staff and patients alike.
The government agreed jargon was a problem and said it was working with NHS trusts to improve communication.
The issue was debated at the annual meeting of the BMA consultants group on Wednesday.
West Yorkshire consultant anaesthetist Peter Bamber, who proposed the motion that was passed, said: “We see all sorts of phrases creeping into the NHS.
“Some of it is an attempt to destigmatise conditions, but I do not think there is anything wrong with the use of ‘patient’.
“Using something else suggests the condition may be something the person should just snap out of and that is damaging in itself.”
Continue reading Gobbledygook
By beakie, on May 12th, 2009
Nursing faces a recruitment crisis. So says the RCN: -
The Royal College of Nursing says over the next decade 200,000 nurses will retire – a third of the total number.
It said school leavers were snubbing nursing as a career, and called on ministers to run campaigns in schools to tackle the [...]
By beakie, on April 24th, 2009
This time being promoted by an organization calling itself Anglican Mainstream, which is due to host a two day conference called Sex & The City in London today and tomorrow. This is the blurb for the conference: -
Ideal for clergy, rabbis, psychologists, therapists, educators and others concerned about the plethora of sexual issues [...]
By beakie, on April 18th, 2009
Margaret Haywood is a nurse who filmed undercover for the BBC in order to expose the shockingly poor care and neglect of elderly patients in a hospital in Sussex. She has been struck off the register by the NMC on the grounds that she compromised patient confidentiality by not asking permission to film beforehand. [...]
By beakie, on April 16th, 2009
This, tucked away in The Observer: -
Data collected by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) shows that 1,282 people in England died in what it calls “patient safety incidents in mental health settings” in the period 2007-08.
Another 913 patients – more than two a day – suffered what is termed severe harm, [...]
By beakie, on April 12th, 2009
So, if you’ve been following the news, you’ll be aware that Damien McBride, a man who once enjoyed a privileged position at Gordon Brown’s right hand, has resigned after emails came to light, thanks to Paul Staines aka Guido Fawkes, about a proposed smear campaign McBride was to conduct with the assistance of Derek [...]
By beakie, on March 27th, 2009
Boswellox, I mean. So apologies for post number three in almost as many days on the same subject, but I couldn’t let the comments of Oliver James about CBT go without mention
Dr Oliver James accused government ministers of being “downright dishonest” when they claimed that new NHS CBT-trained therapists will cure half of [...]
By beakie, on March 26th, 2009
Some therapists seem to have failed to notice that it’s the 21st century and are still offering “treatment” for homosexuality.
The survey, published in the journal BMC Psychiatry and conducted by London researchers, involved 1,400 therapists.
Many were acting with the “best of intentions”, said the lead author.
Only 4% said they would attempt [...]
By beakie, on March 25th, 2009
Edzard Ernst aims a perfectly-crafted and well-deserved boot up the backside of the fashionable concept of “integrated medicine”. Basically, this is about mixing effective treatments with nonsense and gobbledygook such as homeopathy and Bach flower remedies.
Mental health has long been a magnet for crystal-rattlers, urine-bibbers and chakra-manipulators of all kinds. The Integrated Health [...]
By beakie, on March 18th, 2009
OK, I know I am in super-cynical mode at the moment, but the news that a new agency is to be set up to deliver the government’s mental health reforms makes me groan with despair. What will they be doing? This, apparently: -
Key projects include improving access to talking therapies, promoting equalities in [...]
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