Ministry of Fear Strikes Again

'Bankruptcy' Fear for NHS

This article is so stupid, I rank it in the top 10 of the most stupid I have ever had the misfortune to read.

Professor Sir Mansel Aylward, Chair of the Bevan Commission ( a group of international experts who give advice to the Health Minister ) claims that the financial pressures facing the NHS are the "worst in history".  Well, at least he has a 'Sir' before his name, which must make him important to some people.

Patients of the NHS are not so stupid - contrary to popular government opinion - and they know all-too-well that the financial pressures are created internally by producing unexplained figures of over budget health services.  Of course, we are never informed which of these services are causing the problem but - again - this really is irrelevant.  The most important fact known to patients is that all of their health services have been cut by centralisation, rationalisation, and a perverse belief that these changes are - somehow - going to provide us with a service "Fit for Purpose" ( whatever the hell that means.). Nothing could be further from the truth, as all patients know that their services are more inaccessible than ever, with little likelihood of getting any treatment for common ailments and little hope for the elderly and the chronically ill, under this new regime of fear.

To get back to the stupid title of this article, it is impossible for a publicly funded service to become insolvent or bankrupt.  They are not commercial entities and are not measured by such notions of 'Profit or Loss'.  Consequently, to even claim that 'near bankruptcy' is possible is highly irresponsible and deliberately misleading.  For ten or more years our government has progressively and systematically reduced; community hospitals, District hospital departments, Mental Health facilities, with over 800 beds being cut in recent years in order to save money.  Why? we are not told, nor are we permitted access to any of the financial information of; health boards, hospitals, specialities, or the need to cut any of these services.  Instead, we are insulted with statements like the above and so-called 'facts' such as "Cardiff and Vale Health Board has to lose £57.5m this coming year.  Again - no 'Why' or 'how'.

The only information you are given is, that IT IS ALL OUR FAULT !  Not a word about irresponsible banking, poor governance, incompetent management, or such things as spending fortunes on furniture for A.M.s, and a forest of potted plants ( to name but two items). Sadly, Orwell's 1984 is upon us with no democracy whatsoever, no freedom of expression, and the Thought Police taking the form of  intrusive acts of; phone hacking', interception of all electronic communications and, not forgetting the CCTV that records our every urban movement, wherever we care to go !      R.  W.