Wednesday 16 March 2016

NHS - HOSPITALS DO NOT FAIL.


NHS - HOPITALS DO NOT FAIL    

 
Too often these days we hear that hospitals are failing or that a particular hospital has failed. HOSPITALS DO NOT FAIL. The people who are appointed to manage and run them fail. They fail to install the right culture and monitor its performance and the people who appoint them fail to carry out checks to justify their decision. They unfortunately put the politics of running the hospital before the needs and care of the patients. They are prepared to take the salary and the perks, but apparently not the responsibility, so when they fail they should be prepared to stand down, or be removed.

The reality is that the NHS is a service that belongs to the people, for the people, operated by the people and paid for by the people and everybody that is employed with in it is being paid with “Tax Payers Pounds”. They should treat every patient as if they were one of their own relatives, friends, neighbours or colleagues because the next trolley could well be one of them and they would expect the very best of treatment and care for them.

There should be a patient assessment of facilities and performance. People who have to use the services provided by the NHS, whether minor as an outpatient or needing major surgery, either as the result of an accident or illness, should act as our eyes and ears and should, during and after treatment, report on the service. These reports, especially any negative ones, and ones from concerned relatives, should go directly to the top so that the senior management are aware of what is allegedly happening in the hospital that they are ultimately responsible for.

The situation in the NHS is not just of interest to patients and their relatives but should be of interest and concern to everybody. They should actively encourage feedback, welcome it and use it to improve its services. It is a form of insurance policy, which you keep in a drawer and hope that you never need but if you do then you expect to find it fit for purpose,

James Hancock.

A Good Common Man


( Because of what happens when “good men do nothing“ Edmund Burke)

Tuesday 15 March 2016

OUR HEALTH AND OUR SAFETY


OUR HEALTH AND OUR SAFETY.   

 

There are two main things that concern most ordinary people about themselves and their families, that is their health and their safety. They rely on the NHS, National Health Service, for their health and the Police Force for their safety. The Government has a responsibility to make sure that both of these services are adequately provided and funded to meet the demands that might be placed upon them. Constant tinkering by politicians, who’s main aim is to be seen to be doing something that will advance their career, reducing costs, improving efficiency etc. ends up with uncertainty and lack of moral, extra cost and inefficiency and reduced confidence by ordinary people.

There seems to be a lack of understanding on behalf of the Government as to how important to ordinary people both of these services are and there definitely seems to be a total lack of reality in there approach to both of them. They are putting pressure on both of them to reduce costs and increase efficiency which in the case of the NHS means reducing services available, reducing beds and putting out services to private providers, and the Police are reducing frontline officers, despite that at the time cuts were announced it wasn’t going to affect frontline services. If the Government continues with its policies, or lack of policies depending on how you look at the subject, on immigration which last year allowed the population to increase by 500,000 people, they are going to have to change the way that services, which are vital to ordinary people, are run and funded.

It is time for a serious rethink for both services and I would suggest that the Government stop having a direct involvement and for long term stability appoint a management board of professionals and people’s representatives, which is responsible to ordinary people and where people can be replaced if they don’t perform, and funded by a capitation system so that if the population continues to grow so will the funds available to provide for our health and our safety.

James Hancock.

A Good Common Man


( Because of what happens when “good men do nothing“ Edmund Burke)

Wednesday 2 March 2016

THE REAL COST OF GOVERNMENT POLICY.


THE REAL COST OF GOVERNMENT POLICY



We are told that the Government has no money of its own and therefore it is spending our money on our behalf. Therefore I would have thought that politicians had a responsibility to use taxpayer’s money to the benefit of the people of Britain and not just to further their own careers and ambitions. For every pound of taxpayer’s money that they spend abroad there is a knock on effect in Britain. This may be in the form of redundancies, company closures, loss of income tax receipts, payment of benefits, loss of skilled jobs, loss of genuine apprenticeship opportunities, the affect on communities, increased borrowing etc.

The Government should not be spending hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayer’s money abroad, or on foreign manufactured goods, and then telling British business people to get on planes and go and find their own orders for their products. If the British Government are not prepared to purchase and use British manufactured goods and services, why should they expect other people to do so?. They should be the shop windows of the nation to the rest of the world. They should not need to be told this, as they should already be working for the best interests of the people who elected them and whom they are supposed to serve and protect.

Before any Government contract, or order, is signed for the purchase of goods or services from outside Britain, a “REAL COST ANALYSIS”should be produced to support the decision and only when there is no genuine cost effective alternative should it be authorised.

The Government should use its powers to reduce tax avoidance and through tax breaks and other incentives, encourage long term investment in British manufacturing, rather than keep pursuing foreign investment and ownership. It would encourage new and existing companies to manufacture more for the home market, providing much needed jobs and reduce our increasing dependency on imports.

 
James Hancock

A Good Common Man

( Because of what happens when “good men do nothing” Edmund Burke)