Summarizing the universal health care proposals

A recent article out of the UK. The NHS is in a tail spin…

http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=nhs-is-critical–&method=full&objectid=18704339&siteid=93463-name_page.html

4 March 2007
NHS IS CRITICAL
THE TRUTH REVEALED BY THE PEOPLE APPALLING STATE OF OUR HEALTH SERVICE 1m patients waiting for first hospital appointment £1bn in crippling debts 1000 ops axed per week Wards at breaking point
By Julian Gavaghan
THE true state of Britain’s hospitals can be revealed today in a shocking People investigation.

Despite a record cash injection of £84.3 billion – £4,000 for every UK household – the NHS is on the critical list…and fading fast. Our investigation found:

THE health service is more than £1billion in debt and over 1,000 operations are cancelled at the last minute every week.

MORE than one million people are still waiting to receive their first hospital appointment after seeing a GP.

MORE than 160,000 of them will wait for between eight and 13 weeks to see a specialist.

MORE than 775,000 have had an appointment but have yet to be admitted for their ops.

In addition, ward closures are putting lives at risk and so are high levels of bed occupancy, leading to superbug outbreaks.

The problems are caused by bad management, crippling debts and money wasted on admin instead of doctors and nurses.

CANCELLED OPS

THE Government claims cancelled ops are at their lowest since 1999, but last year 53,181 were cancelled at the last minute. Over the last three months, Nottingham University Hospitals Trust abandoned 355 ops. At West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust, which cancelled 268 ops, almost one in four patients were still waiting for a rescheduled surgery date after one month.

The Government only records last minute cancellations but the toll of all cancelled ops is FOUR TIMES higher.

Figures obtained by Tory MP Grant Shapps suggest 250,000 operations – the equivalent of 962 every day – were cancelled in England last year.

Many were called off because of missing notes, MRSA, or admin errors such as failure to book operating theatres or give patients their op dates.

WAITING TIMES

IN January, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt (above) claimed maximum waiting times for surgery had been cut from 18 months to under six months. But at the end of last year, 775,468 patients were still waiting to be admitted for vital treatment. Of these, 185,527 had been waiting between three and six months.

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust has the highest number of patients waiting for treatment with 13,770. Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in Lancashire is second with 12,416 waiting.

Miss Hewitt also claims that by 2008 the maximum wait for GP referral to hospital treatment will be just 18 weeks.

But 1,023259 patients are still waiting to receive their first hospital appointment following a visit to their doctor.

Some 2,129 have been forced to wait more than 13 weeks.

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals and NHS Trust has 7,424 patients awaiting hospital treatment after a GP referral.

BEDS CRISIS

Patients are waiting in ambulances outside some hospitals because of bed shortages.

Eleven ambulances were stuck waiting to make a drop-off at Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales.

At the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, where bosses shut a ward, some elderly patients with breathing problems or chest pains were stuck in ambulances for up to two hours. Bed occupancy should be kept below 85 per cent to combat superbugs like MRSA. Overall, the NHS has cut the average rate to 84.6 per cent but many Trusts hover well above this.

St Mary’s Hospital Trust, West London, has a rate of 97.8 while Newham, East London, has a rate of 96.9 per cent.

THREAT OF CLOSURE

This year, dozens of hospitals – including 43 maternity units – are facing closure because of the cash crisis.

At least a dozen NHS trusts are bankrupt – and the total debt across England is £1billion. Nick Bosanquet, Professor of Health Policy at London’s Imperial College, said: “The Department of Health has been so busy firefighting it has not developed a process for getting real value.”

University of Leicester Trust said: “The high waiting list doesn’t reflect the length of time patients spend on it, which is low.” Pennine Acute said: “Our staff worked hard to bring down waiting times but we are the largest Trust in the country.” Weston Area Trust said: “Our bed occupancy rate is high butwe make every effort to ensure patient care is not affected.”

St Mary’s cited its excellent response to the July 7 bombings.Other hospitals were not available for comment.

Voice of The People: Page 8

Man of The People: Page 19

WORST FOR CANCELLED OPS

1 Pennine, Lancs 1,100

2 Barking, Haver’g & Redbridge 1,080

3 Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells 1,056

4 Central Manchester 1,008

5 North Bristol 956

HIGHEST % OF OCCUPIED BEDS

1 St Mary’s, W London 97.8%

2 Newham, E London 96.9%

3 Birm’ham Children’s 96.6%

4 Weston area 96.2%

5 Surrey And Sussex 95.2%

HIGHEST WAITING LIST NOS.

1 University Hospitals of Leicester 13,770

2 Pennine Acute 12,416

3 Sheffield Teaching 11,302

4 Newcastle upon Tyne 10,523

5 Norfolk and Norwich 10,152

8-13 WEEK WAIT FOR APPTMT

1 Newcastle upon Tyne 3,149

2 Barking, Haver’g & Redbridge.2,832

3 Royal Cornwall 2,798

4 United Lincolnshire 2,791

5 Leeds Teaching 2,472