General Election: Only Scottish patients are getting the best new drugs on the NHS April 27, 2015 Terminally ill people in Scotland are being given the best new cancer drugs, while those in the rest of the UK are being deprived of them. This apparently unfair difference stems from the way drug provision by NHS England and NHS Scotland is regulated, with Scotland's drug monitoring body making it much easier for [...]
General Election 2015: AA CFO Martin Clarke wants honesty on NHS spending and an end to non-dom tax breaks April 20, 2015 ELECTION COUNTDOWN: 16 DAYS TO GO Every day until the final week of the election campaign, we ask a business leader to say what policies would entice them to vote for a particular party. MARTIN CLARKE: CFO, AA ■ Had the courage to admit that throwing money at the NHS is not [...]
General Election 2015: Conservatives pledge £8bn a year for the NHS April 11, 2015 The Tories will inject an extra £8bn a year into the NHS if they win the general election, the party has announced. As part of a bid to revolutionize the health services, the Conservatives will guarantee over-75s same-day access to a GP and provide access to GPs on the weekends and in the evenings. [...]
NHS letter “orchestrated by Labour”, say Tories April 8, 2015 The Conservative Party has accused Labour of "orchestrating" a letter claiming the government has dealt a serious blow to the NHS. However, speaking to the BBC, the Tories pointed out some of the 140 doctors who had signed the letter were public Labour supporters and advisers. Published in The Guardian, the letter claimed the last [...]
Novartis accused of losing money for the NHS by blocking competitor drug trial April 2, 2015 Novartis has come under fire for trying to derail trials of an eye treatment drug that would save money for the NHS – an allegation the pharmaceutical company denies. Avastin, officially a cancer drug, is highly effective at treating wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease that affects around 26,00 people in the UK each [...]
Forget NHS romanticism: Market-based healthcare is far better for patients April 1, 2015 Nigel Crisp knows the NHS better than almost anyone. In his role as its chief executive (2000-2006), he oversaw the formulation and, partly, the implementation of transformative reforms. His book “24 hours to save the NHS” can serve as an antidote to the popular penchant for “NHS romanticism”, because in parts it is a story [...]
Largest NHS privatisation comes to an end March 31, 2015 Sarah Spickernell asks why the NHS’ deal with Circle Healthcare flatlined Yesterday, the NHS’ biggest privatisation experiment came to an expensive end. Circle Healthcare, which was chosen by the government three years ago to turn around the troubled Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire, is abandoning the project seven years early, leaving behind a deficit of between [...]
“Politicians are scared of telling the truth”: Circle blames Hinchingbrooke hospital failure on unequal spending cuts across the NHS March 31, 2015 Exclusive: Today, the NHS's biggest privatisation experiment ever comes to an expensive and embarrassing end – Circle Healthcare, which was chosen by the government three years ago to turn around the troubled Hinchingbrooke hospital in Cambridgeshire, is abandoning the project seven years early, leaving behind a deficit of between £7.7m and £12m. What's more, the [...]
The new Meningitis B vaccine for babies on the NHS: How much of a difference will it actually make in the UK? March 30, 2015 Later this year, the NHS will start rolling out its new Meningitis B vaccination programme for all babies in the UK. As part of the national childhood immunisation scheme, they will receive three doses of the GSK-owned medication, first at two months, then at four months and finally at 12 months. It makes Britain [...]
General Election 2015: David Cameron promises seven-day NHS as figures reveal more deaths occur at the weekend March 28, 2015 Prime Minister David Cameron will promise voters a “seven-day NHS” by 2020, starting with emergency care and extending to supporting services. At the Conservative spring conference in Manchester, the Conservative leader will say patients are currently “more likely to die" if they turn up at the hospital at the weekend, and that all hospitals in [...]