NHS passport-checking might save a few pence – at the cost of our humanity | Diane Taylor

The most senior official in the Department of Health, Chris Wormald, told MPs yesterday that he was considering asking hospitals to check patients’ passports to find out whether they should be paying for NHS care. In doing so, Wormald may not have been trying to make anti-migrant political capital. But he certainly generated plenty of it.

The implicit message in his disclosure is that we are being overrun with health tourists who are fleecing our cash-strapped NHS and that we must protect what is rightfully ours.

But there were a few things Wormald failed to mention. The number of migrants who pay their way when they use the NHS, for instance, and how many with serious health conditions are denied NHS treatment in a system policed in an increasingly zealous way.

London has the largest number of migrants of any UK city. In 2014, a series of freedom of information requests I made to 20 London hospitals revealed that many had received substantial payments from overseas visitors using the NHS, and that debts from this group of patients were relatively small – too small, perhaps, to justify introducing a vast and expensive new layer of bureaucracy to police and intimidate patients. Many migrants now have to pay a health surcharge and have been doing so since April 2015 as a condition of living here.

What is the definition of a health tourist? Someone who gets on a boat or a plane with the sole purpose of using NHS services on arrival here? Or is it also someone who is in the UK from overseas and then falls ill while they are here?

One man who falls into the latter category is an asylum seeker who was tortured in his home country in west Africa. His asylum claim was refused and he is preparing a fresh bid based on new evidence. He does not qualify for NHS treatment as a refused asylum seeker. In 2013, a charity gave him a bike because he could not afford public transport. He was hit by a car in January 2014 and badly injured. Of course he did not ask to be hit by the car, nor did he plan to use any NHS services at all when he set off on his bike on that fateful day.

As usual with all matters migration, a sense of proportion has been lost here. Populism has tossed morality aside

The London hospital he was admitted to made sure he received nothing more than the basic emergency treatment that everyone is entitled to (although this too may change). He was denied surgery for the chronic and painful injuries he was left with. Since then he has been disabled, in agony and can only walk short distances with the help of a crutch. Yesterday he received a settlement from the insurance company of the driver who injured him. He pursued the claim in order to pay the NHS for the treatment he desperately needs. Although he is destitute, he will be making a net contribution to the NHS.

Another asylum seeker gave birth to twins who were treated for a few days in a special care baby unit. She was sent a bill she could not pay, because as an asylum seeker she is not allowed to work. She is a deeply religious Christian and was so distraught about the bill that she set her alarm at intervals through the night so she could get up and pray that somehow the debt would vanish. She lived in terror of the consequences of not paying the bill. Eventually the NHS wrote off the debt, accepting that as an asylum seeker who is banned from working she could not pay.

The National Audit Office estimates that the uncollected fees are £200m a year, which is around 1% of the current NHS debt. And that figure does not take into account the extra income from those who are paying for their NHS treatment.

As usual with all matters migration, a sense of proportion has been lost here. Populism has tossed morality and ethics out of the window. As Dr Ben White tweeted: “Well, I won’t be asking anyone for their passport before resuscitating them, thanks.”

The hostility towards migrants is piling up. It used to be the job of the Home Office alone to police immigration, but now schools, health professionals, landlords and others have been co-opted, whether they like it or not. Passport checking may save the NHS a few pence as long as the cost of administering such a system does not outweigh these slender savings.

But what is the cost of the humanity we are losing in the process? And what is the deficit in decency and solidarity with other members of the human race? That deficit is piling up and the negative consequences are not just for migrants, but for everyone who inhabits this country.

NHS passport-checking might save a few pence – at the cost of our humanity | Diane Taylor

Labour is the only party that can save the NHS | Diane Abbot

In all of the abstract discussion about Labour values, it’s easy to forget that one of Labour’s real concrete values is to support and defend the NHS. If you cut the Labour party in half, it would have the letters NHS running through it.

The contrast with the Conservatives could not be greater, especially this Tory government. They are now embarked on their second major reorganisation of the NHS in just six years. Partly this is to clear up the structural mess created by Andrew Lansley’s Health and Social Care Act, legislation that Theresa May and all the leading Tories supported. But their deeply damaging drive towards marketisation and privatisation continues, on top of what NHS Providers describes as “eye-watering” cuts.

This is leading to the deepest ever crisis in the NHS. Almost every target is being missed and waiting times are lengthening for ambulances, for A&E, for cancer referrals and for elective surgery beyond 18 weeks. Leaks have revealed that the new STPs – Sustainability and Transformation Plans – are really Secret Tory Plans to decimate the NHS. Beds, units, departments, and whole hospitals will be closed, even though the population is both growing and ageing.

No party that put patients first would do any of this. And no party which valued the contribution of NHS workers would treat them the way the Tories have. Their record is real pay cuts, cuts to pensions, an increase in unpaid hours and now the attempt to impose unsafe and unfunded new contracts on the junior doctors. This has culminated in the first ever all-out strikes in the NHS.

The “seven-day NHS” is a chimera. Acute services have always been available in the NHS. It is only under the Tories that ambulances have been queueing around the block because there are no beds to admit patients, and that this has been happening on weekdays. The campaign for a seven-day NHS is a device to impose new, worse contracts on junior doctors. There is no logic in singling them out, and consultants, nurses, paramedics and admin staff could all be in the firing line next.

None of this is necessary. The reorganisations themselves are causing huge waste and disruption as providers and commissioners are first told to compete in the “health economies” and then that they must collaborate geographically. The cost of private finance initiatives (PFI) continues to rise and will be over £2bn this year. Because of staff shortages the agency staffing bill has soared to £3.6bn. And Big Pharma continues to milk the NHS, which now even the government weakly recognises. Above all, the greater involvement of the private sector means that NHS has to pay for private profits with funds that could be used for public service.

Labour will aim to drive the private sector rip-off out of the NHS. We will establish a PFI Monitoring Unit to hold the contractors to account, ending excessive charges and payments for shoddy service.

We will be able to redirect these funds to frontline services. Investment will be directed where it is most effective. So, childhood and adolescent mental health services, where three-quarters of all mental health conditions begin will be a major priority. We will promote public health, which itself is a public good and it will save the NHS money.

It is time to end the attacks on NHS workers. Staff need discussion and negotiation, not threats of imposed contracts. They also need to be encouraged to work in the NHS. The terrible decision to abolish bursaries for student nurses, midwives and other professionals and burden them with debt risks exacerbating the staff shortages in the NHS in these key areas.

This abolition of bursaries will be reversed by an incoming Labour government. We will end the scandal that these professionals will incur debt just to work in the NHS.

The difference between Labour and Tory values is extremely stark in relation to the NHS. The Tories are dismantling it. The whole of Labour can unite in defending it.

Labour is the only party that can save the NHS | Diane Abbot

Jeremy Hunt has got it wrong: junior doctors are not the enemy within | Diane Abbott

The first ever all-out strike in the NHS took place under David Cameron’s Tory government. The very first five-day strike in the NHS is now set to take place under Theresa May, unless the government sees sense. This is the Tory record on the NHS.

Jeremy Hunt says there is always tension between health secretaries and NHS staff. Tension is one thing, strike action is unprecedented. The government is attempting to portray this entirely as a result of unreasonable, militant or even out-of-touch and overpaid junior doctors flexing their muscles. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In psychology, this is known as projection. The government is blaming NHS workers for its own failings. It is flexing its own muscles. It’s possible that junior doctors are just the first group of workers who will be targeted for the unreasonable imposition of contracts without negotiation. The Conservative government is also out of touch with public opinion. Of course the public dislikes the disruption, and may even be fearful of its consequences. But people are clear that the blame for this lies with the government itself.

The government’s anti-doctor propaganda campaign should not be allowed to obscure a central truth about the crisis. Far from being able to deliver a seven-day NHS it is clear the existing procedures of the NHS are not sustainable because of government underfunding. On virtually all measures NHS performance is deteriorating, and waiting lists are growing across the board. Hospital trusts are racking up enormous debts because they are being asked to do more with less, and the waste of PFI. Targets for ambulance waiting times, A&E consultations, GP access and cancer referral times are all being missed.

Jeremy Hunt: junior doctor strike will be ‘worst in NHS history’

The target for elective surgeries is that they should be performed within 18 weeks. According to the Patients Association the target was missed for 92,739 people in 2015, a rise of more than 40,000 in a single year. This should be borne in mind when Hunt points the finger at junior doctors and blames them for postponed operations. Patients are already waiting inordinate periods of time for operations, often suffering painful or debilitating conditions.

This throws into sharp relief the central cause of the dispute, the attempt to impose seven-day working without the resources to fund it. Current resources are insufficient to adequately fund the so-called five-day NHS. The mantra that the NHS must do more with less has become “the NHS must do much, much more with less”. It is infeasible.

As the junior doctors point out, most NHS services are available at the weekend and most doctors work weekends as part of their rotas. The government is not introducing something wholly new, just something wholly unworkable without resources. The danger is that the changes to the rotas will increase risk to patients. Doctors might end up working even longer hours.

All of this is avoidable. The BMA junior doctors committee is willing to enter talks about the contract. The government could approach the aim of creating a seven-day NHS in a collaborative way.

Our health service relies above all on the skill and professionalism of its staff. They are the key asset in preserving and improving the NHS to meet new needs. Nothing useful can be achieved by this government treating hard-working junior doctors like “the enemy within”.

Jeremy Hunt has got it wrong: junior doctors are not the enemy within | Diane Abbott

Rep. Diane Black: Obamacare Is A "Hacker"s Dream"

By REP. DIANE BLACK (R., Tenn.)

Rep. Diane Black (R., Tenn.). (Photo credit score: Wikipedia)

On December one, the Obama Administration sought to reassure Americans about the technological difficulties that plagued the Obamacare rollout, announcing that healthcare.gov would now be working at “private sector velocity and effectiveness.” While it is relatively admirable for this administration to seek to emulate the personal sector, the harmful actuality is that when it comes to safeguarding Americans’ personalized info from information breaches and hacks, the federal exchange is not enjoying by the identical principles as personal companies.

Even though there are laws in place to ensure that private firms disclose if someone’s private data has been compromised, as Watchdog.org reported last month, “there is no law requiring notification when databases run by the federal government are breached, and even even though the Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS) was asked to contain a notification provision in the guidelines being drawn up for the new federal exchange, it declined to do so.”

This is an astonishing failure on the component of the administration, even though sadly characteristic of how they have proceeded at every single flip with implementation of this train wreck. IT specialists have repeatedly raised red flags about the protection of the info individuals are placing into the exchanges. In truth, a report last month from HHS mentioned that 32 security incidents had been logged considering that the internet site rolled out Oct. 1st. This website has been described by former Social Protection Administrator Michael Astrue as a “hacker’s dream,” and ten Attorneys General even joined collectively to send a letter citing their protection concerns to HHS Secretary Sebelius.

The Obama Administration defends the legal standing quo by asserting that, “security testing is performed on an ongoing basis utilizing sector very best practices to appropriately safeguard consumers’ private information.” Coming from an administration that just won Politifact’s “Lie of the Yr Award” for a preceding Obamacare claim, this of course should be taken with a grain of salt. But even if it is correct, this is not a justification for not requiring the federal government to disclose to shoppers if a hack or breach had been to get area.

Following all, it is only honest that the Administration give individuals proper observe if their personalized details has been compromised. The exchanges possibly place at risk people’s names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, electronic mail addresses and even social safety numbers. If this info is breached, Americans deserve simple recognize so that they can shield themselves from cyber attacks and identity theft. Most state run exchanges are subject to laws that guarantee this observe, nevertheless the Obama Administration has gone out of their way to stay away from imposing this fundamental diligence on their very own Obamacare exchange.

Last month I launched legislation, the Federal Exchange Information Breach Notification Act, that would handle this severe problem, and this week Majority Leader Eric Cantor has announced his intention to deliver comparable legislation to the Home floor. Notification is commonsense and must not be a partisan concern – if the White House and Congressional Democrats want to very own this possible cyber threat to millions of Americans, they’ll have the opportunity. My Residence Republican colleagues and I will continue to do every little thing we can to shield Americans from this unwell conceived well being care law, and I would advise my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to begin undertaking the identical.

Diane Lynn Black is the U.S. Representative for Tennessee’s 6th congressional district. She is a member of the Property Spending budget Committee and the House Ways and Signifies Committee.

Rep. Diane Black: Obamacare Is A "Hacker"s Dream"