Saturday, April 28, 2007

10 years on from "24 hours to save the NHS"


There is one very big anniversary coming up – this Monday is 10 years since Tony Blair said those unforgettable words “24 hours to save the NHS”. Never has there been a time when those words rang so true. The BBC cover the medical crisis here.

The story about changing medical careers has been a catalogue of errors, which is fast developing into an urgent patient safety issue. The BMA chairman James Johnson has written to Tony Blair warning doctors' anger will grow if the government does not address the problems with MTAS "with the level of urgency they deserve." As Andrew Lansley has said, Patricia Hewitt is in "denial", so it's down to Tony Blair to urgently answer the questions:

Are there doctors to staff the wards on the 1st August?
Which doctors will have a job and where?
Why are the next generation of consultants having an estimated two thirds of their training time cut?
How did the errors in the MTAS system occur?
How did personal details of applicants leak all over the internet?
Why has the government not listened?
And if he doesn't feel comfortable answering medical questions, there are plenty of legal questions to answer as well. His very own 24 hour clock is ticking.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this post - thanks Michelle. And well done fopr getting onto the NHS Britmed awards again!
Sarah

Anonymous said...

wow. that's a fantastic post michelle. if only the opposition parties had been putting the points so clearly we might not be in this mess.

Anonymous said...

hardly think that gordon brown is going to make it better though

Anonymous said...

nice one michelle. hit 'em where it hurts.

Anonymous said...

not that andrew lansley for the tories has proposed anything better. what has he been up to anyway. faced with an open goal he seems to be playing in the opposite direction. incredible. don't understand why cameron puts up with it.

James Higham said...

This is not to score any political points, I assure you but Tony Blair just has no clue how to go about it. Sad but true. Possibly he wants but he simply can't address the issue.

QUASAR9 said...

lol Michelle, and
which NHS are you trying to save

We've doubled spending on the NHS
and now doctors and hospitals or foundation trusts have more freedom to choose which conditions or patients to treat and which not.

I thought choice was supposed to be about patient choice - choice to get treatment elsewhere if it were better elsewhere, not the 'choice' to have to drag themselves elsewhere because they can't get treatment locally.

But hey, I'm with you
I think its time for Blair to go
Though GoD only knows what the nhs is really aiming or headed for.

Anonymous said...

Very good powerful points michelle..

jmb said...

Good questions Michelle. But what are the answers? What a bumbling ineffectual mess.
regards
jmb

Anonymous said...

Finally the issue got on the BBC news this evening. You've been pushing this for weeks. Well done Michelle.

Dr Michelle Tempest said...

Thanks Sarah, rc, anonymous, dr george, richard and James. The pressure on politicians mounts over this topic. It could be a great opportunity for any of them. As for not understanding - all they have to do is apply common sense.
Quasar9 - I'm glad that you say "I'm with you" and Tony Blair will announce his moving date soon.
jmb - thanks for following the issue.

Michelle