What is "Award-winning journalist Allison Pearson"? (And I mean "What")

[JohnD]

I'm posting this as I have to say something about it.    For some reason, the Daily Telegraph sends me an email every so often, in the vain hope that I should buy their awful rag.   I just delete it, but the headline caught my eye, "'The NHS is failing Britain - here's how to fix it'" and I just had to read on.   But I can't without registering with this cheerleader for all that is awful with the Tory party, so I can 't do so on their website.

It puffed an article by the ""Award-winning journalist Allison Pearson" (who she?) that starts, " My 10-point plan to reform the broken NHS.  It is absurd that an organisation which is performing so catastrophically should continue to merit such kid-glove treatment."  I wondered if the Telegraph was being ironic, but no, she starts her piece, "The Prime Minister had a secret he’d rather people didn’t know about. Rishi Sunak is reportedly registered with a private GP practice that guarantees all patients with urgent concerns will be “seen on the day”. The West London clinic, which charges £250 for a half-hour consultation, also offers appointments in the evenings and at weekends. It’s an outrage that British people should have to be wealthy enough to afford a standard of medical care which is taken for granted in the rest of the developed world.  ..."  My underline.

Be calm, my beating heart!    God's Teeth!  Yes, it is an outrage, that for the last twelve years the NHS has been starved of finance and investment, so that there are hospitals in this country that are literally falling down, so that their roofs and floors must be supported with Acrow props, that the extraordinary efforts of nurses and doctors, and all hospital staff in the Pandemic has been 'rewarded' with claps, that the Dilnot Report on Social Care, that addressed the very problem that stifles hospitals today, published in 2011, has been pushed back by successive Tory Governments and has been again deferred by the present one.    (See: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/17/delaying-social-care-reforms-jeremy-hunt-uk-vulnerable )

I could go on, with more and more examples of Tory neglect that are crippling the NHS, but it won't do my blood pressure any good.   Suffice, that the President of the TUC said recently that if she were a conspiracist, and she isn't, she would suspect the Tories of purposely running down the NHS, so that it might be sold off.

I need to go and breath, the very air here is made stuffy by this horrible woman's words.  Talk later when I feel calmer.

JOhn

 

[zetecspit]

Now you got me interested.

From that uber reliable source wikipedia:

Pearson began her career with the Financial Times, where she was a sub-editor, before moving to The Independent and then The Independent on Sunday in 1992. There she was assistant to Blake Morrison before becoming a television critic, winning the award for Critic of the Year at the British Press Awards in 1993.

Also 

Allison Pearson was declared bankrupt following a personal insolvency order made by the High Court of Justice in London on 9 November 2015. The bankruptcy petitioner was the Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs.^[26][27]

 

[JohnD]

AH HA!   Something that believes paying taxes is for little people!   Please leave my clinic - I might poison you.

Edited November 24, 2022 by JohnD

[PeteH]

Simplistic?. Maybe? But?, NHS. too many chiefs, Insufficent Indians................ Discuss.

Pete

[Nick Jones]

7 hours ago, PeteH said:

too many chiefs, Insufficent Indians................ Discuss

To an extent, yes. But largely because there are so many advertised posts unfilled.

The other huge one is up to 30% of acute beds filled by people who should be in nursing homes, supported care or rehab….. This really messes things up and is largely outside the control of the NHS itself. 
 

On 11/24/2022 at 11:26 PM, JohnD said:

Suffice, that the President of the TUC said recently that if she were a conspiracist, and she isn't, she would suspect the Tories of purposely running down the NHS, so that it might be sold off.

I must be a conspiracy theorist then….

[zetecspit]

On 11/27/2022 at 3:47 AM, Nick Jones said:

To an extent, yes. But largely because there are so many advertised posts unfilled.

The other huge one is up to 30% of acute beds filled by people who should be in nursing homes, supported care or rehab….. This really messes things up and is largely outside the control of the NHS itself. 
 

I must be a conspiracy theorist then….

And this is (possibly) the elephant in the room.

Social care in one form of another is a MASSIVE issue for this coutry. The costs are eye watering.

I was reading an article about a charitable care group who have had to issue eviction notices to some inmates. Essentially teh amount teh council are prepared to pay is less than what teh care costs to provide. So teh group has taken this drastic step. The council will then have to provide care elsewhere, at even higher costs.

It seems nobody "gets" that it all has to be paid for. A relative is in a very nice, Salvation Army care home. Costs about £1000/week and that is cheap as it it also charitable.  Her savings are now at a level where her pensions are topped up by the council to pay. 

With an aging population this will be a bigger and bigger issue. I can understand why the state pension age is increasing, peoples NI contributions are insufficient to fund their pensions, let along social care, and the NHS is a bottomless pit. The more successful it is, the more it will cost. (although at present it is on its knees) With Scotland discussing "making the wealthy pay for treatment" we may see a move towards seeing a doctor in a similar way to seeing a dentist. A small charge for a minor appt, and then additional charges for each series of treatments. At present if I need to see a physio I wouldn't bother trying teh NHS route, it would be many months before I was seen. I pay the £50 and be done. So that has already been privatised to all intents and purposes.

[RogerH]

For the past 10 or more years I have had (and still have) very badly infected toe nails.

I visited the GP and  was given stuff that couldn't possibly work.

I bought my own stuff - but that was rubbish also.  In this time period I have spent 100's of pounds.

 

After my hip op, at the beginning of September, I found I coundln't bend down far enough to trim my own tootsies.

By chance I passed a Foot clinic and popped in.  Excellence. 

The young lady knew what she was doing. Cut ALL the dead gunge away and applied LAMASIL Spray.

During the first six week session  I only applied the spray for one week (my mistake. I have now had a continuous 4 week application.

Believe it or not the good nail is coming back - am I getting there.

I actually look forward going to the clinic every 6 weeks as it is  working. Nitbad at £43/30 min session.

Sorry if you were having lunch.

 

Roger

 

[JohnD]

The Scots' idea may seem attractive, and of course many of the better-off, and not so well off who are fed up waiting, will 'go private'.    But it is a slippery slope towards a 'poor house' attitude to funding the NHS.

In the US, where those who have served in the armed forces have long been venerated for that service, the Veterans Administration runs a series of hospitals where ex-service people are eligible for treatment, free of charges, for the rest of their lives.     This contrasts markedly with the way that medicine is funded for other Americans.    Founded after their Civil War, the VA for long had a name for corruption and poor administration, and consequent inferior medical care. despite repeated attempts at reform.    As late as 2014, VA hospitals were under criticism for inadequate care.    See: https://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/23/politics/va-scandals-timeline/index.html (NB, this report is from CNN, not known for its socialist views!)   I can't comment on the reasons why, just that even when a health service is intended for an honoured sector of the population it will become poorer and worse as a result.

IMHO, far better than making the NHS a National Poor People's Health Service is to fund it for anyone.   Of course, people may wish to choose their own doctor, and date of admission, into single rooms with 'better' catering, and to pay for the privilege, just as some eschew local schools.   But to expect them to do so is to put pressure on those who cannot.

John