nhs Archives - Page 14 of 16 - The Stray Ferret

Ripon MP defends controversial NHS Trade Bill vote

Ripon and Skipton Conservative MP Julian Smith has written to the Stray Ferret defending his decision to vote in Parliament against protecting the NHS from a future trade deal with the United States.

Last week an amendment was put forward to the government’s Trade Bill to ensure the NHS principle of being “free at the point of delivery” was not compromised by any future trade deal. The amendment failed by 251 votes to 340.

Included in the amendment were attempts to protect NHS staff from having their wages or rights cut as the result of a trade deal, protections around the pricing of medicines, and stopping confidential patient data being sold off to private companies.

However, Mr Smith said that he did not believe the amendment would have been legally binding.

He said:

“I recognise the strength of feeling about the provisions in new clause 17. However, for what I believe are sensible and practical reasons, I felt it best not to support the clause.”

Mr Smith said he does not believe any future trade agreement will lead to standards in the NHS being lowered.

He added:

“No future trade agreement will be allowed to undermine the guiding principle of the NHS: that it is universal and free at the point of need. I welcome the government’s clear and absolute commitment that the NHS will be protected in any future trade agreement. The price the NHS pays for drugs will not be on the table and nor will the services the NHS provides.

“It is important to bear in mind that the Trade Bill is a continuity bill. The powers within the bill could not be used to implement new free trade agreements with countries such as the US.

“Instead, the bill only allows for trade agreements that we have been party to through our EU membership to be transitioned into UK law.

“My ministerial colleagues have no intention of lowering standards in transitioned trade agreements, as the very purpose of these agreements is to replicate as close as possible the effects of existing commitments in EU agreements. None of the 20 continuity agreements signed have resulted in standards being lowered.”

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones also voted against the amendment. Mr Jones did not respond to the Stray Ferret when asked for comment.

Harrogate Nightingale cost £15m – but still no news on its future

The construction of Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital cost almost £15m, government contract figures reveal.

The Department of Health and Social Care spent £14.89m delivering the field hospital through Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in April.

The contract was given to Dutch construction firm BAM, an existing supplier to the NHS. The Nightingale hospital in Exeter, also constructed by BAM, had a similar set-up cost of £14.7m, while Manchester came in at £10.35m under Integrated Health Projects.

And with just four days to go until the end of the agreement between the NHS and Harrogate Convention Centre to use the site, no announcement has been made about whether the Nightingale hospital will remain.

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a further £3bn of funding for the NHS to maintain the additional hospital facilities around the UK if needed over winter. However, since then, the NHS has announced it is decommissioning two of the Nightingales, in London and Birmingham.

The NEC in Birmingham is set to reopen for events on October 1, in line with changing government guidance for the industry. However, the venue’s owners have agreed with the NHS to support a small non-Covid stand-by facility until March 2021, offering additional space for routine work in case existing hospitals have to deal with a second wave of the virus over winter.

Meanwhile, London’s ExCel centre will also reopen for events, with only a small percentage of its space set aside for equipment storage for the NHS Nightingale.

Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital takes up eight of the Harrogate Convention Centre’s halls and has not yet been used to treat any Covid patients. Instead, since early June, it has been offering CT scans to help the NHS catch up with appointments delayed through the coronavirus crisis.

At the time of publication, the NHS’s agreement with Harrogate Borough Council for use of the convention centre is set to expire on Friday, with no new contract in place.

Last month, The Stray Ferret reported on preparations being made to reopen the centre for events as soon as legislation allows. Measures being made ready including deep-cleaning, introducing one-way systems, and allowing events to use more space free of charge in order to enable social distancing.

Strayside Sunday: Our MPs should act on principle when it comes to the NHS

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party.

In 1942 William Beveridge identified “5 giants on the road to post-war reconstruction in the United Kingdom.” Disease was one, and, on the 5^th July 1948, the NHS became the state’s answer to it.

The NHS is a living breathing political battleground. Blunt force rhetoric about it generates huge heat, while ideology, knowledge or nuance cast only low light. Take the following case; the virtue-signalling phenomenon of clapping for the NHS, while failing to ensure or, at the very least, publicly confirm, the post-Brexit future of this treasured institution.

During lockdown, both Harrogate MP Andrew Jones and Ripon MP Julian Smith, together with every MP in parliament, implored us to “clap for the NHS.” With typical political expediency, (alas) Smith and Jones embraced the NHS rainbow flag and led our constituency-based public displays of affection. This week, both men voted against an NHS amendment (put down by Green MP Caroline Lucas and supported by the Labour Party) to the Trade Bill that, post-Brexit, will shape our international trading relationships.

The NHS amendment sought to protect the British principle of universal healthcare; it sought protections against wage cuts for NHS staff; the protection of the British medicines market from price gouging; to ensure that our confidential patient data could not be shared without our knowledge and permission. I don’t know about you, but I have found it difficult to disagree with the NHS being protected from the avarice of Donald Trump’s America. I challenge our district MPs to take a principled stance in relation to the NHS, rather than simply use its good name when they see a public relations opportunity at a time of crisis.

On the most important guarantor of British wellbeing, the future of the NHS, can there be a more obvious barometer of a person’s character? In the end, holding to principle against the wishes of one’s own party machinery may well prove personally expensive. But clapping for the NHS while voting to leave it open to profit-takers from abroad is most certainly cheap.

I know that in the age of the Cummings Tyranny, to vote against the party whip is career limiting. And if I were in a charitable mood I would accept that the amendments above were put down by the Greens and by Labour to make political mischief; “nasty Tories won’t protect NHS,” “nasty Tories sell out NHS,” and so on. Of course parliamentary politics is at play, yet it seems to me that the blue team isn’t playing very well. What would it cost for Smith, Jones and colleagues to go on record, preferably in these pages, to state their views and, specifically, make plain that, even though they voted for the trade bill, they voted tactically against the opposition’s NHS ‘spoiler’ amendments in the interest of post-Brexit progress?

So much ideological tosh is talked about the NHS: For example, the Labour Party and the British Medical Association (the doctor’s trade union) scream about the ‘privatisation’ of the NHS. This, despite the fact that no one is charged by the NHS for visiting their GP, or for going to hospital, or for treatment. Some services that are ‘free at the point of use’ to you and me are, in fact, provided by private companies, themselves paid directly by the NHS. But at the last official count ,the proportion of the NHS’s overall budget paid to private healthcare providers was less than 9% and falling.

And we Tories bang on about waste and inefficiency, which does exist, but the fact of which is hardly surprising given that, since 1997, the NHS has endured 7 major structural reforms – with New Labour, the Coalition government and the Tories roughly equally culpable – and its demoralised staff don’t know whether they are coming or going. Billions has been spent too (a good proportion of which has been in vain) on attempting to harness the power of technology to deliver better care outcomes, and to wire together a hugely fragmented healthcare delivery system, so that we can share patient information across and between care settings.

At this point I should declare an interest: The National Health Service is particularly dear to my heart; I worked in the system for several years and, for much of my adult life, have been a frequent acute customer. In the summer of 2006, I was diagnosed with late stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and the odds were very much against my survival. I spent the next 3 months in hospital receiving brilliant care. My chemotherapy worked, but a hospital acquired infection almost killed me.

14 years later, the consultant oncologist who saved my life remains a dear friend, a friendship we forged through political discourse; when I arrived at hospital that June, my time as Director of Communication for the Conservative Party was not yet in the distant past. My doctor, a Professor at Imperial, was then and remains now, a die-hard socialist. ‘Prof’ refuses on principle to see patients privately, even though with his skills and reputation he could have charged his way to millionairedom, had he been so minded.

Later, when I was discharged as an in-patient and returned to see him for quarterly out-patient check-ups in clinic, Prof would announce loudly “the Tory is back! Everyone remember to give him a hard time.” Too civilised and sensible a man to subscribe to the view that he “could never be friends with a Tory,” what he meant was that I was to be kept honest in my views about the NHS. ‘Prof’ insists that the service is a humanity defining idea first and a set of healthcare delivery arrangements and economics second. Do Messrs Smith and Jones?

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

Why not get in touch with Paul and share your views on his column and local politics. paul@thestrayferret.co.uk

Councillors clash over free parking pledge for NHS workers

North Yorkshire councillors clashed over a proposed pledge to encourage NHS hospital trusts to keep on-site parking free for staff.

Lib Dem Cllr Geoff Webber put forward a motion today to support free parking and claimed two Conservative councillors spoiled it.

Cllr Richard Cooper, also the leader of Harrogate Borough Council, put forward an amendment that removed all references to free parking.

The amendment instead said the council “supports and encourages measures which enable their staff to travel to and from work sustainably.”

Harrogate District Hospital confirmed that parking will remain free for staff, visitor and patients. The trust said that after national reports that the government planned to scrap it.

The Department for Health and Social Care said in response to the speculation that free parking will be in place for staff “during the pandemic.” It did not make reassurances beyond that.

Cllr Geoff Webber hit out at Cllr Richard Cooper after the meeting today. He said:

“This is a typical Richard Cooper trick designed to spoil motions from any other party and a tactic he has used frequently on Harrogate Borough Council. I am disgusted at this sort of manipulation.”

It will now go to a scrutiny committee before going back to the council for a debate and vote. The Lib Dems said the outcome is a “foregone conclusion.”

The Stray Ferret approached Cllr Richard Cooper for a comment but received no reply by the time of publication.

Strong indication Harrogate’s Nightingale will stay in place over winter

The Chief Executive of the NHS Sir Simon Stevens has given a strong indication that Harrogate’s NHS Nightingale at the Harrogate Convention Centre will stay in place for the winter.

The 500 bed Nightingale Yorkshire and Humber has yet to treat a single coronavirus patient. Its CT scans have recently started to be used for regular NHS patients.

Sir Simon Stevens appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show this morning. He was asked about the use of the Nightingale hospitals in the future. His response was the strongest indication yet that the Harrogate Nightingale will stay beyond its existing contract with Harrogate Borough Council, which owns the HCC, that runs until the end of July.

“We are going to use them in two ways, first of all as we’re doing in Harrogate and Exeter, we want Nightingale type diagnostic care to ensure people can get tests and check ups and also we need to sustain a significant part of that capacity going into the winter, given the concerns of a resurgence of the virus.”

“We’ve seen in other countries in Australia, Spain and Germany that local lockdowns are required because coronavirus will be with us for months if not years to come.”

Harrogate convention centre lit up blue.

Harrogate Nightingale Hospital was lit up blue yesterday evening to celebrate the 72nd birthday of the NHS.

Sir Simon has said that this virus could be “with us for months if not years”. His comments will have been closely watched by the hospitality industry in Harrogate as events at the HCC bring in millions of pounds of businesses.

The Stray Ferret previously reported that the borough council was preparing to reopen the convention centre in the autumn if the NHS did not renew its contract.

Harrogate Hospital delivery suites now open to visitors

Harrogate District Hospital has announced visitors will be allowed on maternity wards with immediate effect.

Previously, the coronavirus outbreak meant only birthing partners could be with women during the birth, with no other visitors allowed. However from this afternoon, delivery suites are allowing one birthing partner can stay during labour and delivery up until women are discharged or transferred from delivery suite.

Once the patient is transferred to the Pannal maternity ward, they will be allocated a time in the day for the birth partner to visit. This will be limited to one hour between either 11am-12pm or 3pm-4pm.

At present children are still not allowed on the wards.

Safety measures will remain in place, for example the 2 metre social distancing is expected during the visit and around the hospital. Anyone visiting the hospital can also expect to sanitise their hands on arrival and wear a mask, provided by the hospital.

The hospital is advising visitors to not touch their mask once applied or remove in the corridors, communal areas and when visiting on the ward.

The new visiting restrictions are likely to be greatly appreciated by patients and expectant parents in the district.

There have been no changes to ultrasound appointments and women are still required to attend these alone – but this is under constant review by professionals.

Warnings over test and trace scammers in Yorkshire

There have been reports of scammers claiming to be from the NHS Test and Trace scheme. The North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is advising patients to be aware and seek the correct guidance.

The NHS Test and Trace scheme aims to limit the spread of coronavirus by encouraging patients with positive test results to share the details about the people they have recently been in contact with.

Yorkshire CCG has advised the public that any telephone call or text will come from a verified NHS number and it will provide you with a unique ID number. If you receive a text message, the CCG is advising to not click on any links within the text but instead go direct to the Test and Trace website.

Dr Charles Parker, Clinical Chair of NHS North Yorkshire CCG, said:

“People will usually be contacted within 72 hours after a test with the result. If you have not taken a test in the last 72 hours then the call or text will not be genuine. Please also be reassured that a genuine contact tracer will not ask you to provide any passwords, bank account details or pin numbers.

“Please do not let this stop you from taking a test, it is important that we do as much as we can to halt the spread of the virus and then we can start returning to a normal life.”

A draft petition put forward by a Harrogate councillor calling for widespread coronavirus testing was rejected by the UK government

The NHS Test and Trace scheme aims to protect the public, but caution must be taken to prevent scamming.

NHS North Yorkshire CCG Lay Member for Patient and Public Involvement, Kate Kennady, said:

“The NHS Test and Trace scheme is an important part of the country’s strategy to suppress Covid-19 so we can move towards normality as soon as possible. It is important that people engage with the service because the better the uptake the more successful it will be. However there are some things to look out for to protect yourself from fraud.”

The Yorkshire CCG has warned the public to be aware and seek further guidance if they are concerned about a contact.

NHS PPE contract safeguards jobs at Ripon company

Production at Ripon-based company Network Medical, is going at full pace, seven days a week, after a vital contract was won to supply face visors for front line NHS workers.

The contract, which safeguards jobs at the company’s Kearsley Road headquarters, was awarded six days after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, accused the government of being ‘slow on protective equipment and slow to take up’ offers of supply of PPE from British firms.

Network Medical refocused its operation on the manufacture of face visors in March and had been in discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The company’s wait for a decision on its contract bid was featured on Channel 4 News on 22nd April, the day the Labour leader raised the PPE questions at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.

On April 28th, Network Medical and a sister company based in Swansea – both part of the Innovia Medical group – received the order from the DHSC to supply 1.3 million face visors.

Because of the size of the order, production has been split between Ripon and Swansea and both sites are now at full capacity, with 100% of production being sent to the NHS.

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