Summer houses on the NHS? Cutting through the news reports with questions for our CCGs!

Sky News led its bulletin this morning with attention-grabbing headlines about summer houses, holidays and sat-navs being funded by the NHS. Sky News didn't actually research the story themselves - that was done by Pulse magazine, which investigated how personal healthcare budgets are spent. Plenty of other media outlets have also run this story including the BBC, the Mirror,

At least the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Independent mentioned that it is Clinical Commissioning Groups - or CCGs - that are allocating the money courtesy of the personal healthcare budgets. That would be the CCGs created under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. But you'd sooner find a report about the colonisation of the moon by unicorns wearing saddles made of cheese than ever see a news report mention this act, which was passed in the last parliament by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs.

Of course, the truth is rather more complicated than any of these reports imply. Credit where credit is due though - the Daily Mail, while not accepting comments on the article online, had the insight to run a decent Press Association report. This report featured an interview with a professor who pointed out that while personal healthcare budgets may seem attractive on the surface, they do reflect an ideology that is "consumerist and individualistic" and not evidence-based.

But the way this story has been largely reported serves insidious dual purposes.

1. It demonises patients in the same way that stories about misuse of A&E departments and GPs demonise patients. While misuse of A&E and GP services creates problems, it makes for cheap headlines that ignore the bigger funding issues. It is easier to mock the person who rocked up to A&E with dog poo on their shoe than get properly angry about things like the cost to the taxpayer of rotten PFI deals and administering the NHS marketplace, both of which squander billions of pounds each year.

While personal healthcare budgets are not compulsory, can we be sure that patients, especially vulnerable and elderly patients, are not pressured into joining this scheme? It has echoes of Jeremy Hunt's plan to put the price of medications on the packaging so we know how much we are costing the NHS every time we take a pill that we need to get better. This plays into the "mustn't be a burden" mentality, the fear of wasting NHS time, even if someone is in genuine need of care.

If these budgets are targeting the vulnerable, it becomes questionable as to whether they really meet the goal of helping people take responsibility for their health and wellbeing.

2. It is more NHS-bashing by the media, feeding into the public appetite for cuts. By highlighting summer houses, holidays and sat-navs, it makes people angry about profligate NHS spending and removes any subtlety from the discussion. A holistic approach to healthcare is important - and defenders of personal healthcare budgets will use this argument - but holistic treatments need to be evidence-based, especially when they are publicly funded.

Are personal healthcare budgets a sneaky way to funnel more money to the private sector right under our noses? Will patients be encouraged to use their budgets to fund private health insurance?

The Pulse report does not mention our local CCGs, which fall under the umbrella of South West London Collaborative Commissioning. But in the interests of full transparency, we have some questions for them about how they use personal healthcare budgets. As we are still fighting to keep essential services, such as A&E and maternity as well as entire hospitals open, these questions need to be answered.

If a representative from SWLCC could respond to the following questions in the comments section of this blog post, that would be much appreciated:

1. How many patients in the CCGs which come under SWLCC's administration are on personal healthcare budgets?

2. What is the average amount spent per patient on these budgets?

3. Can you provide a demographic breakdown of who uses these budgets?

4. Without naming patients, is there information available on what sort of treatments these budgets are funding?

5. What happens to a patient if their personal budget runs out and their health has not improved?

Diary date! Free TTIP film screening

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - or TTIP - will have far-reaching implications on the NHS. To find out more, come along to a free screening of The Trouble With TTIP, a one-hour documentary.

Linda Kaucher from the Stop TTIP campaign will be on hand to answer your questions about what can be done to stop this secret US/EU trade deal.

Date: Thursday 3 September

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Gorringe Park pub/cinema, 29 London Rd, Tooting, SW17 9HW. The pub is right next to Tooting Railway Station between Amen Corner and Figges Marsh.

Click here to find the event on Facebook.

Here is a short video to tell you more:

KOSHH speaks out on CCG staff taking lavish trips

The Epsom Guardian today reported that staff from Surrey Downs CCG and North West Surrey CCG went on a luxury spa trip to Germany funded by a pharmaceutical company.

Click here to read the story online.

We were asked to comment and, in short, we smell a rat. Why would it be necessary to go to a luxury spa in Germany to discuss a constipation drug? We understand that the NHS needs to buy drugs from pharmaceutical companies. It would be impractical for the NHS to start manufacturing every single drug it requires, obviously. But we do not understand why Clinical Commissioning Group staff would accept lavish hospitality from these companies?

The CCG system is problematic. It is undemocratic. It is clearly part of a larger agenda to privatise the NHS. There are members of CCGs with vested interests in healthcare. How can anyone who stands to win an NHS contract be in a position to commission such contracts?

Now we have supposedly independent commissioners taking luxurious trips at the expense of pharmaceutical companies. How is this OK?

The Surrey Downs CCG Director of Commissioning and Strategy, James Blythe, defended the trip. He said that Cosmocol, the constipation drug discussed on the trip, had already been commissioned before the trip took place.

But Cosmocol is not the only drug in Stirling Anglian Pharmaceuticals' range. Click here to see what else they have on offer. They also sell an osteoporosis drug. And who's to say the company won't add more products in the future?

Surrey Healthwatch communications officer, Lauren Ter Kuile, said that nobody has been in touch to suggest there was anything untoward about this trip.

Lauren, now we know about this and we thank Chris Longhurst from the Epsom Guardian for informing us, we are indeed suggesting that there is plenty that is untoward about this trip.

Will this lead to a change in policy? Are more CCG members taking trips at the expense of private companies? The public deserves to know and deserves better.

Another diary date! The Trouble With TTIP film screening

TTIP - the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - is something that KOSHH campaigners are deeply concerned about. The potential TTIP has to destroy public services in the UK, such as the NHS, is immense. Yet negotiations are happening in secret for a deal that could open up all government contracts to the US market and entitle US companies to sue our government.

But don't just take our word for it. There is a film screening of The Trouble With TTIP on Thursday 30 July at 7pm in Balham. The venue is the Balham Baptist Church, 21 Ramsden Rd, SW12 8QX, opposite the library. It's a five-minute walk from Balham tube station and the 155, 355, 249 and 255 buses will all get you there.

The guest speaker will be Linda Kaucher, the Stop TTIP campaigner who features in this documentary. The screening is free and all are welcome.


Photography by Circe Denyer

What are we celebrating on #NHS67?

Today the NHS turns 67. It should be a proud day of celebration. We should be able to go about our business today relaxed in the knowledge that the NHS is properly funded, properly managed and always there for us when we need it. But we are living in curious times where, across the nation, campaigners are fighting for local services.

This is not how is should be on such an auspicious day.

We should not have to organise meetings in our communities to work out how we can keep our vital services, such as A&E and maternity, open.

We should not have to make Freedom of Information requests to find out from CCGs and hospital trusts how are money is being spent.

We should not see a penny of our money going to private consultancy firms, such as Deloittes, most of whom have clients with NHS contracts.

We should not be fobbed off when we ask questions about the impact of private contractors on our health services, such as private cleaning contractors and infection rates.

We should not have to remind people over and over again that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 is destroying our NHS and that all MPs who voted for it need to be held to account.

We should not have to beg and plead with the major political parties to come up with policies for our NHS that does not involve moving to a US-style, insurance-based system.

We should not have to march on the streets to demand that big corporations, such as Google, Boots, Virgin and Amazon, pay their fair share of taxes on profits made in the UK so that the NHS can be properly funded.

We should not have to struggle to tell people that PFI deals and the massive cost of the internal marketplace are putting huge cost pressures on the NHS.

We should not have to remind people that while there may indeed be an argument for charging people for the NHS if they are not entitled to use it, that money will only cover 0.06% of the total budget, despite disproportionate media reports about "health tourism".

We should not have to read and watch endless NHS-bashing reports in the media that offer no balance and only serve to whet the public appetite for hospital closures.

We should not have a situation where too many good people are leaving the NHS because the conditions are becoming intolerable.

We should not have our hospitals relying heavily on agency staff instead of employing permanent staff.

We should not have to beg and plead with CCGs to hold meetings at times that are convenient for more people and to properly publicise their meeting times.

We should not have to constantly explain to people what CCGs are and how they hold the pursestrings for major decisions about our hospitals.

We should not have to hear about cuts being euphemistically described as "efficiency savings".

We should not feel so powerless nor feel like the closure of our local hospitals is inevitable.

We should not have to do any of these things. And yet we do. Because if we don't, we won't have our local hospital and we won't have an NHS either.




Photography by Alex Grichenko

Keep Our St Helier Hospital campaigners take to the streets of London!

KOSHH campaigner, Colin Crilly, reports on the peaceful anti-austerity march held in London on Saturday 20 June:

The anti-austerity march in Central London was huge. Estimates of the number of people marching were as high as 200,000 in the media. Amongst these people, there was a high number of NHS campaigners.

KOSHH campaigners, Brian Hennessy, Saleh Mamon and myself represented our campaign. We took turns holding up the KOSHH banner throughout the march. We were able to link up with other NHS campaigners, such as the Lambeth Keep Our NHS Public group. During the march, prominent campaigner and editor of NHS SOS, Dr Jacky Davis took my photo.

 When I arrived at Parliament Square, I saw a fire engine. Sure enough, Steve, who let us use the fire engine for a protest in Sutton last year, was at the wheel. He sent his regards to all KOSHH campaigners and gave me his number in case we want to use the fire engine in future actions.

The rally had high profile speakers, including: Charlotte Church, Owen Jones, Caroline Lucas, Jeremy Corbyn and Russell Brand. At the finale, the crowd was encouraged to go into their communities to continue working hard and spreading the word.

Here are some more photos from the march.

On Wednesday July 8, there will be a further protest against an emergency budget from George Osborne - that is sure to bring more worrying news for our health services. Click here for more information.

Click here to order a copy of Dr Jacky Davis and Raymond Tallis's book, NHS SOS.

Media coverage update: The latest on the Sutton Hospital site and Epsom-St Helier infection rates

This week, it was revealed in the Sutton Guardian that a planned school for the old Sutton Hospital site won't be built on the Sutton Hospital site. Instead, it is planned for Rose Hill. This seems to be in keeping with the "preferred option" as per the "traingate" leak for the Sutton Hospital site to be used for a new 800-bed hospital, at the expense of Epsom and St Helier Hospitals.

Click here to read the story.

It was also revealed this week that Epsom and St Helier Hospitals have not met infection targets. In 2014-15, there were seven cases of MRSA when the target was zero, and 42 cases of Clostridium Difficile (C-Diff), when the target was no more than 40. KOSHH does not believe that such figures should be used as stick with which to beat the hospitals and, thus, lead to demands for closures. However, it would be good to see figures on infection rates to see if the increase correlates with the use of private cleaning companies rather than NHS staff.

Click here to read the story.

Two screenings of the powerful Sell Off Film coming up!

Sell Off, an independent documentary will be screened twice in the next week at two south London locations.

Tonight - that's Wednesday 10 June - the film will be screened at 7.30pm at the Gorringe Park pub, which handily has its own cinema.

The address is 29 London Rd, Tooting, SW17 9HW. It's right next to Tooting Railway Station, between Amen Corner & Figges Marsh. After the film, there will be time for a discussion.

Click here for more information.

And next Monday, 15 June, Sell Off will be screened at 7pm sharp at Balham Baptist Church, 21 Ramsden Road, Balham, SW12 8QX. It is opposite the library and a five-minute walk from Balham Station. The buses 155, 355, 249, 255 will also get you there. Guest speakers will be on hand at this screening as well.

Click here for more information.

Here is some more information about the film.