Acos by Stealth:Why Action Is Needed Now Page 6
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Help make the NHS a national service for health again www.doctorsforthenhs.org.ukNEWSLETTER ACOs by Stealth:Why action is needed now Page 6 This year’s Paul Noone Memorial Lecture: Hope from Labour? Justin Madders on the NHS – page 26 Also in this issue: • Whatever happened to professional responsibility? – Page 7 • AGM and Conference 2017 – Page 10 • AGM reports– Page 12 • The challenge of STP – Page 18 • What action can we take? – Page 24 Page 1 DECEMBER 2017 Page 1 CONTENTS Editorial – 3-5 Can We Look Forward to a Happy Birthday? 3 Colin Hutchinson An Appeal to All Members – 6 Colin Hutchinson Whatever Happened to Professional Judgement and Responsibility? – 8 David Zigmond AGM and Conference 2017 – 10-25 AGM Reports – 12 The Challenge of STP – 18 John Puntis Clinical Aspects (A&E closure, general practice, obstetrics) – 20 Colin Hutchinson What Action Can We Take? – 24 Andrea Franks The Paul Noone Memorial Lecture: “Health, Politics and Parliament” – 26 Justin Madders MP (report by Colin Hutchinson) Executive Committee 2017-18 – 28 Managing Editor – Alan Taman [email protected] Published quarterly. Contributions welcome. © 2017 Doctors for the NHS Page 2 EditorialHelp make the NHS a national service for health again www.doctorsforthenhs.org.uk Can We Look Forward to a Happy Birthday? As we approach the seventieth birthday of 2014 to Doctors for the NHS, recognising that the NHS, the threat to continuity of the NHS NHS doctors other than consultants share these as a comprehensive, universally accessible, commitments and that the organisation would high-quality public service funded entirely be strengthened by the inclusion of general through general taxation is probably higher practitioners, career grade doctors and doctors now than at any time in its existence. in training, all of whom could contribute their Through a combination of (intentionally?) perspective and increase the level of authority incompetent work-force planning, coupled with which we can speak. with deprofessionalisation, and demoralisation; We have a distinctive voice: we can bring the inadequate levels of funding with diversion of experience of professionals who have a deep huge amounts of money, time and attention understanding of the value that the public service into the commercialisation of the NHS; the rush ethos brings to the delivery of a comprehensive towards the introduction of Accountable Care and universally accessible NHS into the public and Organisations, bypassing the normal legislative political arena. The organisation is not politically processes; the fire-sale of publicly-owned land aligned, so we have been willing to work with and buildings, limiting options for future models anyone in public life, and any organisation, in of service delivery, when enough land has already pursuit of these principles. We have members in been sold off to keep builders busy for the next both Houses of Parliament and many members 15 years. are politically active as individuals. Fake news and deliberate over-complication of Over time, NHSCA has given birth to two the issues are contributing to public apathy: the organisations that are still at the forefront of general public do not realise just how critical the the campaign for the NHS: the NHS Support situation has become, nor how far advanced the Federation (1989), which is particularly strong on plan for the dismantling of the National Health research and making the results of that research Service and its replacement with a constellation of available to inform campaigns; and Keep Our profit-driven organisations. NHS Public (2005), which is very strong in leading As members of Doctors for the NHS, we campaigns through its network of local groups. are presumably largely in agreement with the We are proud to continue to be able to provide founding principles of the NHS, in line with our some financial support to both organisations, from motto, ‘Service, not profit’. How can we contribute our members’ subscriptions, as well as to Health actively to defending those principles, that are Campaigns Together and the Centre for Health simple to describe, easy to understand, but which and the Public Interest (CHPI). have had such a profound impact on the quality of so many peoples’ lives since 1948? Thanks to Eric Watts Doctors for the NHS is a unique organisation. It was founded in 1976 as the NHS Consultants’ I would like to take the opportunity to thank Eric Association, by consultants with a strong Watts, who has been such an able and articulate commitment to the NHS and its founding Chair of DFNHS since 2014, and who is standing principles, and Peter Fisher, our President, was one down after guiding the organisation with skill of the founding members. It changed its name in and energy during such turbulent times, when Page 2 Page 3 the NHS has never been out of the headlines. and managing, a wide range of specialties. I was Mind you, looking back at my collection of old particularly interested in developing links between newsletters, there does not seem to have been a the hospital services and those in the community, time when that was not the case. He has worked working with the various manifestations from with Alan Taman, our Communications Manager, GP Commissioning, to Primary Care Trusts and, in developing the DFNHS website and Facebook latterly, Clinical Commissioning Groups. My wife page and the revamp of the quarterly newsletter, was a District Nurse and Community Matron which now has a very professional look to it. He and was able to provide me with insight into has been an eloquent spokesperson for us, in community health issues. dealings with the media, with politicians and with Since my retirement, I have had the time to other campaigning groups. be involved in local campaign groups, in West Eric has strengthened Yorkshire, to try and influence our links with Keep Our “Make contact with decisions on cuts and closures NHS Public (KONP) and of hospital services despite with the more recently your local campaigning inadequate provision of formed Health Campaigns groups ... these community and primary care Together (HCT), to which services. I have spent more DFNHS is affiliated, which groups value highly time than I had anticipated, brings together locally the contribution of sitting in meetings of Clinical based campaigning groups Commissioning Groups, across England, national experienced doctors” Council Scrutiny Committees campaigning groups like and Health and Wellbeing DFNHS and a number of powerful trade unions Boards, trying to understand how to influence representing NHS workers. It allows us to share the democratic process. I have met and lobbied experience and acts as an early warning system politicians of various parties; bothered members by monitoring what is happening in different of the public while they have been shopping or localities (such as their STP Watch, which gives on the doorstep and met many good, interesting, information on the 44 different STPs across the well-informed and creative people in the process. country); it allows us to learn from each others’ I would encourage all of you to make contact experiences in developing campaigning tactics, and with your local campaigning groups, if you have not can mobilise support for local campaigns or bring done so already. The KONP and HCT websites groups together for national demonstrations such are good places to start: they have links to local as that in London last March. branches and campaign groups. These groups value highly the contribution of experienced Future plans doctors, particularly in interpreting the jargon and the masses of information about clinical services I have been selected to succeed Eric and I am and the way that they are delivered, so that they conscious that his will be a hard act to follow. I was can cut through the spin and concentrate their a Consultant Ophthalmologist, initially in Aberdeen campaigns on the most important issues. The (1986-1995) and then in Halifax and Huddersfield involvement of seasoned professionals can lend until 2015, when I retired. I was Clinical Director confidence to ‘ordinary’ members of the public of Head and Neck Services for 10 years and also and increased credibility to their message and Clinical Lead for the Skin Cancer Multi-disciplinary it also seems to make a difference when asking Team, so I have experience of working with, questions at public meetings of Council and CCG Page 4 Help make the NHS a national service for health again www.doctorsforthenhs.org.uk committees, or when speaking to local MPs in their constituency surgeries, if constituents arrange meetings to raise concerns about local services. Over the coming year, I would like to build on the work that Eric Watts has done, to strengthen our links with KONP, which was originally founded as the campaigning wing of DFNHS. If you have not been there for a while, I would recommend a visit to the KONP website (accessible by a direct link from the DFNHS website), particularly the ‘Resource’ site, which has links to an extensive library of useful articles and references covering four countries of the UK, and we want to retain our many of the important issues affecting the voice in supporting the NHS across the UK, the NHS and also links to most of the important great majority live in England. As the NHS evolves campaigning organisations. in different ways in each country, it would be very I would also encourage members to sign up helpful to be able to compare and contrast the to be on the KONP mailing list for the monthly experiences of doctors working and living within Newsletter, which will keep you up to date with each of these systems. The more members we NHS issues which rarely make it into the national have, the greater our chance of realising our goals.