What should we do with politicians who lie about their plans for the NHS to get elected?

Before the election, Andrew Lansley made a habit of promising to save A&E departments threatened with closure and to re-open those that had closed.

These were not slips of the tongue but considered statements, often made on the record.

The mendacious Lansley talks soothingly about his NHS changes being “evolutionary”.

Pull the other one!

The Conservative MP and general practitioner, Sarah Wollaston, brands them dangerous, saying they risk “destroying the NHS” with key elements of the plan “doomed to fail”.

Oh dear!

Now, more than ever, we need a strong patients’ voice, fearlessly speaking out in defence of the NHS.

Alas, a series of attacks on patients’ organisations have silenced those who used to be the most vocal.

The last Labour Government shamefully abolished the Community Health Councils, regarding them as an irritant.

They were replaced by Patient and Public Involvement Forums. They did their best but, too often, were ignored (see below).

The PPIFs didn’t last long given Blair’s attachment to “change”.

He worshipped the Tescos of this world, organisations with a strong brand name that constantly reinvent themselves to keep market share.

No wonder then that organisations created by the Blair Government typically had a shelf life of a few years before they too became candidates for “modernisation”.

In due course, the PPIFs were scrapped to be replaced by the totally useless LINks. The less said about them the better.

And now we are promised Health and Wellbeing Boards by April 2013.

Time for us all to scream silently.

Britain’s leading charities are right to say that patients need a strong voice given the scale and reach of Lansley’s NHS reforms – and to hold politicians of all parties to account.

Patients’ organisations should be aggressive watchdogs, protecting vulnerable people in the care of the NHS and, at the same time, guarding the health service against ill conceived and costly changes whose debilitating effects live on long after the politicians have gone.

When the music stops

How touching to see Conservative MP, Andrew Stephenson, inquiring about future standards of music tuition in primary and secondary schools just as Nelson and Colne College, in the heart of his Pendle constituency, announces the closure of its Music Department due to “unprecedented funding cuts”.

Attachments:

NHS. Local Democratic Legitimacy Factsheet.pdf	[NHS Health and Wellbeing Boards]	91 Kb
PPIF on A&E Nov 2006.pdf	[PPIF on A&E]	4011 Kb
PPIF on East Lancs Clinical Services Review.pdf	[PPIF on East Lancs Clinical Services Review]	11533 Kb