You’ve been asked to have your say on the NHS. You just don’t know about it

[humanbean]

And you've only got until 23rd November... Yes, really!

theguardian.com/commentisfr...

Read the comments on the above link, as well as the article. Then you'll know what you are letting yourself in for. The government is making it as hard as possible to comment, in every possible way.

Edit : Oh, and before you ask, No I haven't read it (the government's document) yet. I've only just found the article and it's nearly 11pm.

[Hidden]

More public money wasted on another pointless exercise.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention humanbean!

[bobsmydog]

Yes, I just saw that in paper.

Its for NHS England only, so can't join in the fun here in Wales.

[shaws Administrator]

I'll read it later but thanks for drawing our attention to it and 'yes' it's been kept very quiet.

[Sylvia22]

Well done for spotting this. I have read it .Overall I suggest that we all tell our MP's that we do not want our NHS privatised. It doesn't say they are going to in this form but I do not trust them.

[Chrys in reply to Sylvia22]

Could treatment for Hashimoto's and hypothyroidism be any worse if it was?

[humanbean]

I don't remember if I posted this before or not.

theguardian.com/healthcare-...

The first couple of paragraphs :

"The NHS has been legally abolished. Perhaps most controversial is the opening up of NHS contracts to unlimited privatisation. Last year alone, out of £9.63bn worth of NHS deals signed, £3.54bn (nearly 40% of them) went to private firms. Private providers are cherry-picking lucrative services to boost their profits leaving the NHS with less money to provide comprehensive care. This neatly ties in with the next aspect of the legislation.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are now only legally obliged to provide emergency care and ambulances. Beyond this, the CCGs can provide services as they deem to be appropriate. This translates into unlimited rationing. We are already seeing the rationing of hearing aids and cataracts. Devon CCG announced that all routine surgery would be restricted for obese patients and smokers. And routine shoulder surgery would be restricted for all patients."

I despaired after reading it. I don't know why there aren't regular demonstrations about saving the NHS in every city in the UK (or is it just the NHS in England under threat? I really don't know.)

At one time I regularly spent time reading newspapers on the web that were from other English speaking countries to see if I could find out things that were going on in the UK that weren't being mentioned in the UK press. I did read a few stories that hadn't been publicised in the UK, but most of the time they just regurgitate what the UK press publishes. The BBC and other news sites used to report the news, warts and all, (at least to some extent), but it doesn't any more. I remember a few years ago reading (on a US news site) about a huge demonstration (many, many thousands of people attended) that took place in London against the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The UK media didn't even bother reporting it.