Government tries to shelve pollution action plan until after election

The government has made a last-minute application to the high court to delay the publication of its plan to tackle the air pollution crisis.

Ministers were under a court direction to produce tougher draft measures to tackle illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution, which is largely caused by diesel traffic, by 4pm on Monday. The government’s original plans had been dismissed by judges as so poor as to be unlawful.

But following the announcement by Theresa May of a general election on 8 June, ministers lodged a lengthy application to the court late on Friday. It is understood they are asking judges to allow them to breach Monday’s deadline and submit a draft in June – after the general election.

It is understood that a full policy will not be produced until September this year.

The government has had months to come up with its air quality plans and Whitehall sources indicated to the Guardian this week they would be published in time.

The late application to delay publication was condemned by the environmental lawyers group ClientEarth, which successfully took the government to court over its air quality plans. MPs have said air pollution in the UK is a public health emergency that causes 40,000 premature deaths a year.

James Thornton, CEO of ClientEarth, said: “We are urgently considering the government’s application to delay the publication of the draft air quality plan which was received on Friday evening, less than one working day before the plans are due.

“It is far from acceptable that ministers have left this to the very last minute. The government proposes to delay the publication of the air quality plan despite the clear public health risk caused by illegal air quality. These plans are essential to safeguard public health and they should be put in place without delay.”

The application is likely to be considered by judges on Monday. Judges have already told ministers that their plans were taking too long and imposed the deadline to force the government to come up with new measures more quickly.

The government lodged a lengthy application shortly before 7pm on Friday to the court, which was too late for the court to accept. It will now be considered early next week.

Thornton said the general election was not an acceptable reason to delay taking action against air pollution.

“This is not a political issue but a public health issue. Whichever party is in power, the British public need to see an air quality plan which relies on good scientific evidence and which ensures that people no longer have to breathe toxic air and suffer the grave consequences to their health as a result,” he said.

Greenpeace also condemned the delaying tactics. Anna Jones, from Greenpeace UK said: “Ministers have had months to come up with a robust plan to tackle illegal air pollution. They have no excuses to delay its publication any further.

“The Cabinet Office guidance makes it clear that essential consultations can still be launched during purdah, and even mentions safeguarding public health as a ground for exceptions.

“Air pollution is a full-blown public health emergency, linked to thousands of premature deaths and a host of health problems. If the government intends to use the election as a pretext to buy more time, that would only be a sign that they just don’t get the gravity of the situation.”

A joint Guardian/Greenpeace investigation revealed this month that hundreds of thousands of children were being educated within 150 metres of a road where levels of nitrogen dioxide from diesel traffic breached legal limits.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said: “We are firmly committed to improving the UK’s air quality and cutting harmful emissions. We are seeking an extension to comply with pre-election propriety rules.”

Government tries to shelve pollution action plan until after election

I was ready to quit nursing until I went to work in a Laos hospital

I didn’t go into nursing ignorant of the challenges ahead. I’d witnessed the enormous toll it can take emotionally and physically, and was exposed to the seemingly constant negative press surrounding the NHS about overworked staff and a broken system. Yet I wanted to be a nurse. And I wasn’t going to let the NHS break me.

After three years of training, I started my first job as a children’s nurse on a busy surgical ward. I sat in my first handover, listening to the nurses complain about not getting breaks until, eventually, one turned to me and said dryly, “Welcome to the NHS!” These weren’t bad people. They were exhausted from giving so much to a system that relies on the good nature of its staff. But I was still optimistic. I wanted to be a good nurse. I wasn’t bitter. Yet.

My enthusiasm very quickly waned. My optimism and energy were worn down by the patient load, 14-hour days with just a cup of coffee to see me through, and the crushing responsibility of being a newly-qualified nurse. I made an agreement with myself: I’d get through one full year before I quit, just to prove to people I’d tried.

As the months passed I found myself actually enjoying the job. Yes, I still worked long days without a real break. And yes, I did still worry about my patients on my days off. But I’d somehow adapted to the gruelling schedule of a nurse. And so I continued.

But gradually, over the years, my list of grievances with nursing grew. It started to affect my home life and I noticed that I was getting sick more often. My resilience had been weakened and I felt like I was running on empty.

My partner and I had been talking about living abroad for a while and we came to the conclusion that now was as good a time as any. We were both ready for a break. Many of our friends were buying houses and climbing career ladders, and would often comment that we were brave to quit it all. But for me taking a break seemed selfish and indulgent rather than brave. I didn’t even consider whether it would harm my career progression. At that point I yearned for less, rather than more responsibility.

And so we packed our bags and headed for Asia. On long bus journeys or during quiet moments I would sometimes question whether I could go back to nursing. With the luxury of distance and time I saw myself as the bitter, overworked nurse I’d been sure I wouldn’t become. I was ashamed. I’d lost sight of why I wanted to be nurse.

After six months away from nursing, I heard that the Lao friends hospital for children in Luang Prabang was looking for nursing volunteers. Re-energised by our time away so far, I felt ready for a new challenge and so, with a mixture of apprehension and excitement, we headed to Laos.

The hospital is well equipped thanks to the generosity of the charity that funds and runs it. Yet compared with NHS hospitals it lacks the equipment, medicines and expertise that we take for granted. In the UK I never saw a child go without a blood transfusion because the blood bank was empty, or watched a terminally ill child be discharged home with only an apology that we could do no more. It reminds me how lucky we are to have the NHS. The limitations we worked with in Laos encouraged innovation and teamwork, which can sometimes be lacking or forgotten about in the vastness of the NHS.

Being part of a team that responds innovatively and tirelessly to the challenges these limitations provide, combined with spending my days (and nights) with children and their families and the joy of seeing these children get better, has reignited my enthusiasm for nursing.

I’m extending my stay here in Luang Prabang. Hopefully when I return to the UK, I’ll be a better nurse for my time spent here. But I certainly wouldn’t rule out another career break. It’s been difficult financially, and yes, it’s a luxury, but a break from my normal has made me remember why I’m proud to be a nurse.

If you would like to contribute to our Blood, sweat and tears series about memorable moments in a healthcare career, read our guidelines and get in touch by emailing sarah.johnson@theguardian.com.

Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to read more pieces like this. And follow us on Twitter (@GdnHealthcare) to keep up with the latest healthcare news and views.

I was ready to quit nursing until I went to work in a Laos hospital

NHS cash crisis in Kent halts non-urgent surgery until April

An NHS body has run so short of money that it has banned patients in its area from having non-urgent surgery for up to 102 days in an unprecedented move that doctors have condemned as unfair and damaging.

Around 1,700 patients will be affected by West Kent clinical commissioning group’s (CCG) attempt to save £3.2m by delaying non-urgent operations from 20 December last year until the new financial year starts in April.

The CCG has introduced what the Royal College of Surgeons says is the longest ban in health service history on patients undergoing surgery to relieve pain, immobility, disability and other problems. The 1,700 patients include those waiting to have a new hip or knee fitted.

It is the latest example of cash-strapped CCGs implementing controversial restrictions on patients’ access to treatment which doctors have agreed they need. It follows a series of rows over the growing number of England’s 209 CCGs rationing care, including to smokers and those who are obese.

West Kent CCG has decided to suspend non-urgent surgery to help ensure that it does not bust its £472m annual budget. It pays for and supervises the care received by 463,000 people in Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and surrounding areas.

Clare Marx, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, warned that the move would prolong patients’ suffering. “West Kent CCG’s suspension of non-urgent surgery until April is unprecedented and unfair. Patients, some of whom may be in severe discomfort or pain, should not be made to wait longer for treatment because the CCG has run out of money and surgical patients are perceived as easily postponed,” said Marx.

The policy could mean that patients’ health worsens further while they wait for a date for their procedure, and would waste valuable NHS resources and cost the CCG more in the long run, she added.

“The CCG is trying to make short-term savings, which may have major consequences for patients. While patients wait for treatment, their conditions could deteriorate, sometimes making treatment more complex and costly in the long term. In addition, standing down surgeons and their teams is inefficient and a waste of scarce resource. Clinical decisions must not be made purely on a financial basis,” Marx said.

Recent CCG board papers show that it agreed and began the policy in December because so many more patients than expected were seeking care that it was at risk of overshooting its budget.

Hospitals are being “asked to reduce non-urgent elective care until the end of the financial year. This will inevitably mean delays in treatment for some patients,” it said. It hopes to save £2.1m by not sending patients for surgery at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS trust and another £1.1m by limiting the number of patients sent to private health firms.

The CCG is also limiting patients’ access to cataract removals and in-vitro fertilisation as part of a raft of measures designed to shore up its rocky financial position. In addition, it is following a lead set by other CCGs and making smokers and obese patients wait for a wide range of surgery until they have quit smoking or lost weight.

“For a hip or a knee replacement, some individuals, although suffering continued discomfort, would be able to wait longer for their operation without there being an adverse outcome for their health,” said Dr Ian Ayres, the CCG’s accountable officer.

“We are working with our providers to identify exactly which patients will be affected, but estimate the number of patients affected to be in the order of 1,700. We have not prescribed in advance a list of procedures or patients to be delayed. Anyone who has had a procedure booked will be treated. No one will have their operation or procedure cancelled as a result of this policy.

“Patients will continue to be referred by their GP outpatient appointment and be seen by a consultant. A judgment will then be made as to whether the required procedure is urgent, or non-urgent and could wait. Therefore, no one with an urgent healthcare need will be made to wait.”

The move comes against a backdrop of fast-deteriorating CCG finances. The 209 CCGs were meant to end 2016-17 with an £800m surplus, which was then going to be used to prop up the ailing finances of NHS hospital trusts. But NHS England recently disclosed that CCGs had overspent by £300m in the first six months of the year, casting serious doubt over their ability to meet that target.

Sally Gainsbury, an NHS finances expert at the Nuffield Trust health thinktank, said the NHS’s overall finances for this year would be put at risk if CCGs did not deliver the requested £800m surplus. “If they don’t underspend by £800m then the NHS system is bust,” she said, because that sum has been earmarked to help ensure hospitals’ collective deficit in 2016-17 is much less than last year’s record £2.45bn.”

NHS cash crisis in Kent halts non-urgent surgery until April

Avian flu: Defra tells owners to keep poultry indoors until spring

Poultry owners across Britain have been told they must keep their chickens, ducks and geese away from wild birds until the start of spring to counter the threat of avian influenza.

Keepers, including people with just a few backyard hens, must place poultry indoors or take other measures to reduce the chances of them coming into contact with wild birds.

The prevention measures were initially imposed on 6 December but keepers had been hoping that birds used to roaming free would be allowed out this month.

On Wednesday, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced that the restrictions would be maintained in England until 28 February. Similar moves were made in Scotland and Wales and there is a Britain-wide ban on poultry shows and gatherings.

It comes a day after the Welsh government said a backyard flock in south-west Wales had been slaughtered after catching avian flu.

The H5N8 strain of avian influenza has been circulating in Europe for several weeks. An outbreak was confirmed in turkeys at a farm in Lincolnshire on 16 December. The disease has also been found in wild birds in Wales, England and Scotland.

Public Health England advises that the risk to public health remains very low and the Food Standards Agency is clear that bird flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers.

England’s chief veterinary officer, Nigel Gibbens, said: “Anyone who keeps poultry such as chickens, ducks and geese, even as pets, must take action to stop them coming into contact with wild birds to protect them from avian flu.

“Birds should be moved into a suitable building, or if that isn’t possible owners must take sensible precautions to keep them away from wild birds, like putting up netting to create a temporary enclosure and keeping food and water supplies inside where they cannot be contaminated by wild birds.

“Even when birds are kept indoors a risk of infection remains so keepers must also practice good biosecurity, for example by disinfecting footwear and equipment and washing clothing after contact with birds.”

The chief veterinary officer in Wales, Christianne Glossop, said: “Even when birds are housed, there remains a risk of infection and keepers of poultry and other captive birds should ensure that every effort is made to prevent contact with wild birds.”

Avian flu: Defra tells owners to keep poultry indoors until spring

Returning for Treatment Until You Die

As far back as 1975, Nobel Laureate James Watson of DNA fame was quoted in the New York Times saying that the American public had been “sold a nasty bill of goods about cancer.”  Facts are: The body can be harmed by certain cancer treatments.

And yet I hear on several occasions …’my client has cancer and really doesn’t want to change his or her diet, she is doing conventional treatment, wants to continue eating candy and junk and fighting for her life doesn’t want to hear about alternative treatments because they are so expensive and her insurance won’t cover it.’  What’s even more disturbing is- we give big kudos to the women in the walk for the BIG cancer Corporations because they are “fighting the WAR” and they have so far survived the ‘so called battle’, while being sponsored by the very toxic foods corporations that may cause their cancer! It’s time to shine the light on corruption.

War, Mustard Gas & Toxic Foods are crimes against humanity.

“What we mostly see is poisoning the system is the objective of conventional treatments, and the resulting pain and illness often is a torment worse than the disease itself. The toxins catch the blood cells in the act of dividing and cause blood poisoning.” Dr Moss.

Fact: “Chemotherapy doesn’t cure cancer or extend life, and does not improve the quality of the life either. Doctors frequently make this claim though. There are thousands of studies that were reviewed by Dr.Ralph Moss as part of the research for his book, ‘Questioning Chemotherapy’ and there is not one single good study documenting this claim.”

According to Allen Levin, MD UCSF The Healing of Cancer: “Most cancer patients in this country die of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy does not eliminate breast, colon, or lung cancers. This fact has been documented for over a decade, yet doctors still use chemotherapy for these tumors,”

In his book The Wayward Cell, Cancer, Dr. Victor Richards made it clear that, “chemotherapy is used primarily just to keep the patient returning for treatment and to build his morale while he dies”. But there’s more! He said: “Nevertheless, chemotherapy serves an extremely valuable role in keeping patients oriented toward proper medical therapy, and prevents the feeling of being abandoned by the physician in patients with late and hopeless cancers.”

So the question remains: “In what reality do we live in when we cut, poison and burn loved ones with cancer”? (1)

Over the years we (collective) have not made strives in the prevention of cancer because  the battle and war against cancer can be directly related to politics and what corporations and bankers back with their dollar.(2) Fact: Cancer is profitable for Big Oil Companies and Bankers.

Standard Oil was of the foundation upon which all of the Rockefeller industries have been built. One being the AMA and Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital. The keystone of this mammoth industrial empire was the Chase National Bank, now renamed the Chase Manhattan Bank.
The Rockefeller’s own the largest drug manufactures in the world, and use all of their other interests to bring pressure to increase the sale of drugs. The fact that most of the 12,000 separate drug items on the market are harmful is of no concern to the Drug Trust…(3)

Some drug ads are powered by JAMA,(4) with its biggest single advertiser in the 1940s- Phillip Morris. (Camel cigarettes had the largest booth at the AMA’s 1948 convention, boasting in its ads that “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.”)(5)

Sometimes as a coach, I feel we’re up against such an enormous wall.  I hear we are suppose to thank our walls and learn from our walls, however in reality I want to see ‘cancer walls’ broken and crumble.  In the back of my mind -I’m asking,  ‘are we going to have these wall for another 100 years?’ Are we not ready to face the truth?(6)

The truth is: The industry wants to see cancer patients die.

So the next question is: ‘why don’t people trust themselves to make a more positive decision in their health?  If they really wanted to live, why wouldn’t they want to make changes that would be within their reach and under their control?  WHY?  And the only reason I hear is, “FEAR”.

What feeds fear? 

Denying self-love- Does fear surround your ability to love yourself right now for who you are? What organ, muscle, or tissue do you feel this fear? Identify. Stop to listen.

Indecisiveness- Who makes the decisions in your life? Can you make a decision to be well? Can you change your story, in order to change your life?

Time- How many times a day do you tell yourself you don’t have time for this or that? Time is not your enemy, beliefs based in fear are.  Journal what beliefs are false for you. Categorize them. What do you need to hold onto and what beliefs can you let go?

A Poor Diet- Leaves the mind and body with plenty of toxic side-effects. These play a role in uncontrollable fear-based emotions. After months or years of disrespecting your body with an abundance of alcohol and high sugary products, it’s next to impossible to feel well. Sugar controls the mind and body and leads to increasing fears, depression and poor immunity. Take the path to increasing whole foods and ditching foods that keep you in a state of fear and sickness.

Fear is not only an emotion, it’s a way of being. When beliefs are challenged, fear and denial set in.  We become very uncomfortable and our minds are filled with anxiety. It comes from being confused and feeling helpless and this confusion doesn’t allow one to take control or face the truth. We need the truth in order to heal. One truth being.. the body has the inept ability to heal itself.

How can you get help? In my book, there are three issues I talk about often to clients and they include: digestion, hormonal and mitochondria health. These are involved with all bodily functions. When we get these to work optimally the body works at the cellular level to give energy and all elimination systems work properly to remove toxic waste. The result is our body’s natural defense system, inflammation, is relieved.

What disrupts these famous 3?

The answer is: low frequency foods. These include but are not limited to: mac & cheese, frozen waffles, cereals, fried foods, donuts, breads, rBGH dairy and cheese, sodas and conventional produce.

Mitochondria turn the foods we eat (ATP) and the air we breathe into energy. Solutions include: build a homestyle that you can breathe in and discover foods that are your friend- foods that will love you back.

We pay more attention to genetics, than our own body. We spend a lifetime disrupting digestion, hormonal and mitochondria health and wonder why we struggle with metabolic syndrome, low energy, lost libido, cancer and age related miscommunication disorders such as Alzheimers. All these can be prevented.

Holistic Health is a natural expression of harmony of life. It consist of balance in all arenas.  Certified Health Coaches charge less than 1% of what conventional treatments will cost you. Want to know more? Let’s connect.

Connie Rogers is a Certified Integrative Nutritional Health Coach and Author of Path to a Healthy Mind & Body

Website: www.bitesizepieces.net

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/bitesizepieces

footnotes:

1-  http://preventdisease.com/news/12/080812_Surprised-US-Scientists-Find-That-Chemotherapy-Boosts-Cancer-Growth.shtml

2- http://www.cancertruth.net/ama-history/

3- http://www.whale.to/b/ruesch.html

4- https://jamanetwork.com/public/Advertisers.aspx

5- http://www.healingcancernaturally.com/medical-history.html

6- https://youtu.be/ySnk-f2ThpE

Returning for Treatment Until You Die

Homeless individuals discharged from hospital had nowhere to go – right up until now

Thomas Stanney was cycling back to his short-term accommodation when a man opened his vehicle door and Stanney crashed straight into it. The collision sent him tumbling onto the street and fractured his pelvis.

Stanney, who also has diabetes, was in hospital for 6 weeks. Faced with getting nowhere to go after discharged, a group from St Mungo’s Broadway, a homelessness charity and housing association, came to see him and secured a location in the hospital discharge network (HDN) in Hackney, in which sufferers can convalesce soon after a remain in hospital.

“I would have been in difficulty [with no the network] simply because I’d made myself homeless. [The council] threw me out of the accommodation they’d put me in temporarily whilst I was in hospital. The only location I had to go was the streets.”

He adds: “I could just about stroll again when I left hospital. I was still sore. When I got down on the floor, I struggled to get back up once more. It would have been pretty challenging to survive on the streets.”

The hospital discharge network was set up two many years in the past with over £3.6m of funding from the Division of Health in an energy to minimize hospital readmission prices and A&ampE attendance amongst homeless folks in London. There are 4 centres in central London offering accommodation and on-website medical providers. A team of nurses and psychologists function alongside wellness and housing support staff to aid the particular person move on as their remedy comes to a close. The profile of clientele demonstrates several wants, with many lengthy phrase and acute circumstances like diabetes, persistent liver illness, hepatitis, HIV and more. Soon after a keep in the HDN, consumers are helped to move on to supported housing or independent accommodation.

The Division of Overall health estimated that the expense of hospital therapy for homeless people is at least £85m a 12 months (pdf), meaning expenses of far more than £2,a hundred in contrast to £525 per particular person amongst the basic population (pdf). Portion of the purpose for the expense differential is that homeless people predominantly bypass main care companies, and go straight to A&ampE when they hit crisis level. Andrew Casey, director of well being at St Mungo’s, says that use of emergency solutions by homeless folks is several occasions that of the standard population. “Some homeless folks use A&ampE more than primary care, specially if they’re moving all around and do not remain in a single location. It is challenging for them to get into a GP practice … and they really don’t engage really effortlessly or readily with well being providers.” he says.

Thomas Stanney (proper) stayed in the hospital discharge network right after he fractured his pelvis in a traffic accident. Photograph: St Mungo’s Broadway

Homelessness is a overall health situation, according to Casey. Homeless Link’s 2014 Overall health Needs Audit (pdf) is a device aimed at assisting commissioners and practitioners gather data on the wellness requirements of homeless men and women, and making certain providers are in location to meet nearby demand. Its survey identified 73% of homeless men and women reported a bodily wellness dilemma and of people who did, 41% reported their situation as extended phrase, in contrast with 28% of the common population. Meanwhile, 45% of individuals surveyed had a psychological well being diagnosis in contrast to 25% amongst the basic population.

Casey says: “Physical, psychological and alcohol problems usually stem from traumatic experiences in earlier life. That can lead to homelessness. Then if somebody’s sleeping on the street, you can see how their health can decline really rapidly specially if their requirements are not tended to.”

I get looked following so properly that I’ve minimize down [my alcohol intake] to three or four cans a day.

Brian Stone

Brian Stone*, 57, from Hackney, had been living on the streets for two years when he was supplied a location in a St Mungo’s hostel in Hackney. He has angina, suffers from nervousness and depression, and utilised to drink 28 cans of cider and beer a day – a habit he designed on the streets. When he collapsed in his area, he was taken to hospital and diagnosed with cirrhosis – scarring of the liver induced by prolonged-term damage. This was not the very first time he had been admitted to hospital for drinking-connected problems. He was accepted into the hospital discharge network exactly where, with the aid of the on-internet site nurse, and going to psychiatrist and GP, he has minimize back on his consuming and obtained help for his psychological health problems.

He says: “Since I’ve been in the unit, I’ve had so a lot support. I get looked soon after so properly that I’ve lower down [my alcohol intake] to 3 or 4 cans a day. It is been hard but I’ve acquired the staff here to support me.”

He has far more of a deal with on his mental well being troubles which used to avoid him from going out alone. “The nervousness stopped me from leaving my space. That has altered now. I attend artwork, cooking and pottery lessons.”

And, it’s not just Stone that has observed a distinction. Catherine Lake*, a locum well being help worker for St Mungo’s says: “Brian is visibly a good deal happier. Physically, he seems a whole lot healthier. It is the spirit that is the massive modify along with the physical. He’s capable to talk far more … and take change in his stride.”

So far, the initiative appears to be doing work. In the three months from April to June this 12 months, occupancy for the hospital discharge network in Hackney – a single of the centres in central London – was one hundred%. From nine clients admitted to the services in this time period, there have been a complete of twelve admissions to hospital (not including A&ampE) before their stay in the HDN. Right after staying in the centre, this reduced to two.

Connected: How one London borough aims to improve homeless people’s health

Even though in the HDN, the 9 clientele attended 30 main care appointments with GPs, dentists, opticians, podiatry and substance use solutions. This was a 97% attendance price – only 1 appointment was missed. In the case of 1 personal consumer, in the three months prior to staying in the HDN they attended A&ampE on 30 occasions. For the duration of their keep, this decreased to three A&ampE attendances.

As Stone says: “If it wasn’t for a area like this, who understands what would have took place. When you are on the streets and it’s pouring with rain or snow, you are down and out, you tend to believe issues … When you come to a warm bed and personnel, issues alter.”

* Some names have been altered

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Homeless individuals discharged from hospital had nowhere to go – right up until now

United kingdom cities will exceed EU pollution limits right up until 2030, figures present

Air pollution levels in London, Birmingham, and Leeds will exceed European limits till at least 2030, newly-published figures display.

In a case at the European court of justice on Thursday lawyers for the commission described the UK’s failure to act on the breach as “maybe the longest operating infringement of EU law in historical past.”

The Uk has exceeded the EU’s nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution restrict considering that 2010, top the European commission and environmental lawyers to launch separate legal actions towards the government which faces potential fines of £300m a yr for its infraction.

On Wednesday, the government published revised and far more accurate projections for NO2 emissions, which display that it expects the Better London urban region, West Midlands urban location and West Yorkshire urban area will be in breach right up until “after 2030″, 5-10 years later on than previously expected.

NO2 is largely caused by diesel autos, and can aggravate current overall health troubles such as asthma. Research have begun to propose NO2 could have as wonderful an impact on early deaths as particulate pollution which have previously been linked to larger risks of lung cancer and heart failure. Air pollution triggers an estimated 29,000 deaths a 12 months in the Uk, in accordance to Public Overall health England.

Tyneside, Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield and Bristol, all previously expected to be in compliance of NO2 amounts by 2015, will now not be compliant until finally 2025, in accordance to the revised figures, which take into account much more precise “functionality of present day diesel cars and older petrol vehicles”.

Alan Andrews, a attorney for ClientEarth which has brought a situation towards the United kingdom for the breach which was heard by the European court of justice, said: “It’s poor sufficient that the government has no intention of complying with these limits in the foreseeable future. It’s even worse that they are attempting to hide behind legal procedural principles to maintain this quiet. We have a appropriate to breathe clean air and the correct to know when the government is failing to safeguard us.

He extra: “Another five many years of delay indicates thousands much more people will die or be made critically ill. The Uk demands to act now to get deadly diesel autos out of our towns and cities.”

Barry Gardiner, shadow setting minister, explained: “Today’s response from the European court of justice exhibits that the government is failing to meet even its very own inadequate air pollution targets. Instead of implementing measures to minimize the ranges of pollution, the government lately had to scrap its very own air top quality approach due to the fact it would have produced the difficulty worse, and presently the government have no strategy.”

“Now the government’s only target is covering their back by passing fines for their very own failure to reduce air pollution on to regional authorities. With out urgent action young children in the Uk will be waiting for one more twenty years before they can expect any improvement.”

This week, air pollution specialists at King’s School in London stated that NO2 levels in London’s Oxford Street were the worst in the globe. A verdict on the ClientEarth situation is anticipated from the European court of justice towards the end of this yr.

United kingdom cities will exceed EU pollution limits right up until 2030, figures present

The NHS is on the brink: can&nbspit survive until May 2015? | Polly Toynbee

The clock is ticking: ‘the mildest winter on record nonetheless noticed 3% much more emergency admissions. So far deft NHS management has contained an explosion’. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

Magical thinking and false accounting constantly hit the crash barriers at some point. That is what happened this week as the Guardian exposed belated panic in excess of the Greater Care Fund (BCF) prepare to slice £2bn out of hospitals to give to nearby government to integrate with social care. Every little thing about this scheme illustrates this government’s phenomenal ineptitude in the essentials of policy delivery.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the objective: every person agrees that pooling NHS and social care funds is the only way to cope with the soaring numbers of older and disabled men and women. But the policy leapt from very good notion to fantasy and fraud. It was Tony Travers from the London School of Economics who spotted it: George Osborne’s spending evaluation for 2015-sixteen creatively accounted a total including up to more than a hundred%. In devising the BCF, Osborne shifted funds out of overall health into social care, but he double-counted so that it nonetheless appears in the two columns. This meant he could fool the two sides: nearby government cut by 27% and in crisis over social care eyed the “ring-fenced” plenitude of the NHS, even though the NHS was advised it was new income – prior to it found that £2bn was getting stripped from its funding. The fantasy was that merging two bankrupt outfits – the NHS and social care – miraculously creates 1 solvent services.

Following April, the NHS loses £2bn to nearby government Wellness and Wellbeing Boards who, collectively with nearby clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), should style local community providers to lessen hospital admissions. Practically no hospitals have been consulted, regardless of losing £15m every. Developing up the neighborhood indicates beefing up GP providers, extra nurse practitioners, some Darzi polyclinics, reopening misplaced Walk-in centres and day centres, much more property adaptations, and community and mental nurses locating the regular hospital end users prior to they reach a crisis. Professor Azeem Majeed, creating in the BMJ, calls for the NHS to directly employ GPs, which may iron out enormous variations in hospital referrals and prescribing routines. But none of this is low-cost.

To make the sums operate, NHS England tiny print demands 15% fewer emergency hospital admissions in the very first yr: every single CCG has to stop a fixed number, which no one particular thinks is remotely achievable. Beds are beneath this kind of stress that they will go on currently being filled with no saving. No hospitals strategy to cut beds or workers post the Mid Staffs scandal they are rightly employing more. Nuffield Believe in research shows that 15,000 much more beds are necessary more than the following 7 many years just to hold tempo with ageing individuals and a lot more premature babies surviving with disabilities. With virtually half of hospitals already in deficit, the BCF calls for that from next year each and every should minimize yet another 7%, although none succeeded in cutting the four% ordered for each and every of the past four years, since it really is extremely hard.

Does switching to community care ever save money? The very best illustration is the excellent closure of psychological hospitals. It took 10 many years with double-funding to construct the local community services just before shutting the hospital doors the new system never grew to become less expensive. Well being economist Professor Alan Maynard factors to scores of evaluations of integrated care experiments, such as the health department’s personal, which he says identified no evidence of financial savings. On the contrary, “extra neighborhood companies reveal large unmet want, costing a lot more, with more hospital bed use.”

Nigel Edwards of the Nuffield Believe in says it is frequently more affordable to treat individuals in a ward rather than travelling to care for the frail at home. “Our evaluations show you can stop some admissions, but they are replaced by other folks as far more neighborhood require is unveiled. Hospitals have 80% fixed charges, so fewer admissions do not conserve much.” Everyone, except the magical thinkers, says the exact same: switching to the local community is no get-out-of-jail card. The Cabinet Workplace panicked more than a report that stays below lock and key: however the BCF plan is delayed it will appear to proceed to cease hospitals easing up on the squeeze.

All NHS organisations are sending up distress flares. The King’s Fund calls subsequent year’s price range “totally unrealistic” the Nuffield Trust talks of “flawed logic” and “wishful thinking”. Hospitals undergoing more and more savage Care High quality Commission inspections (as the CQC covers its own back) refuse to take the blame for deficits. Waiting lists are swollen to nearly three million, waiting instances are lengthening, and A&ampE targets are starting up to be missed: the mildest winter on record nonetheless noticed 3% a lot more emergency admissions. So far deft NHS management has contained an explosion. Can it hold to up coming May?

ONS figures last week showed that amid G7 countries only Italy spends less per head on wellness than the United kingdom. Tony Blair pledged to raise us to the EU average, which Labour did briefly with an eight% yearly improve. Now the NHS has had 4 years of the lowest funding rises ever.

The British Social Attitudes survey finds fulfillment is still quite higher at 60%, but not recovered from the fantastic drop brought about by Andrew Lansley’s upheaval. The Commonwealth Fund regularly scores the United kingdom substantial on fulfillment and paying efficiency. Unsurprisingly, with this kind of minimal investing we still score reduced on numerous avoidable deaths – often excellent ammunition for NHS opponents. Wiltshire GPs calling a BMA vote on charging for appointments will be resoundingly trounced by the excellent majority, but they are a vanguard for rightwingers permanently claiming that NHS deficiencies can only be cured by privatisations.

The NHS and its thinktanks say that every celebration going into the up coming election pretending that the services will stick to current paying ideas is “wildly optimistic” – or, frankly, lying. A cut of seven% next year and another 5% or a lot more every single of the following three many years is never ever going to happen – so who will get the credit for fiscal honesty by saying so? Simon Stephens, new NHS England supremo, politely told parliament he hoped a growing economic climate would increase NHS revenues let us hope that behind the scenes his message is much more urgent.

Labour rushed to reject any suggestion of a hypothecated 2p on national insurance coverage or income tax, regardless of the Wellness Service Journal reporting that two-thirds of voters are inclined to shell out more for the NHS. Labour can’t keep warning of the crisis without having saying how it will cope. Andy Burnham’s plans for integrated health and social care are evolutionary and neighborhood – but Labour can’t pretend they will conserve ample to rescue the NHS. Which is the exact same homeopathic accounting as the BCF, on which Jeremy Hunt has waxed uncharacteristically silent. Amount 10 has advised him to pipe down and hold the NHS out of the information, just praying it doesn’t explode just before next Might.

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The NHS is on the brink: can&nbspit survive until May 2015? | Polly Toynbee