Jeremy Hunt has got it wrong: junior doctors are not the enemy within | Diane Abbott

The first ever all-out strike in the NHS took place under David Cameron’s Tory government. The very first five-day strike in the NHS is now set to take place under Theresa May, unless the government sees sense. This is the Tory record on the NHS.

Jeremy Hunt says there is always tension between health secretaries and NHS staff. Tension is one thing, strike action is unprecedented. The government is attempting to portray this entirely as a result of unreasonable, militant or even out-of-touch and overpaid junior doctors flexing their muscles. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In psychology, this is known as projection. The government is blaming NHS workers for its own failings. It is flexing its own muscles. It’s possible that junior doctors are just the first group of workers who will be targeted for the unreasonable imposition of contracts without negotiation. The Conservative government is also out of touch with public opinion. Of course the public dislikes the disruption, and may even be fearful of its consequences. But people are clear that the blame for this lies with the government itself.

The government’s anti-doctor propaganda campaign should not be allowed to obscure a central truth about the crisis. Far from being able to deliver a seven-day NHS it is clear the existing procedures of the NHS are not sustainable because of government underfunding. On virtually all measures NHS performance is deteriorating, and waiting lists are growing across the board. Hospital trusts are racking up enormous debts because they are being asked to do more with less, and the waste of PFI. Targets for ambulance waiting times, A&E consultations, GP access and cancer referral times are all being missed.

Jeremy Hunt: junior doctor strike will be ‘worst in NHS history’

The target for elective surgeries is that they should be performed within 18 weeks. According to the Patients Association the target was missed for 92,739 people in 2015, a rise of more than 40,000 in a single year. This should be borne in mind when Hunt points the finger at junior doctors and blames them for postponed operations. Patients are already waiting inordinate periods of time for operations, often suffering painful or debilitating conditions.

This throws into sharp relief the central cause of the dispute, the attempt to impose seven-day working without the resources to fund it. Current resources are insufficient to adequately fund the so-called five-day NHS. The mantra that the NHS must do more with less has become “the NHS must do much, much more with less”. It is infeasible.

As the junior doctors point out, most NHS services are available at the weekend and most doctors work weekends as part of their rotas. The government is not introducing something wholly new, just something wholly unworkable without resources. The danger is that the changes to the rotas will increase risk to patients. Doctors might end up working even longer hours.

All of this is avoidable. The BMA junior doctors committee is willing to enter talks about the contract. The government could approach the aim of creating a seven-day NHS in a collaborative way.

Our health service relies above all on the skill and professionalism of its staff. They are the key asset in preserving and improving the NHS to meet new needs. Nothing useful can be achieved by this government treating hard-working junior doctors like “the enemy within”.

Jeremy Hunt has got it wrong: junior doctors are not the enemy within | Diane Abbott

Abbott willing to rethink $seven Medicare co-payment, says AMA president

The Abbott government is prepared to rethink the design of its proposed $ 7 GP co-payment, the Australian Health-related Association (AMA) has declared, after a meeting in Canberra on Wednesday.

In a possibly significant shift on a budget measure that was most likely to encounter Senate defeat, Tony Abbott and his overall health minister, Peter Dutton, are explained to have signalled their willingness to consider different designs at a meeting with the AMA leadership at Parliament Home.

The AMA president, Brian Owler, described the meeting as “constructive” and said the prime minister and the health minister had listened to the organisation’s worries about the influence of the proposed new charge on vulnerable patients.

“I feel the message that was clear today was a dedication on behalf of the prime minister and the minister to look at substitute designs, something that we have not heard prior to, or since the price range was announced, and I believe that’s a really optimistic move,” Owler explained at a press conference right after the meeting.

Asked to confirm the government had indicated it was prepared to modify the GP co-payment, Owler stated: “The prime minister and the minister produced it relatively clear in the meeting that they have been willing to appear at different models and contemplate those on their merits.

“Obviously if there is a model that is acceptable to the AMA that we’re capable to assistance I’m hoping the government will support that model, and so I believe for the 1st time [there"s] an indication at least that there’s a willingness to revisit the model that they’ve place forward in the budget.”

Guardian Australia is seeking comment from Abbott and Dutton’s offices about the government’s stance on likely adjustments.

The government’s proposed GP co-payment, due to commence in July next 12 months, was set to encounter Senate defeat given the opposition by Labor, the Greens and Palmer United. The government has repeatedly defended the measure, saying the money raised would go into a healthcare analysis future fund. But the co-payment has attracted widespread community concern and spurred reports that some individuals were already placing off visits to the GP fearing the fee had previously begun.

Owler explained the prime minister and the minister had shown a “willingness to work with the AMA to come up with a answer that protects vulnerable folks, that supports common practice and makes certain that we assistance issues like preventive well being care and persistent condition management”.

He mentioned the AMA agreed that there have been men and women in society who could contribute to their overall health care, noting that twenty% of GP providers already attracted a co-payment and it was often bigger than $ 7. But the AMA could not help a cut to the Medicare rebate and was worried about the effect of the fee on vulnerable groups.

Owler explained the AMA also did not support making it possible for state and territory governments to charge co-payments for emergency division visits. He said the concept was “impractical” and he did not want to force individuals to make a decision whether their chest pain may possibly be a heart attack or merely indigestion.

“What we want to do is operate with the government to come up with a model that not only promotes overall health care and promotes the health of our sufferers but protects those that are most vulnerable,” he explained.

“We have to make certain that we protect those most vulnerable in our society and we should make positive that funding is maintained for standard practice which is about maintaining people out of costly wellness care.”

Abbott willing to rethink $seven Medicare co-payment, says AMA president

Tony Abbott now admits $one.8bn in hospital cuts will start from July

Tony Abbott has conceded the government is cutting a hospitals funding agreement with quick impact, contrary to his weekend declare that the cuts did not get result for many years.

On Sunday Abbott stated: “We’re not talking about following week or subsequent month or even subsequent yr we are talking about adjustments in three years’ time”.

But Abbott now agrees the nationwide partnership agreement on public hospitals, which begins on 1 July, has been lower. Spending budget paperwork say it has been cut by $ 1.8bn in excess of the up coming four years.

The prime minister says the reductions should be blamed on Labor simply because the former government had previously revised the agreement.

“There was a nationwide partnerships agreement which the Labor get together hadn’t funded on [hospital] beds and we have decided not to renew it, but this is a Labor minimize, it is not a Coalition lower,” Abbott advised the ABC.

But the price range document is clear that cash has been cut by this government, stating: “The government will conserve $ 1.8bn over 4 many years from 2014-15 by ceasing the funding ensures underneath the nationwide health reform agreement 2011 and revising commonwealth hospital funding arrangements from July 2017.”

The determination cuts $ 217m from hospitals in 2014-15, $ 260m in 2015-16 and $ 133m in 2016-17 just before the big cuts get started in 2017-18, when the commonwealth ceases its contribution to the growth in hospital expenses due to the ageing population and greater therapy costs. From that time commonwealth investing increases only in line with inflation and population growth.

State premiers say the cuts eliminate funding necessary for 1,200 hospital beds and they have no capability to fill the gap.

Abbott was flying to Rockhampton on Monday morning with the Queensland premier, Campbell Newman – 1 of the most outspoken critics of the cuts – to attend the funeral of Graeme Acton, a prominent Queensland grazier.

Later on in the day Abbott returned to his earlier argument – that hospital funding is still increasing 12 months on yr.

“For the following three many years hospital funding increases … and then in the fourth yr commonwealth funding will boost by 6%, so we are not cutting funding, we are growing funding … all we are not undertaking is not agreeing to the pie-in-the-sky funding promised by Labor,” Abbott said.

The budget paperwork reveal virtually $ 3bn worth of funding agreements with state governments in the well being portfolio alone that have been lower, deferred or abandoned – with the cuts starting up this 12 months or up coming year.

These cuts are on leading of the $ 80bn in lengthy-term funding reduce out of wellness and education, and on top of savings from the new $ 7 Medicare co-payment (which could force folks to look for help in state-run emergency departments instead of seeing a basic practitioner) the extra $ 5 co-payment for medicines the pausing of indexation for medical advantage routine charges and other price range savings. As well, numerous partnership agreements have been axed in other portfolios.

• The national overall health reform agreement, signed by all states and the commonwealth in 2011. (This cuts $ one.8bn from public hospital funding, beginning this 12 months. Income to be put into the health care study future fund.)

• The dental flexible grants program. (Cuts quantity to $ 229m, starting this year. This program was to aid dentists set up in outer metropolitan and rural locations. Money goes to the Health care Study Long term Fund.)

• Grownup public dental services. (Cuts equal $ 390m, commencing this year, by deferring a nationwide partnership agreement signed with the states, which was supposed to help clear the 400,000-robust waiting lists for public dental care. Income goes to the Health-related Analysis Future Fund.)

• Strengthening public hospital companies. (Cuts of $ 201m, starting up next yr, from cash that was supposed to aid the states reduce waiting instances at public hospitals. Funds goes to the Healthcare Study Long term Fund.)

• National partnership on preventive well being. (Cuts of $ 367m, starting up this year, from agreement that was supposed to fund preventive overall health schooling applications, this kind of as anti-smoking campaigns. The government is also conserving $ 6m by abolishing the nationwide preventive well being company. Money from each goes to the Health-related Analysis Long term Fund.)

The spending budget also ends federal contributions to a range of pensioner concession schemes. Abbott mentioned: “We made the choice in a very challenging budget that if the states needed to continue those concessions they could do it themselves.”

As two polls showed a dramatic slump in his very own and his government’s standing right after the budget, Abbott repeated that, despite his pre-election pledges not to lower education and overall health and not to modify pensions, voters had been “on notice” about the cuts unveiled in final Tuesday.

South Australian premier Jay Weatherill stated the price range eliminated funding for 150 hospital beds in his state from July.

The premiers have demanded an emergency Coag meeting. The prime minister’s spokeswoman says there is unlikely to be a meeting before the up coming scheduled gathering in September. She says the prime minister has spoken to most of the premiers by telephone. Weatherill mentioned the prime minister had not spoken to him.

Tony Abbott now admits $one.8bn in hospital cuts will start from July

Tony Abbott now admits $1.8bn in hospital cuts will begin from July

Tony Abbott has conceded the government is cutting a hospitals funding agreement with fast effect, contrary to his weekend declare that the cuts did not take effect for many years.

On Sunday Abbott stated: “We’re not talking about subsequent week or subsequent month or even subsequent year we are talking about adjustments in three years’ time”.

But Abbott now agrees the nationwide partnership agreement on public hospitals, which begins on one July, has been minimize. Price range paperwork say it has been minimize by $ 1.8bn above the up coming four many years.

The prime minister says the reductions must be blamed on Labor simply because the former government had previously revised the agreement.

“There was a nationwide partnerships agreement which the Labor party hadn’t funded on [hospital] beds and we have determined not to renew it, but this is a Labor reduce, it is not a Coalition lower,” Abbott advised the ABC.

But the price range document is clear that income has been reduce by this government, stating: “The government will conserve $ one.8bn more than 4 years from 2014-15 by ceasing the funding guarantees beneath the nationwide health reform agreement 2011 and revising commonwealth hospital funding arrangements from July 2017.”

The choice cuts $ 217m from hospitals in 2014-15, $ 260m in 2015-sixteen and $ 133m in 2016-17 just before the huge cuts begin in 2017-18, when the commonwealth ceases its contribution to the growth in hospital costs due to the ageing population and higher treatment expenses. From that time commonwealth paying increases only in line with inflation and population development.

State premiers say the cuts eliminate funding necessary for one,200 hospital beds and they have no capability to fill the gap.

Abbott was flying to Rockhampton on Monday morning with the Queensland premier, Campbell Newman – one of the most outspoken critics of the cuts – to attend the funeral of Graeme Acton, a prominent Queensland grazier.

Later in the day Abbott returned to his earlier argument – that hospital funding is nevertheless increasing yr on 12 months.

“For the subsequent three many years hospital funding increases … and then in the fourth 12 months commonwealth funding will enhance by six%, so we aren’t cutting funding, we are rising funding … all we are not undertaking is not agreeing to the pie-in-the-sky funding promised by Labor,” Abbott said.

The spending budget documents reveal almost $ 3bn well worth of funding agreements with state governments in the overall health portfolio alone that have been cut, deferred or abandoned – with the cuts starting this 12 months or up coming year.

These cuts are on prime of the $ 80bn in long-term funding reduce out of health and schooling, and on best of cost savings from the new $ seven Medicare co-payment (which could force folks to look for support in state-run emergency departments instead of seeing a common practitioner) the additional $ 5 co-payment for medicines the pausing of indexation for medical benefit schedule fees and other budget financial savings. As properly, numerous partnership agreements have been axed in other portfolios.

• The national overall health reform agreement, signed by all states and the commonwealth in 2011. (This cuts $ one.8bn from public hospital funding, beginning this yr. Income to be put into the health-related study future fund.)

• The dental flexible grants program. (Cuts quantity to $ 229m, beginning this year. This system was to help dentists set up in outer metropolitan and rural regions. Funds goes to the Healthcare Study Long term Fund.)

• Adult public dental solutions. (Cuts equal $ 390m, starting this year, by deferring a nationwide partnership agreement signed with the states, which was supposed to support clear the 400,000-strong waiting lists for public dental care. Funds goes to the Medical Study Future Fund.)

• Bettering public hospital providers. (Cuts of $ 201m, starting up up coming 12 months, from cash that was supposed to help the states minimize waiting occasions at public hospitals. Funds goes to the Health care Study Long term Fund.)

• National partnership on preventive health. (Cuts of $ 367m, starting up this yr, from agreement that was supposed to fund preventive well being schooling programs, such as anti-smoking campaigns. The government is also saving $ 6m by abolishing the national preventive overall health agency. Funds from both goes to the Medical Study Potential Fund.)

The spending budget also ends federal contributions to a range of pensioner concession schemes. Abbott stated: “We produced the choice in a really tough budget that if the states wished to proceed those concessions they could do it themselves.”

As two polls showed a dramatic slump in his very own and his government’s standing right after the budget, Abbott repeated that, regardless of his pre-election pledges not to lower schooling and overall health and not to alter pensions, voters had been “on notice” about the cuts unveiled in final Tuesday.

South Australian premier Jay Weatherill stated the price range eliminated funding for 150 hospital beds in his state from July.

The premiers have demanded an emergency Coag meeting. The prime minister’s spokeswoman says there is unlikely to be a meeting before the subsequent scheduled gathering in September. She says the prime minister has spoken to most of the premiers by telephone. Weatherill explained the prime minister had not spoken to him.

Tony Abbott now admits $1.8bn in hospital cuts will begin from July

Margie Abbott urged to help minimize deaths in childbirth in PNG

Margie Abbott ought to use her position as wife of the prime minister to take action towards the shockingly high levels of death in childbirth amid females in Australia’s neighbouring countries, a doctor has told the Nationwide Press Club.

Speaking at the mother’s day event in Canberra, Barry Kirby, who functions in Papua New Guinea to deliver down the “unacceptably” substantial charges, stated much more lobbying was required.

“If females in Australia could join collectively with Papua New Guinean ladies that would be a fantastic issue,” mentioned Kirby.

“We want girls who are way up there – ministers’ wives, perhaps our very own prime minister’s wife – obtaining in and saying ‘ok what can we do here?’.”

More than 800 ladies around the globe die for the duration of childbirth every single day – 99% of them in developing countries. In PNG, Australia’s nearest neighbour to the north, 220 females die in the course of childbirth per a hundred,000 dwell births, with estimations that it could be as large as 450. By comparison, Australia’s price is 6.

In the Milne Bay province exactly where Kirby and his group of PNG staff operate, more than 700 mothers die for every one hundred,000 births, he said on Tuesday.

Nine out of 10 deaths in childbirth around the world are preventable with access to the most simple of medical care. Maternal overall health in PNG is additional difficult by a lack of education, health care education, and extremely large rates of domestic violence.

“The big problem we’re coming up against is male dominance,” stated Kirby, including that women with a “high-risk” partner are a lot significantly less most likely to seek out health-related care or assistance.

“The attitude of guys towards ladies in PNG wants to increase, as it does in several spots,” he explained.

Australia currently provides a lot more than $ 500m a yr in assist to PNG, like to especially handle the epidemic of violence. Kirby mentioned that even though support is reaching the nation, there are often troubles with its distribution.

“When I go out I see a lot of boxes out there from a variety of aid donors and they’re not open,” he said.

“You do require someone like me to get close to and comply with up on the perform that is completed.”

Kirby became a physician right after an incident whilst he was in PNG working as a builder. One particular evening he identified an really sick female lying by the roadside and stopped to support her. She had been accused of witchcraft and left there by villagers. He took her to the hospital but she died overnight, and Kirby realised her death could have been prevented with standard early medical care.

Kirby returned to Australia to grow to be a doctor and take his expertise back to PNG. He realised one of the crucial health care problems he would deal with was pregnancies.

“I knew to be a rural medical doctor in PNG you necessary to know your obstetrics.”

With the assistance of Australian organisation Send Hope Not Flowers, which asks men and women to make donations as a congratulatory present to a new mother or father, Kirby’s group distributes “baby bundles” to mothers, containing necessary objects for both the mom and kid which would otherwise be unaffordable.

They also train local maternity care employees in emergency response and with more superior health-related equipment, and facilitate family members planning possibilities for ladies.

As he watched the variety of ladies seeking medical support increase each 12 months, Kirby launched a effective bonus scheme for nearby workers who delivered a lot more infants than the earlier year’s average, as the reduced shell out for regional wellness staff did not increase with the workload.

The Australian ambassador for women, Natasha Stott Despoja, told Guardian Australia she discovered Kirby’s Press Club deal with effective, but “gripping and unsettling”.

“It also struck a particular chord, offered I have just returned from Port Moresby and Goroka and have observed first-hand the function at the hospital at the latter,” she mentioned.

“We’ve assisted 111 experienced midwives graduate in PNG more than the previous two many years by way of our help for eight clinical midwifery amenities, but as Dr Kirby talked about, there are several aspects that play a portion in addressing maternal mortality charges. These include multiple overall health program issues such as lack of infrastructure, lack of referral systems and transport and a lack of family planning.

“I am passionate about maternal and child overall health. I find it deeply regarding that women in the least produced nations are a hundred-300 occasions more probably to die throughout pregnancy and childbirth than these in Australia.”

Margie Abbott urged to help minimize deaths in childbirth in PNG