The first and main item here is a continuing scandal which nobody
does anything about at all.
does anything about at all.
The Labour Party and Brown are wedded to
it.
it.
It is a symbol of Brown fixing things and “investing in the
future” .
future” .
All they are actually doing is harming patients and the
NHS, and throwing good money after bad at a time when Brown himself
has arranged that we have no more money for throwing away.
NHS, and throwing good money after bad at a time when Brown himself
has arranged that we have no more money for throwing away.
But the Tories are looking for ways of cutting expenditure to fund necessary
tax cuts but look the other way when this is mentioned. What’s
wrong with them?
xxxxxxxxxx cs
===================
PRIVATE EYE 1223 14-27.11.08
EU-phemisms
“There are indications of a possibility that the next quarter may
see a potential reduction in growth”
--TRANSLATION “ We’re definitely in recession”
1. EYE TOLD YOU SO
So. The few IT Systems installed by BT and US software company,
Cerner, in the London region, under the doomed £13 bn NHS National
Programme for IT have been so disastrous that NHS London has “agreed
to postpone the Go Live date of the care service records for all
trusts.”
Private Eye readers will not be remotely surprised to learn this, nor
that all efforts are now focussed on sorting out the mess and that
the central element of the programme - acute hospital care records -
has shuddered to a halt under ill-designed regional monopoly
contracts which, as we reported two and a half years ago, don’t work.
As extensively chronicled in the Eye by reporter Richard Brooks,
joint winner of this year’s Paul Foot Award for his expose of the
Actis saga, the one-size-fits-all, the biggest-is-best approach was
never suited to the varied requirements of NHS hospitals. The Cerner
system, for example, was designed for a US insurance-based health set-
up.
The depth of the disaster is illustrated by an NHS paper titled
“Lessons learnt from the Royal Free Hospital emergency department”.
listing 24 problems with the BT/Cerner system including “system
crashes 2-3 times a week” .which leads to “clinical risk as patients
are ‘lost’ ” Alarmingly for those concerned about security, “smart
card ‘log-in’ does not guarantee the owner of the card is the
instigator of the action ”, causing “clinical governance issues”
and making “tracing authors etc for complaints very difficult” .
Catching up with the story, London’s Evening Standard reports that
the fiasco has set the Royal Free back £7.2m.
Specialists preparing to implement the systems in other hospitals
report that the Cerner software can’t cope with the records that need
to be transferred onto it such as previous diagnoses, the patient’s
GP, and next-of-kin details. Most experts [- and almost all doctors -
cs] think it’s time to call a day on the programme. A change of
government might well see this happen but, in the meantime, assisted
by another lukewarm report from the National Audit Office, declaring
the scheme still “feasible”, a few more hundreds of millions of
public money can be poured down the plughole marked “NHS IT
Programme” .
=- =- =- =- =-
2. NUMBER CRUNCHING
- 42% Drop in Labour vote in Glasgow East by election, which was
apparently Gordon Brown’s worst moment in June
- 37% Drop in Labour vote at Glenrothes by election, which was
apparently Gordon Brown’s finest moment last week
=- =- =- =- =- =
3. First they said house prices could not fall here like they had in
the United States; they did. Then they said that repossessions here
could rise to match the waves of foreclosures across the Atlantic;
they’re up 71% on last year. How long before our politicians catch
up in their response to the crisis ?
President-elect Barack Obama is proposing a 90-day moratorium on
foreclosures for all banks accepting state aid, plus 10 percent tax
relief on all mortgages and new powers for judges to amend the
mortgage payments of people facing bankruptcy.
Over here, meanwhile, the government is even struggling to convince
the banks to go easy on homeowners and pass on cuts in interest
rates, [what’s the matter with the ignorant press - banks can only
lend what they’ve got and lend it for more than they borrowed it for!
-cs] while the repossession rate at Northern Rock has doubled since
it was nationalised. It’s pushed forward a new pre-action protocol
on mortgage arrears in a bid to make repossession “a last resort” -
without actually changing the law to give it some force. And it’s
increased income support help - but not until next April.
tax cuts but look the other way when this is mentioned. What’s
wrong with them?
xxxxxxxxxx cs
===================
PRIVATE EYE 1223 14-27.11.08
EU-phemisms
“There are indications of a possibility that the next quarter may
see a potential reduction in growth”
--TRANSLATION “ We’re definitely in recession”
1. EYE TOLD YOU SO
So. The few IT Systems installed by BT and US software company,
Cerner, in the London region, under the doomed £13 bn NHS National
Programme for IT have been so disastrous that NHS London has “agreed
to postpone the Go Live date of the care service records for all
trusts.”
Private Eye readers will not be remotely surprised to learn this, nor
that all efforts are now focussed on sorting out the mess and that
the central element of the programme - acute hospital care records -
has shuddered to a halt under ill-designed regional monopoly
contracts which, as we reported two and a half years ago, don’t work.
As extensively chronicled in the Eye by reporter Richard Brooks,
joint winner of this year’s Paul Foot Award for his expose of the
Actis saga, the one-size-fits-all, the biggest-is-best approach was
never suited to the varied requirements of NHS hospitals. The Cerner
system, for example, was designed for a US insurance-based health set-
up.
The depth of the disaster is illustrated by an NHS paper titled
“Lessons learnt from the Royal Free Hospital emergency department”.
listing 24 problems with the BT/Cerner system including “system
crashes 2-3 times a week” .which leads to “clinical risk as patients
are ‘lost’ ” Alarmingly for those concerned about security, “smart
card ‘log-in’ does not guarantee the owner of the card is the
instigator of the action ”, causing “clinical governance issues”
and making “tracing authors etc for complaints very difficult” .
Catching up with the story, London’s Evening Standard reports that
the fiasco has set the Royal Free back £7.2m.
Specialists preparing to implement the systems in other hospitals
report that the Cerner software can’t cope with the records that need
to be transferred onto it such as previous diagnoses, the patient’s
GP, and next-of-kin details. Most experts [- and almost all doctors -
cs] think it’s time to call a day on the programme. A change of
government might well see this happen but, in the meantime, assisted
by another lukewarm report from the National Audit Office, declaring
the scheme still “feasible”, a few more hundreds of millions of
public money can be poured down the plughole marked “NHS IT
Programme” .
=- =- =- =- =-
2. NUMBER CRUNCHING
- 42% Drop in Labour vote in Glasgow East by election, which was
apparently Gordon Brown’s worst moment in June
- 37% Drop in Labour vote at Glenrothes by election, which was
apparently Gordon Brown’s finest moment last week
=- =- =- =- =- =
3. First they said house prices could not fall here like they had in
the United States; they did. Then they said that repossessions here
could rise to match the waves of foreclosures across the Atlantic;
they’re up 71% on last year. How long before our politicians catch
up in their response to the crisis ?
President-elect Barack Obama is proposing a 90-day moratorium on
foreclosures for all banks accepting state aid, plus 10 percent tax
relief on all mortgages and new powers for judges to amend the
mortgage payments of people facing bankruptcy.
Over here, meanwhile, the government is even struggling to convince
the banks to go easy on homeowners and pass on cuts in interest
rates, [what’s the matter with the ignorant press - banks can only
lend what they’ve got and lend it for more than they borrowed it for!
-cs] while the repossession rate at Northern Rock has doubled since
it was nationalised. It’s pushed forward a new pre-action protocol
on mortgage arrears in a bid to make repossession “a last resort” -
without actually changing the law to give it some force. And it’s
increased income support help - but not until next April.
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