As we hear another way of drawing more money into the governments coffers which i fully expected would happen is the raising of prescriptin charges
Patients in England will have to fork out £7.40 a time for pills and medicines dispensed by their doctor – an increase of almost 3%.
The increase angered campaigners who have been calling for the charges to be scrapped altogether, as they have been in other parts of the UK. Prices will go up on April 1, the same date Scotland joins Northern Ireland and Wales in abolishing charges.
The British Medical Association slammed the rise, calling it a “tax on the sick” and an “absurd postcode lottery”. Nanette Kerr of the National Pharmacy Association said: “Patients on low incomes who do not qualify for exemption will suffer the most.”
Dental charges are also rising, with a check-up increasing from £16.50 to £17. Fillings and root canal work will go up from £45.60 to £47 and more complex jobs such as dentures and bridges will increase by £6 – from £198 to £204.
This as i said was inevitable i feel as the tories who cant stand us common people getting free health care it really gets their goat always saw the raising of prescription charges as a easy target to go after.
But this doesnt make this latest decision from the tories any less painful to working class people. People who are already struggling to get by and feed themselves while loosing jobs, paying more in tax's and food and fuel prices are shooting up.
I dont see how the government can justify these rises in times of hardship for all. It is just fankly another attack on the working class as i see it.
This will affect the old and the frail the most i feel as they area lways the ones forgotton about and find it hard to get out of their houses to buy their medicines they require.
I feel they should look into providing reductions or discounts for the most in need of these prescriptions instead of a blanket rise in the prices of these .
subscribe to this blog:
Posts
All Comments
Showing posts with label anti government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anti government. Show all posts
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Monday, 21 February 2011
Why we must not let David Cameron privatise our public sector
In a article in todays Daily Telegraph the Prime Minister outlines his plans for the future of the public sector as he puts it. I will be countering his thoughts and offering some of my own. Here is the article below.
A White Paper, due to be published in the next fortnight, will set out an automatic right for private sector bodies to bid for public work.
Decision-making power will be given back to professionals – who have in the past been hampered by red tape – while people will be able to have more control over the budget for the service they receive.
The changes could ultimately see many functions of the NHS – from operations to walk-in triage services – being run by private firms. All schools could be run by charities or private sector companies, as could municipal services such as maintaining parks, adult care, special schools or roads maintenance.
Outside providers would be offered payment-by-results contracts, which would earn them more as they increased the quality of services.
Downing Street said the plans illustrated that Mr Cameron was prepared to go far further than any recent prime minister – including Tony Blair – on public sector reform.
The only exemptions will be the judiciary and the security services. All other public services will be expected to open up to private competition under the plans, which the Government hopes will slash
bureaucracy, improve the quality of public services and save money.
However, they are likely to be fiercely opposed by Labour and the trade unions who will interpret them as a return to the era of privatisation and a cover for Coalition spending cuts.
In his article for the Telegraph, Mr Cameron says standards in public services – on cancer survival rates, school results and crime – have been slipping against comparable countries for too long and that “complete change” is needed.
“We will create a new presumption – backed up by new rights for public service users and a new system of independent adjudication – that public services should be open to a range of providers competing to offer a better service,” he says.
“Of course, there are some areas, – like national security services or the judiciary – where this wouldn’t make sense. But everywhere else should be open to real diversity,open to everyone who gets and values the importance of our public service ethos. This is a transformation: it ends the state’s monopoly over public services.
“Instead of having to justify why it makes sense to introduce competition in individual public services – as we are now doing with schools and in the NHS – the state will have to justify why it should ever operate a monopoly.”
Some of the changes to encourage more competition are already being introduced through education and health legislation.
However, when taken with the new Open Public Services White Paper, Downing Street believes the plans are a “battering ram to break open monopolies”.
In his article, Mr Cameron says the new principle of diversity will be married to a “new presumption that services should be delivered at the lowest possible level” to give people more choice over how their public services are being administered.
He says: “Working from this presumption, we will devolve power even further. For example, we will give more people the right to take control of the budget for the service they receive.
“In this new world of decentralised, open public services it will be up to Government to show why a public service cannot be delivered at a lower level than it is currently; to show why things should be centralised, not the other way round.”
Mr Cameron said that his inspiration for these reforms could be traced back to when he and his wife, Samantha, were caring for their disabled son, Ivan.
He says: “I never understood why local authorities had more control over the budget for his care than Samantha and me.”
The state will still have a role to play in ensuring “fair funding, ensuring fair competition, and ensuring that everyone – regardless of wealth – gets fair access”, he says.
But he adds that “these important responsibilities for central government must never become an automatic excuse for returning to central control”.
The White Paper will set out principles that will “make it impossible for Government to return to the bad old days of the standard state monopoly”, he says.
“The grip of state control will be released and power will be placed in people’s hands. Professionals will see their discretion restored.
“There will be more freedom, more choice and more local control. Ours is a vision of open public services – and we will make it happen by advancing some key principles.”
The plans to privatise large parts of the public sector could well cause unease among some of Mr Cameron’s Lib Dem Coalition partners.
Found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8337237/David-Cameron-promises-public-sector-revolution.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
I am personally shocked by these revelations firstly who does David Cameron think he is to start a war on the public sector ? what gives him the mandate to do so ? was this what people voted for ? i'm pretty sure they did not.
We can all tell well i hope we can tell waht Mr Cameron is really after with his plans. A total selling off of the public sector, the state as he likes to call it. It is planning to go further than Maggie Tatcher ever did.
How can people sit by and let this radical overhaul just happen ??
I certainly wont be and i hope Labour and the Lib Dems find their fight that they have lost for years now and protect what they created.
I dont buy all this hogwash by the PM of that privitisation brings greater efficiency it is simply unproven and increased competition for services is not what people want. What people want if free to use public services that they pay their council tax's for not something they have to pay to use. They are known as local public services for a reason for the public to use not private companies to make a quick profit out of.
How people cant see his ideaology here now i really dont know, the cat is well and truely out of the bag and we must stop him before its too late.
I personally have no faith in Ed Miliband to use any of his political power to stop this happening. He needs to stand up and oppose thsi properly. Its all veryw ell standing up at conferences and telling us this is wrong waht David Cameron and his government are doing but what would he do instead ?
We have heard nothing from him and his party on his alternative so far. So we have to assume he would do the same to a degree.
I think this will anger many public sector trades unionists and this is intended to i feel. David Cameron wants a reaction from the unions. Rial them up and get them on the defensive so he can then slap more anti trades union laws on them turning them against the public. Its a very clever game he is playing but i can see it and i dont know why so many others can not.
It is an absolute demolition of the public sector not a revolution. The only revolution going on is the selling off of our services to his mates in the private sector. I for one will do all i can to not let that happen.
I do hope the trades unions use all their power and resources to oppose this and say to Mr Cameron and his cronies on March 26th we will not let you do this. We will fight to the very end to protect our services.
The people dont want this so why is he going through with this ? Because he thinks he can and because he is facing pressure from his party and other private sector friends waiting in the wings to make a quick profit out of our beloved services.
So please lets not let this happen I plea to the Labour party and the Lib Dems to properly oppose this by joining the March on 26th of March in central London where we hope to send a clear message to the government that we as the public will not tollerate this.
A White Paper, due to be published in the next fortnight, will set out an automatic right for private sector bodies to bid for public work.
Decision-making power will be given back to professionals – who have in the past been hampered by red tape – while people will be able to have more control over the budget for the service they receive.
The changes could ultimately see many functions of the NHS – from operations to walk-in triage services – being run by private firms. All schools could be run by charities or private sector companies, as could municipal services such as maintaining parks, adult care, special schools or roads maintenance.
Outside providers would be offered payment-by-results contracts, which would earn them more as they increased the quality of services.
Downing Street said the plans illustrated that Mr Cameron was prepared to go far further than any recent prime minister – including Tony Blair – on public sector reform.
The only exemptions will be the judiciary and the security services. All other public services will be expected to open up to private competition under the plans, which the Government hopes will slash
bureaucracy, improve the quality of public services and save money.
However, they are likely to be fiercely opposed by Labour and the trade unions who will interpret them as a return to the era of privatisation and a cover for Coalition spending cuts.
In his article for the Telegraph, Mr Cameron says standards in public services – on cancer survival rates, school results and crime – have been slipping against comparable countries for too long and that “complete change” is needed.
“We will create a new presumption – backed up by new rights for public service users and a new system of independent adjudication – that public services should be open to a range of providers competing to offer a better service,” he says.
“Of course, there are some areas, – like national security services or the judiciary – where this wouldn’t make sense. But everywhere else should be open to real diversity,open to everyone who gets and values the importance of our public service ethos. This is a transformation: it ends the state’s monopoly over public services.
“Instead of having to justify why it makes sense to introduce competition in individual public services – as we are now doing with schools and in the NHS – the state will have to justify why it should ever operate a monopoly.”
Some of the changes to encourage more competition are already being introduced through education and health legislation.
However, when taken with the new Open Public Services White Paper, Downing Street believes the plans are a “battering ram to break open monopolies”.
In his article, Mr Cameron says the new principle of diversity will be married to a “new presumption that services should be delivered at the lowest possible level” to give people more choice over how their public services are being administered.
He says: “Working from this presumption, we will devolve power even further. For example, we will give more people the right to take control of the budget for the service they receive.
“In this new world of decentralised, open public services it will be up to Government to show why a public service cannot be delivered at a lower level than it is currently; to show why things should be centralised, not the other way round.”
Mr Cameron said that his inspiration for these reforms could be traced back to when he and his wife, Samantha, were caring for their disabled son, Ivan.
He says: “I never understood why local authorities had more control over the budget for his care than Samantha and me.”
The state will still have a role to play in ensuring “fair funding, ensuring fair competition, and ensuring that everyone – regardless of wealth – gets fair access”, he says.
But he adds that “these important responsibilities for central government must never become an automatic excuse for returning to central control”.
The White Paper will set out principles that will “make it impossible for Government to return to the bad old days of the standard state monopoly”, he says.
“The grip of state control will be released and power will be placed in people’s hands. Professionals will see their discretion restored.
“There will be more freedom, more choice and more local control. Ours is a vision of open public services – and we will make it happen by advancing some key principles.”
The plans to privatise large parts of the public sector could well cause unease among some of Mr Cameron’s Lib Dem Coalition partners.
Found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8337237/David-Cameron-promises-public-sector-revolution.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
I am personally shocked by these revelations firstly who does David Cameron think he is to start a war on the public sector ? what gives him the mandate to do so ? was this what people voted for ? i'm pretty sure they did not.
We can all tell well i hope we can tell waht Mr Cameron is really after with his plans. A total selling off of the public sector, the state as he likes to call it. It is planning to go further than Maggie Tatcher ever did.
How can people sit by and let this radical overhaul just happen ??
I certainly wont be and i hope Labour and the Lib Dems find their fight that they have lost for years now and protect what they created.
I dont buy all this hogwash by the PM of that privitisation brings greater efficiency it is simply unproven and increased competition for services is not what people want. What people want if free to use public services that they pay their council tax's for not something they have to pay to use. They are known as local public services for a reason for the public to use not private companies to make a quick profit out of.
How people cant see his ideaology here now i really dont know, the cat is well and truely out of the bag and we must stop him before its too late.
I personally have no faith in Ed Miliband to use any of his political power to stop this happening. He needs to stand up and oppose thsi properly. Its all veryw ell standing up at conferences and telling us this is wrong waht David Cameron and his government are doing but what would he do instead ?
We have heard nothing from him and his party on his alternative so far. So we have to assume he would do the same to a degree.
I think this will anger many public sector trades unionists and this is intended to i feel. David Cameron wants a reaction from the unions. Rial them up and get them on the defensive so he can then slap more anti trades union laws on them turning them against the public. Its a very clever game he is playing but i can see it and i dont know why so many others can not.
It is an absolute demolition of the public sector not a revolution. The only revolution going on is the selling off of our services to his mates in the private sector. I for one will do all i can to not let that happen.
I do hope the trades unions use all their power and resources to oppose this and say to Mr Cameron and his cronies on March 26th we will not let you do this. We will fight to the very end to protect our services.
The people dont want this so why is he going through with this ? Because he thinks he can and because he is facing pressure from his party and other private sector friends waiting in the wings to make a quick profit out of our beloved services.
So please lets not let this happen I plea to the Labour party and the Lib Dems to properly oppose this by joining the March on 26th of March in central London where we hope to send a clear message to the government that we as the public will not tollerate this.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
The alternative march TUC 26th of march should be accessable
As many of you who read this blog know i am disabled being visually impaired and as this little piece below outlines we are under heavy attack from this horribly right wing coalition governemnt trying to take apart the welfar state in the name of deficit reduction. It is a complete lie and is an political ideaology so please read this piece below i had forwarded to me today about making this TUC march in central london on the 26th of March accessable to all concerned.
the TUC have agreed to all coaches dropping people off at Wembley on March 26th. For anyone on a low income this will add £8 to the cost of getting to central London, there are also a number of access issues not only for anyone with a mobility impairment. I am sure for those with MH or ND or visual impairments having to crush onto a very limited range of transport with up to 2 million other people will present a problem too.
Please contact bbarber@tuc.org.uk and complain about TUC agreeing to people, especially disabled people, being dumped at Wembley in this way.
here is DPAC's email fyi
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) believe it is imperative that disabled and older people are afforded the opportunity to support the TUC ‘March for the Alternative’ demonstration on 26 March in central London. At the latest count it was found that disabled people were facing fourteen separate attacks against our lives and living standards as a result of the Coalition government’s policies. What we are witnessing is our human rights, supposedly guaranteed under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People, being violated by regressive and draconian cuts to benefit and care funding. Increasing numbers of disabled people are being driven to contemplate suicide; with others actually going the whole way. Members of our community are living in daily terror that they will become further scapegoated, demonised and subjected to hate crime violence.
Against this backdrop DPAC demand the right to be fully included in this march and rally as our non-disabled peers would take for granted. As it currently stand the initial planning for the March is creating unnecessary disabling barriers which will both exclude and marginalise disabled people’s ability to participate. So far however the TUC have not responded to any requests from us for support for accessible transport to attend the march and now we have been told that the TUC have agreed (for anyone who can access coaches) that the coach dropping off point will be at Wembley or some other outlying part of London.
As I am sure you are aware the London underground system is one of the least accessible in the world, only one wheelchair is allowed on each bus at any one time, and disabled people cannot afford to pay extra travel costs from an outlying suburb to reach the centre of London. To agree to this as a dropping off point will therefore exclude us from exercising our right to protest.
It is possible to park in central London without bringing London to a grinding halt. When 2 million marched against the invasion of Iraq in 2003, coaches were parked all around Hyde Park and there were no major problems with people arriving or departing from this historic demonstration. Further we are certain that there must be at least 500 or more tourist coaches entering London on any day which does not seem to cause any traffic problems at all.
We have also asked TUC to organise with the police for us to have a static protest in central London for those unable to march but so far have had no response regarding this. We were able to do this very successfully with forward planning at the Tory Party conference protest in Birmingham.
Further we would wish to be kept updated with details of where the march will be going so that we can check its accessibility for our members with a range of impairments.
Both disabled Trade Unionists and other disabled people who attended The People’s Convention last Saturday asked conference to support a motion that the TUC march would be fully inclusive to all disabled people and that all of the required reasonable adjustments would be put in place by yourselves to fully include all of us.
We are willing to work with you to ensure that our full inclusion can be achieved and to assist you in any way practicable. We look forward to your response which we will pass onto our members.
the TUC have agreed to all coaches dropping people off at Wembley on March 26th. For anyone on a low income this will add £8 to the cost of getting to central London, there are also a number of access issues not only for anyone with a mobility impairment. I am sure for those with MH or ND or visual impairments having to crush onto a very limited range of transport with up to 2 million other people will present a problem too.
Please contact bbarber@tuc.org.uk and complain about TUC agreeing to people, especially disabled people, being dumped at Wembley in this way.
here is DPAC's email fyi
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) believe it is imperative that disabled and older people are afforded the opportunity to support the TUC ‘March for the Alternative’ demonstration on 26 March in central London. At the latest count it was found that disabled people were facing fourteen separate attacks against our lives and living standards as a result of the Coalition government’s policies. What we are witnessing is our human rights, supposedly guaranteed under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People, being violated by regressive and draconian cuts to benefit and care funding. Increasing numbers of disabled people are being driven to contemplate suicide; with others actually going the whole way. Members of our community are living in daily terror that they will become further scapegoated, demonised and subjected to hate crime violence.
Against this backdrop DPAC demand the right to be fully included in this march and rally as our non-disabled peers would take for granted. As it currently stand the initial planning for the March is creating unnecessary disabling barriers which will both exclude and marginalise disabled people’s ability to participate. So far however the TUC have not responded to any requests from us for support for accessible transport to attend the march and now we have been told that the TUC have agreed (for anyone who can access coaches) that the coach dropping off point will be at Wembley or some other outlying part of London.
As I am sure you are aware the London underground system is one of the least accessible in the world, only one wheelchair is allowed on each bus at any one time, and disabled people cannot afford to pay extra travel costs from an outlying suburb to reach the centre of London. To agree to this as a dropping off point will therefore exclude us from exercising our right to protest.
It is possible to park in central London without bringing London to a grinding halt. When 2 million marched against the invasion of Iraq in 2003, coaches were parked all around Hyde Park and there were no major problems with people arriving or departing from this historic demonstration. Further we are certain that there must be at least 500 or more tourist coaches entering London on any day which does not seem to cause any traffic problems at all.
We have also asked TUC to organise with the police for us to have a static protest in central London for those unable to march but so far have had no response regarding this. We were able to do this very successfully with forward planning at the Tory Party conference protest in Birmingham.
Further we would wish to be kept updated with details of where the march will be going so that we can check its accessibility for our members with a range of impairments.
Both disabled Trade Unionists and other disabled people who attended The People’s Convention last Saturday asked conference to support a motion that the TUC march would be fully inclusive to all disabled people and that all of the required reasonable adjustments would be put in place by yourselves to fully include all of us.
We are willing to work with you to ensure that our full inclusion can be achieved and to assist you in any way practicable. We look forward to your response which we will pass onto our members.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)