The government's 'Get Ready For Winter' campaign is window dressing
31 Oct 2011
Diane Abbott MP, Shadow Health Minister, comments on the Department of Health’s ‘Get ready for winter’ launch: ‘The government’s NHS plans will create a perfect storm for families and the elderly this winter. What we need right now is proper leadership and immediate action to reduce this risk posed to those with increased risk of harm from cold weather, and a potential increase in cardiac deaths, strokes and respiratory problems. We need a substantive plan so that healthcare providers can identify patients at increased risk of harm from cold weather and refer them appropriately. Families, health professionals, local government, the voluntary sector and social care providers are crying out for real leadership from the government.
‘It is the elderly that will pay the cost of this government’s crisis in social care funding that has left many elderly people in greater hardship, struggling with higher charges and less specialist support. Government figures show that councils' annual budgets for help for the over-65s have fallen by £1.3bn since 2010, with cuts hitting nursing homes and support for the most vulnerable.
‘It was January last year that David Cameron promised that his government would be the most ‘family friendly Government we’ve ever had in this country’. And yet, as the government launches a ‘Cold Weather Plan’ to try and calm fears about how our health services will cope, it is David Cameron’s own mismanagement of the NHS that will cast a dark shadow over crucial health services this winter, putting families, mothers and the elderly in harm’s way. Waiting times have hit a three year high, services are being axed and our GPs are being forced into retirement by the chaos of the government’s NHS policies.
--ENDS--
1) Support for the government on health has collapsed since the election. Labour has a 13% lead: http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/yg-archives-pol-trackers-issues1-251011.pdf
2) Social care crisis: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jUsm4S8-NJ7yD8QFOwdUSU0pP4JQ?docId=N0837701318125050197A
3) David Cameron promises the most family friendly government ever: http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2010/01/David_Cameron_Mending_our_Broken_Society.aspx
4) The letter from public health experts: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/03/nhs-bill-doctors-lords
5) The waiting times crisis: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/19/nhs-hospital-waiting-times-longer
6) GPs forced into retirement: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8563915/One-in-eight-GPs-wants-to-retire-with-half-blaming-NHS-reforms.html
For more info, please contact Gabe Trodd on 0207 219 4426.
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