Agenda 2019

More advertising of Private Medical Care. Take your choice from these and others I am becoming increasingly irritated or even annoyed, with the seemingly growing number of adverts on social media pages, search engines and numerous web pages urging me to buy Private Medical cover. Now,I have nothing against private health care as an option, provided that it is done exclusively in private custom built hospitals and nursing homes, with private hospital staff, and does not overlap NHS facilities in NHS hospitals and does not as is the case now, lead to a two  tier standard of service where NHS patients and staff are somehow reduced to a second rate status. Private wards, restaurants, special facilities or other "special treatments" have no place in our NHS hospitals.Mixing the two in the hope that nobody will notice is wrong and it is unfair. The common feature of these advertisements, is the statement or implied suggestion that by taking out insurance with these com...

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/31/half-care-homes-could-close-cash-crisis#comment-62501740 " Cash crisis ‘could close 50% of UK care homes’ "The measure of a nation is how it treats its weakest members." The provision of care for the elderly in this country, has for far too long been in the hands of private companies, where, which ever measure you may use, profit for shareholders is the prime driver. Where government funding is available to these companies to supplement the charges made to residents, then the facility will continue to provide the service. However, when government subsidies are cut of even removed,  then the standard of service and even the services themselves will be lowered or removed in order to maintain the "profit margins". Some private care providers try to give a first class service in what are extremely difficult conditions, but recent events have shown us that too many providers have allowed poor care and...