They Blog For You

                      I wish to examine the curious case of the possible resignation of Mr Norman  Lamb. Many people will not have known until the last couple of days the importance of Mr Lamb. He is a trusted adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister. He is a Lib Dem NHS expert, [...]

Yesterday I spent the majority of the day at the North Middlesex University Hospital, not as a patient (I wasn't ill, thankfully), but as an observer, work-shadowing in a number of different departments.It's been a year since the £130 million new facility opened so it was a great opportunity for [...]

Last night I was put through my paces by an audience in Oxford on BBC Question Time. I was quizzed on the NHS, social mobility, arts funding cuts and the AV referendum. You can watch the episode again here . We had a feisty debate on the NHS - unbelievable for [...]

And so, NHS reforms hit the buffers with speculation in the press that we may not hit the April 2013 deadline for D day, which frankly should be complete nonsense. The only failing of the Health and Social Care Bill, is that no one has explained to... [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Colleagues on this side of the House will know that the Secretary of State has a great passion for the health service, and great mastery of his brief. Will he confirm, for the sake of all hon. Members, that the object of getting rid of [...]

In all the discussions about the NHS it does appear that one thing is clear. We need to avoid the NHS being subject to EU Competition Law. This is the argument I have been putting. The danger is that commissioners are forced to accept tenders that they [...]

  The Speaker allowed me a bit of licence today. There was an emergency question on the sacking of service personnel. My Question sought to raise the National Audit Office's report of last week on  the failures of supplies to be delivered on time. What Hansard does not report is [...]

                    This week-end has seen numerous briefings against the Health Secretary. I have found him to be one of  the best informed, and  most accessible of Cabinet Ministers. He knows his brief well, is aware of the problems of piloting through change to the NHS, and has already secured the [...]

From today – 1 April – the NHS in Norfolk will enjoy an extra £54 million, to support key Government priorities such as the Cancer Drugs Fund, investment in talking therapies for those with mental health conditions, 4,200 extra health visitors, and support for carers' breaks. Spending on healthcare in our [...]

This article on the bacp web site can only be described as helpful. http://www.bacp.co.uk/media/index.php?newsId=360 'Recently, an anonymous patient sued the NHS because she wasn’t offered counselling after an abortion. Nor was she warned that p... [...]

Last week I attended a TUC event in Parliament encouraging everybody to stand together for public services and specifically for the NHS. You can see me in the photo on the left - big pink hands and all - supporting the cause with Frances O'Grady, TUC Deputy General Secretary. It [...]

Chloe Smith, Member of Parliament for Norwich North, today reminds constituents who wish to make a posthumous claim for relatives who suffered from contaminated blood, to do so before 31st March, the deadline for the Skipton Fund. The Skipton Fund is the body that processes claims for those infected with hepatitis [...]

Having come down from my Oldham constituency this morning, I joined the march in ‘Whitehall at at 1.15pm, about an hour and a half after the vanguard had begun the march to Hyde Park.   After hearing the speeches I returned along Piccadilly where people were still marching towards Hyde Park [...]

It's a long time since I've written a letter to the Guardian. Their untrue reports yesterday has prompted dozens of requests for interviews from the media. They lose interest when they hear what my opinion is. The letter reads:-   "Having never expressed an opinion, privately or publicly, on the subject, I [...]

Just a quick one to alert you to on online petition: http://www.frontlinenhs.co.uk/.Yes, I know there are lots of online petitions, but let's face it, it's a very easy way for you to register your support or opposition for something. I could be asking you to stand in the cold and [...]

After my blog yesterday mentioning the suffragettes, I was asked to say that it was Emily Davison, the famous suffragette, who hid in parliament to be able to put on her census form that she was resident at the House of Commons on Census Day. Tony Benn put up a [...]

The BMA attack on the NHS health reforms yesterday was always going to happen; it was just a question of when. In recent history, it would appear that the only time doctors were really happy was when Gordon Brown gave them a new contract – one whic... [...]

Theresa May has given her support to the Maidenhead Advertiser’s campaign to save Charles Ward at St Marks Hospital. The campaign follows the news that mental health services for older people – provided by Charles Ward – are likely to be moved from St Marks Hospital in Maidenhead. The decision [...]

On Friday I put my name down as a co-signatory of an Early Day Motion on the reforms to the NHS. My mindset is not completely stuck in the mud; I do welcome change and evolution and even reform, but not just for the sake of it, and not if [...]

                  This week-end I noticed the public sector is still out and about recruiting. The Business Department wants a Chairman and four Board members for a “Technology Strategy Board”. Couldn’t Business  senior officials do whatever work this is meant to require?  Network Rail wants “Business Change Managers”  at up to £90,000 [...]