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The Quality Care Commission has today released a further report in to the standards of care received by elderly patients in NHS hospitals across the England. Between March and June they made unannounced inspections in 100 hospitals, looking at standards of care for dignity and nutrition were being met. Shockingly, just 45 of those hospitals were fully compliant. 20 hospitals were found to be failing to meet the standards completely, thus breaking the law. The watchdog listed the common failures in delivery of both dignity and nutrition as: Call bells put out of people’s reach or not responded to in … Continue reading →

There’s been a lot of chop and change for the Freedom Bill over the last 24 hours. The Bill was amended in the Lords last night, and is being discussed today in the Commons. This morning I received in my email inbox a missive asking me to contact my local MP and urge them to vote for amendments that would repeal the website blocking clauses of the Digital Economy Act. Also being discussed are issues such as CCTV provision. Yet amongst all the talk of modern technology and how we make provisions for it in, there is a much more … Continue reading →

Thank you for visiting our blog. Whilst all the excitement of Conference season lasts, PV will be taking a short break from blogging. But we’ll be back after Conservative conference in early October, so do please check back with us then!

In a bid to raise more money for it’s coffers, the Scottish government has slapped a ‘supplement health levy’ to be paid by all retailers with a rateable value of over £300k who sell alcohol and tobacco. In other words, large supermarkets. The tax is expected to raise £36m per year, and to cost the retailers 0.3% of their turnover. As the combined pay of the CEOs of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons was £33m, the government has deemed, in essence, that ‘they can afford it’. Of course the move is transparently anti-business. The reason that these companies are so … Continue reading →

The Department of Health (DH) has announced that, following a review by the Major Projects Authority (MPA), it will be dismantling the hugely costly and highly invasive National Program for IT which would have seen all NHS records centralised. Described by the Daily Mail as “a monument to Whitehall folly during Labour’s 13 years in power”, the scheme saw costs double to over £12billion in a failed attempt to create an IT system to be used throughout the entire NHS. That plan has been ditched, with local NHS centres now set to be allowed to chose their own system. Progressive … Continue reading →

Interviewed on the Daily Politics this lunchtime, Simon Hughes has revealed the intention of the Liberal Democrats to fight Lansley’s proposed changes to the NHS. Asked by Andrew Neil what, specifically, he wished to see changed, he said the following: SH “I think we need to absolutely tie down that the private work of the NHS in any hospital can not become the dominant either financial or practical activity.” AN: “So you’re still very suspicious of private participation in the NHS?” SH: “Well, it’s been there Andrew all of the time of the NHS. We’ve got to make sure that … Continue reading →

In his speech at the Liberal Democrat conference today, Chris Huhne has said “One abiding set of values that all Liberal Democrats share is a respect for our environment, natural systems and sustainability.” How can he prove it? By committing to spending money on the environment. After all, he is a politician, and when politicians really care about something they throw taxpayers’ cash at it, right? So Chris, how much money do you intend to spend? “All told, energy investment will be £200 billion in the next ten years” Is that so? That seems like an awful lot of money … Continue reading →

Danny Kruger has a rather confused blog post over on ConHome today, in which he argues that “There are many issues where our collective conscience is a surer guide than individual choice”. That Kruger is attempting to make this argument is a mark of how successful modern so-called liberals have been in their campaign to promote themselves as defenders of liberalism, when in fact, they are nothing of the sort. Rather, they have imposed upon society an authoritarian code that dictates with increasing precision what each and every one of us can do, think and feel. Take his opening paragraphs … Continue reading →

There has been much discussion over the last month on the role of social networking sites. Cameron wants to shut down Twitter and Facebook every time trouble is scented on the horizon, for fear of armies of hoodies battering their way across the country. The rather less alarmist amongst us see the sites as a brave new world, bringing people into closer community no matter how far apart they are geographically. Somewhere along that spectrum lies the rather cynical use of Facebook employed by Stirling University recently, when it set up a page entitled “Stirling University Freedom of Information Act”. … Continue reading →

At first glance it seems like yet another typical Daily Mail story – century old HP Sauce recipe changed prompting Michelin starred chef Marco Pierre White to return pub meal. “I thought it was off,” he said. “At first, I thought it was the sausages, but it wasn’t. It was the HP, which tasted disgusting… My old man used to say ketchup was for Southerners and HP was for Northerners. My father would turn in his grave if he knew.” Indeed, that this is in many ways the Daily Mail’s regular fodder is indicative of how used we have become … Continue reading →