More Common Sense

[Lincsbodger]

The new Conservative Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, pledged to tear up the controversial GPs' contract which allowed them to shirk their obligation to provide care in the evenings and at weekends.

'GPs should be responsible,' Mr Lansley said. 'There will need to be a new contract to make this point.'

In his first interview since taking office, Mr Lansley said that he would also end the scandal of foreign doctors who cannot speak English working in the NHS.

He said he was prepared to pass new laws if necessary to ensure that GPs 'have the relevant language skills to ensure that they are safe'.

Labour allowed GPs to opt out of responsibility for patients outside office hours and at weekends as part of a botched contract which came into force in 2004.

Since then, private companies have taken over the provision of cover and in many cases have employed foreign doctors, often with little grasp of English.

Other changes to be implemented:

* End the sale of alcohol at 'bargain basement' prices by supermarkets;
* Bring in a £200million fund for new cancer drugs by April 2011;
* Stop the 'forced closure' of maternity and A&E units;
* Increase the number of single rooms to end the indignity of mixed-sex wards.

 

[Nige F]

Goodness , Gracious , Me

 

[joinerjohn]

Quote "* End the sale of alcohol at 'bargain basement' prices by supermarkets;""
Yep, probably by making them sell it at the equivalent pub price. Put this way:- would you pay £2 for a can of Carling??

* Bring in a £200million fund for new cancer drugs by April 2011;
Fair enough.


* Stop the 'forced closure' of maternity and A&E units;
Dunno about this one... Why have they been forced to close??
Perhaps they should concentrate on removing a lot of unnecessary management from the NHS.


* Increase the number of single rooms to end the indignity of mixed-sex wards.
Being as I'm going into hospital this year,, I was hoping to be in the next bed to Nicola Sherzinger or Kate Moss.

 

[Lincsbodger]

Quote "* End the sale of alcohol at 'bargain basement' prices by supermarkets;""
Yep, probably by making them sell it at the equivalent pub price. Put this way:- would you pay £2 for a can of Carling??

Supermarkets selling industrial quantities of lager at pence per gallon to teenagers is a considerable factor in the binge drinking culture of under 25's, and needs to be curtailed. It also has contributed to the decline of the public house, that and the smoking ban.

* Bring in a £200million fund for new cancer drugs by April 2011;
Fair enough.


* Stop the 'forced closure' of maternity and A&E units;
Dunno about this one... Why have they been forced to close??
Perhaps they should concentrate on removing a lot of unnecessary management from the NHS.

Because labour was a centralist regime. There ideal solution woudl be one 10,000 bed maternity unit sited in birmingham, one primary school of 300,000 places in sited Hampstead and on secondary school of 300,000 places in Wanstead. Less is better, according to them. The made little cottage hospitals and small units close because they thought they were not effecient, which wasnt the point.

* Increase the number of single rooms to end the indignity of mixed-sex wards.
Being as I'm going into hospital this year,, I was hoping to be in the next bed to Nicola Sherzinger or Kate Moss.

no, your more likely to be in the next bed to her grandmother, watching her on a bedpan with her teeth out, another labour triumph.

 

[joinerjohn]

"" No, your more likely to be in the next bed to her grandmother, watching her on a bedpan with her teeth out, another labour triumph""

Well if her grandmother was in the maternity ward, it certainly would qualify as a Labour Triumph. ""

 

[Lincsbodger]

"" No, your more likely to be in the next bed to her grandmother, watching her on a bedpan with her teeth out, another labour triumph""

Well if her grandmother was in the maternity ward, it certainly would qualify as a Labour Triumph. ""

Under Nu labour, it was possible

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/432463.stm

26 year old woman finds out her 12 year old daughter is preggy, making her the youngest grandmother in the UK. Mind you, this is Rotherham, where the definition of a virgin is a 12 year odl girl who can still run faster than her brothers.

 

[RedHerring2]

Quote "* End the sale of alcohol at 'bargain basement' prices by supermarkets;""

Yep, probably by making them sell it at the equivalent pub price. Put this way:- would you pay £2 for a can of Carling??

I fundamently disagree with the notion that cheap booze fuels the 'binge culture'.
In france booze is noticeably cheaper but there is no 'binge culture'. Well not that I've noticed.
I think that the French culture of regular and frequent gatherings of families for meals, etc and the influence of the extended family is a much greater factor in disseminating the values of 'responsibility'

 

[Lincsbodger]

Quote "* End the sale of alcohol at 'bargain basement' prices by supermarkets;""

Yep, probably by making them sell it at the equivalent pub price. Put this way:- would you pay £2 for a can of Carling??

I fundamently disagree with the notion that cheap booze fuels the 'binge culture'.
In france booze is noticeably cheaper but there is no 'binge culture'. Well not that I've noticed.
I think that the French culture of regular and frequent gatherings of families for meals, etc and the influence of the extended family is a much greater factor in disseminating the values of 'responsibility'

I agree with your last point, the problem is labour has conducted a war on traditional family life and marriage, and the majority of families are now single parent, and marriage is at an all time low. The practice of sitting down together for a meal, and especially sunday lunch, is almost dissappeared, eating off your knee in front of the telly is the norm, and so the effect you see in france where drinking and eating are connected and responsibility instilled, and the concept of moderate social drinking is taught, is simply non existent in the UK. Teenagers simply dont know HOW to social drink, all they know is getting blotto.

 

[joinerjohn]

IMHO what they should do about this binge drinking is to , Introduce a new fine/ sentence for being drunk in a public place and rigorously enforce it.
Let's say a minimum £500 fine and 100hrs community service. Let's get the police out in city centres at weekends and arrest those that are absolutely blotto, keep them in the cells over the weekend and haul them before the courts on a Monday morning.
I bet these young un's would think twice about causing the apparent problems they do.
The law already exists, just up the consequences.

 

[nickso]

IMHO what they should do about this binge drinking is to , Introduce a new fine/ sentence for being drunk in a public place and rigorously enforce it.
Let's say a minimum £500 fine. Let's get the police out in city centres at weekends and arrest those that are absolutely blotto, keep them in the cells over the weekend and haul them before the courts on a Monday morning.
I bet these young un's would think twice about causing the apparent problems they do.
The law already exists, just up the consequences.

nothing wrong with being drunk. its what goes with it that causes the problems.

 

[joinerjohn]

nothing wrong with being drunk. its what goes with it that causes the problems.

Yes, but when I was an older teenager, I could go out on a Friday night and get drunk ( not absolutely blotto) and not cause fights, arguments etc.
Why do the young people of today seem to think they can't have a good time without the obligatory punch up at the end of it?

Yeah I know,, it's the few spoiling it for the rest, but why shouldn't the courts issue large fines/ community service ?

 

[RedHerring2]

IMHO what they should do about this binge drinking is to , Introduce a new fine/ sentence for being drunk in a public place and rigorously enforce it.
Let's say a minimum £500 fine. Let's get the police out in city centres at weekends and arrest those that are absolutely blotto, keep them in the cells over the weekend and haul them before the courts on a Monday morning.
I bet these young un's would think twice about causing the apparent problems they do.
The law already exists, just up the consequences.

Sorry to fundamentally disagree again. Legislation is woefully inadequate on some issues. cultural change (regain previous practices) is what is required.
You can't directly legislate for that. It has to be indirect encouragement.

Reminds me of the suggestions put forward for increasing communication and team work in an organisation: the winner; free coffee at 3.00 in the afternoon to encourage conversation over a cuppa!
Regular end of week meet-ups in the pub have the same effect. Unfortunately it might deter the non-drinker.

 

[Whitespirit66]

Being as I'm going into hospital this year,, I was hoping to be in the next bed to Kate Moss.

Only likely if you're going into detox!

 

[joinerjohn]

I'm sorry RedHerring, but I have to disagree with you. If these young people can afford to go out at weekends and cause mayhem,(if tv and the press are to believed). Surely depriving them of their hard earned cash/ weekend time, should only encourage them to drink responsibly?
When I worked for the local council, there was one council employee who used to cause exactly the sort of trouble we read about in the papers every week. The final straw for his employers was reading the report in the local papers about Mr xxxxxxxx, "a council employee", who admitted xxxxxx whilst drunk etc.
I'm still of the attitude that you don't just work for an employer from 9 till 5 Monday to Friday. Even at weekends, your actions can reflect badly on your employer.
Put it this way, would you let a company employee in your house, when he' s bragging about beating someone up, or having been in a great punch up at the weekend whilst drunk?? I know I wouldn't.

 

[RedHerring2]

When I worked for the local council, there was one council employee who used to cause exactly the sort of trouble we read about in the papers every week. The final straw for his employers was reading the report in the local papers about Mr xxxxxxxx, "a council employee", who admitted xxxxxx whilst drunk etc.
I'm still of the attitude that you don't just work for an employer from 9 till 5 Monday to Friday. Even at weekends, your actions can reflect badly on your employer.
Put it this way, would you let a company employee in your house, when he' s bragging about beating someone up, or having been in a great punch up at the weekend whilst drunk?? I know I wouldn't.

I entirely agree with you on this point.

I'm sorry RedHerring, but I have to disagree with you. If these young people can afford to go out at weekends and cause mayhem,(if tv and the press are to believed). Surely depriving them of their hard earned cash/ weekend time, should only encourage them to drink responsibly?

or you drive it underground and (to do with the above point) teach the 'perpetrators' to stop boasting about their 'achievements'. i.e. teach them to become criminals