The Conservative Party - Part Two.

[El Cid 220]

1 hour ago, apelike said:

I agree that the NHS healthcare budget may have been lacking in investment but... that is not a cut. 

I agree with this, but not the rest.

 

During the period of austerity that followed the 2008 economic crash, the Department of Health and Social Care budget continued to grow but at a slower pace than in previous years. Budgets rose by 1.4 per cent each year on average (adjusting for inflation) in the 10 years between 2009/10 to 2018/19, compared to the 3.7 per cent average rises since the NHS was established.

[Delbow 704]

1 hour ago, Anna B said:

 

 

Incidently the Tories managed to down grade the essential help needed to the disabled in the Government's emergency Coronavirus Act last March. It relaxed the legal onus on Local Authorities to provide care laid out in children's individual Education, Health and Care legislation and instead required them to 'do everything they can to continue meeting their existing duties.' 

 

In most instances this gave cash strapped councils the legal opportunity to offer no help at all. 

Note the word 'essential' help. Without it Disabled people are dying as a result.

 

 

Well, the emergency legislation gave local authorities the option of derogating from the Care Act  but I'm not aware of any that have actually used the 'easements'. And the emergency funding has latterly been very helpful in providing support to people at home in order to keep them out of residential care which is generally cheaper but obviously riskier with Covid. The real problem was at the start when a social care system already on its knees because of cuts to local government funding wasn't able to provide support to people to go home from hospital, so a lot of people were discharged to care homes where a lot died. And residential care was already knackered because it's been about squeezing out profit for venture capitalists for years, rather than providing quality, safe care.

[apelike 10]

2 hours ago, Anna B said:

Cutting money to local authorities (which the Tories have cut to the bone,) IS CUTS.

I agree that in that case it is cuts but we were talking predominately about cuts to the NHS.

 

Quote

That affects everything the local authorities are responsible for - health, education, police, etc.

It affects the amount of money they get to spend overall, except for the police as they are funded differently allowing for a rise in CT. Its amazing that a lot of councils are still managing and have already stated in their blurb that they have also become more efficient in spending, yet despite that some still operate a surplus. 

 

Quote

It's left to them to juggle too little money amongst too many things. 

You mean like Sheffield using £11.2 million in reserves to help fund the 2019/20 budget gap. Where do you think that money came from and why was it not spent before?

 

https://governmentbusiness.co.uk/news/12022020/sheffield-budget-reveals-no-unplanned-cuts-services

 

Notice the bit about prudent planning and financial management. If they had done that in the past they would have had many more millions to spare and the same goes for other councils. Public corporations and councils were notorious in the past for wasting public money. It was one of the reasons Maggie had her way and also why it was also copied in many other countries.

 

It can of course be reversed but I wonder just how many would be happy at a big hike in taxes to pay for it.

 

Its a bit like Corbyn's offer of free broadband for all and yet someone will have to pay for it in the end.

Edited January 27, 2021 by apelike

[Anna B 1,414]

2 hours ago, Delbow said:

Well, the emergency legislation gave local authorities the option of derogating from the Care Act  but I'm not aware of any that have actually used the 'easements'. And the emergency funding has latterly been very helpful in providing support to people at home in order to keep them out of residential care which is generally cheaper but obviously riskier with Covid. The real problem was at the start when a social care system already on its knees because of cuts to local government funding wasn't able to provide support to people to go home from hospital, so a lot of people were discharged to care homes where a lot died. And residential care was already knackered because it's been about squeezing out profit for venture capitalists for years, rather than providing quality, safe care.

There is much that is wrong with the NHS /Care system which IMO has deteriorated over the years in spite of the hard working people who have given it their all. In spite of years of promises there is still no sign of the government's white paper to address some of the problems. I sometimes wonder if the plan is to run it into the ground so that they can sell it off /privatize it, even more than they already have. 

 

Care homes have been privatized and used as cash cows, taking in Covid patients for money, (even though the actual carers work for minimum wage) and essential home care has become almost none existent in many places. As councils no longer have a legal obligation to provide care this can only get worse.

 

Take for example, the death of 10 year old Dylan Freeman? A severely autistic sufferer of Cohen's disease, needing round the clock care, whose mother was left with no support whatsoever when Ckovid struck, and was left to care for him at home, alone. He rarely slept and howled continually, as well as having multiple physical problems.

Without support, Olga Freeman, his loving caring mother, finally cracked with the ongoing stress, suffered a nervous breakdown, and killed Dylan with sleeping pills  in desperation as she could take it no longer cope.

 

She is currently being charged with murder. 

That's how important home care is. There are many similar if less dramatic cases, ending in death, that privatization is not going to cure. 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Anna B

[Anna B 1,414]

2 hours ago, El Cid said:

 

Sorry, posted by mistake.

Edited January 27, 2021 by Anna B

[steved32 55]

Northern Ireland and the vaccine...

 

Wonder whether they think it was a good idea to cosy up to the Tories and create a hung parliament a few years ago.

 

 

And that's not mentioning Brexit... oops...mentioned it.

 

Probably get a moderator slap for inappropriate post, for as we know Conservative party and Brexit are completely disconnected.

[Longcol 604]

On 27/01/2021 at 21:49, apelike said:

I agree that in that case it is cuts but we were talking predominately about cuts to the NHS.

 

It affects the amount of money they get to spend overall, except for the police as they are funded differently allowing for a rise in CT. Its amazing that a lot of councils are still managing and have already stated in their blurb that they have also become more efficient in spending, yet despite that some still operate a surplus. 

 

You mean like Sheffield using £11.2 million in reserves to help fund the 2019/20 budget gap. Where do you think that money came from and why was it not spent before?

 

https://governmentbusiness.co.uk/news/12022020/sheffield-budget-reveals-no-unplanned-cuts-services

 

 

That'll go a long way when the annual budget is £1.4 billion pa.

[apelike 10]

1 minute ago, Longcol said:

That'll go a long way when the annual budget is £1.4 billion pa.

Well it did go a long way and that's the point as its about balancing the budget not how much the annual budget is. In the new 2020/21 budget they don't need to worry as, quoted from that link:

 

"The total level of service savings proposed for 2020/21 is £14.7 million and covers categories such as service effectiveness, cost reduction and staff savings." Amazing what can be done when needed!

[tinfoilhat 11]

Define service effectiveness and staff savings. How is it better if those things are reduced to service users.

[apelike 10]

6 minutes ago, tinfoilhat said:

Define service effectiveness and staff savings. How is it better if those things are reduced to service users.

I cant, but you could ask Terry Fox who was quoted in that article and knows about it.

Edited January 29, 2021 by apelike

[tinfoilhat 11]

13 minutes ago, apelike said:

I cant, but you could ask Terry Fox who was quoted in that article and knows about it.

Why not ask some service users? Is Terry fox a service user? Does he rely on council provided services?

[Longcol 604]

27 minutes ago, apelike said:

Well it did go a long way and that's the point as its about balancing the budget not how much the annual budget is. 

 

 

How did it go a long way? It was a tiny percentage of the annual budget - so small that it wouldn't have made any noticeable difference if they had set a budget with a "deficit" funded by  a small increase in borrowing.

 

How do you think HMG has been setting a "balanced budget" - yup, vastly  increased borrowing by HMG.