Rescuing
Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected
Dictatorship
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Spin, not
face-to-face confrontations with the voters, is the Government's
chosen method of communication. Ordinary
people are dangerous. Ordinary people might ask a question
which throws a politician 'off message'; the Cabinet member
might reveal himself or herself to be a human being like
us, and not a programmed android. Worse still, he or she
might tell the truth.
Ann Leslie - Daily Mail, September
16, 2004
Power
cut, please
Labour's
pollsters have Tony Blair running scared, because they have
informed him that if turnout at the next election is below
50%, the result will be a hung parliament. This would be
good news for those of us who, viewing the damage inflicted
by recent governments, would like nothing better than a
Parliament powerless to do anything. Letter from Ron
Phillips, London W14 - Daily Mail 17/2/05
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Tony
Blair's pledge cards made no mention of pensioners. Perhaps
they're the jokers.
Letter
to the Daily Mail from Brian Green, Daventry, Northants
- February 22, 2005
Perhaps
hospitals should adopt the motto: TOUGH ON GRIME. TOUGH
ON THE CAUSES OF GRIME. Phil Musk, Godalming, Surrey - Letter to
the Daily Mail, February 28, 2005
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Matron
can't do it all on her own - The Tories want matrons
who can close down dirty wards. Here one writer who has spent
months investigating the NHS says sorry, but that doesn't go far
enough
By
Harriet Sergeant - Good Health, Daily Mail, February 22, 2005
After
watching his elderly mother -in-law die from what he believes
was the infection MRSA four years ago, Tory leader Michael Howard
is putting hospital hygiene at the heart of his party's heath
manifesto. He wants to give matrons new powers to shut down dirty
wards and operating theatres. Patients fed up with filthy wards
and indifferent nurses appear to have got themselves a champion.
But
has he gone far enough?
New
Nightingale needed
Letter
to Daily Mail by Simon Prentis, London NW3 March 9, 2005
Statistics
might show decreases in MRSA infections, but the crackdown
on hygiene has clearly not yet reached our local hospital.
I
recently accompanied my wife in an emergency admission
to the Royal Free Hospital in Nth London and was stunned
by the widespread evidence of poor hygiene control.
It
wasn't so much the grubby, uncleaned floors and grimy
walls as the dirty, blood-flecked curtains being used
to close off the cubicles, the blood left to dry on the
floor and nursing staff not bothering to wash hands between
patients.
Not
to mention medical records being mixed up, blood samples
lost, X-rays mislaid and, at one point, even a baby going
missing. The vast sums the Government claims to be investing
in the NHS obviously are not having an effect where they
are most needed. Bring back Matron? What we need is a
Florence Nightingale.
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True,
he promises that, under the Conservatives, matrons will finally
have power to contradict managers, saying: "The days when
matrons and inspection teams are overruled by managers chasing
government targets will be over."
Indeed,
in a report last year, the National Audit Office pointed out that
pressure on managers to meet Labour's targets took precedence
over infection control. So Mr Howard's pledge is a step in the
right direction. But why stop there?
Certainly
a matron should be able to close down a ward infected with MRSA.
But by then it is often too late for elderly and vulnerable patients.
If Matrons could exercise more authority at an earlier stage,
operations would not need to be cancelled or patients sent home.
A properly run ward rarely needs closing down. Michael Howard
should start with the basics. And the basics are a clean pair
of hands.
The
most common way infection spreads in a hospital is by NHS staff
moving from one patient to another without first washing their
hands. In my recent major investigation on the state of nursing
today, carried out for the Daily Mail, I saw for myself what is
causing MRSA on our wards. It is very simple: matrons
lack the power to enforce basic standards of hygiene.
No
one is sacked for forgetting to wash their hands. No one is disciplined
for leaving off the protective gloves that should be worn when
dealing with a patient infected with MRSA. Transgressors do not
even get a telling-off.
Compare
this slackness with the enforcement of health and safety legislation
elsewhere. One industrial chemist who found himself a patient
of the NHS was horrified. He would have been sacked on the spot
if he had not worn the protective clothing or equipment provided
by his employers.
Yet
NHS staff, despite the fact that hospital-acquired infections
kill more people than die in car crashes every year, remain immune
from laws that govern everyone else. Indeed, NHS health and safety
legislation, so powerful that it can close down a hospital, does
not - as one chief executive pointed out to me - even include
infection control.
NHS
hospitals will remain dirty until matrons have the sort of power
Michael Howard is talking about in every sphere of their work.
They should, at the very least, be able to reward good staff and
fire bad ones. This is a right enjoyed by every corner store in
this country, but denied the NHS, to the detriment of its patients.
For
it would mean taking on the powerful public sector Unions - something
neither John Reid, Secretary of State for Health, nor Michael
Howard wants to do. They have chosen union power over patient
power.
The
Labour Party has been very good at monopolising the language of
caring and labelling Tories as the 'nasty' party. But walk around
any hospital in the UK and you might wonder for whom exactly this
Government does care. In far too many cases, it would seem to
be anyone but the patient.
John
Reid has demonstrated his priorities. Around 1,200 people die
every year from passive smoking compared with 5.000 from hospital-acquired
infection (and that is a conservative estimate - patient groups
put it much higher). Yet it is smokers on whom he is concentrating.
When it comes to MRSA in hospitals, which the Government owns
and controls, he is supine. Real action - equivalent to smoking
bans in public places, for example - is absent. Pub owners are
a doddle, it seems, compared with confronting NHS unions.
Michael
Howard should look at the role of matron 30 years ago, or in the
private sector today, where she still enjoys undisputed power.
In the past, matron had authority over every one of her patients,
nurses , cleaners and porters. A porter in a rural hospital in
the West Country recalled that, in the Seventies, 'if a matron
saw my hair grow below my cap peak, she fined me 20p which went
into the charity box'.
And
she fired people on the spot. This ensured spotless wards and
patients who were well cared for.
Now
the emphasis has shifted from the well-being of the patient to
the well-being of staff. Modern management in the NHS is meant
to nurture its employees. Everything has to go through a disciplinary
procedure. An errant nurse is offered training, supervision and
given another chance. This can go on for a year.
"In
the meantime, patients are going through her hands and suffering,"
says a former matron. Not to mention catching MRSA.
The
problem for Mr Howard is the NHS and its attitude towards authority.
The Department of Health views exercise of authority rather as
the Victorians did sex -= distasteful, not done by nice people
and best concealed by a frill of jargon. NHS staff are equally
uncomfortable. They dismissed the matron of the past as 'hierarchical'.
Today, apparently, it's more a case of 'working with people to
achieve goals'.
Patients,
Michael Howard should note, want the opposite. The single most
requested item in government survey of patients and NHS staff
was the return of matron: a strong clinical leader with clear
authority at ward level. Patients complain of existing in a vacuum
No one person appears to have the authority to oversee all the
elements of patient care, pull them together and take responsibility
for that person's well-being.
Lack
of authority dooms matron to being no more effectual than any
other layer of NHS bureaucracy. During my investigation for the
Mail, I met exceptional matrons who, through sheer strength of
character, hard work and willpower, delivered first-class care.
But
what took up most of their time and energy? Not their patients,
but lack of nursing staff, poor maintenance and management. They
lacked the authority to get any of these problems fixed for good.
They spent their time permanently fire-fighting the issues these
problems created - but not the problems themselves.
Yes,
give matrons the power to close wards - but they should be given
the same authority to deal with every aspect of patient care.
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Perhaps
hospitals should adopt the motto: TOUGH ON GRIME. TOUGH
ON THE CAUSES OF GRIME. Phil Musk, Godalming, Surrey - Letter to
the Daily Mail, February 28, 2005
Perhaps
Ann Widdecombe was right about Michael Howard, but it
should have been KNIGHT with a K, and he could have saved
us from the monsters Blair and Campbell - Letter to
the Dail Mayil from Les Fletcher, Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn
Bay, Wales - February 18, 2005
After
a clear vote against them, we still got eight non-elected
Regional Assemblies. When we vote against the EU Constitution,
we'll get them anyway. Letter from P.Cove, Aylesbury,
BUCKS.- Daily Mail, January 31, 2005
THE
TIMES slavish support for the Government worries some
members of the paper's staff, not to mention any perspicacious
readers who are left. Political editor Philip Webster
was questioned about this when he addressed colleagues
as part of an in-house 'masterclass' exercise. Small wonder.
One of his Blair-worshipping subordinates wrote a news
story yesterday poo-pooing the row over Labours anti-semitic
poster mocking Michael Howard, saying it was merely £5million
worth of 'free publicity' for the party. Ephraim Hardcastle
- Daily Mail, Febrauary 2, 2005
Hold
the front page
Further
to BBC bias (Mail), very often on BBC Breakfast and Breakfast
With Frost, coverage of the morning papers is censored.
If the front page of the Daily Mail is critical of Tony
Blair and his Soviet-style Government, it is not shown,
although the front pages of all the other newspapers are
shown. A supposedly independent broadcasting body is acting
as censor for this Government - an absolute disgrace.
Letter from Peter Fish, Chippenham, Wilts. .- Daily Mail,
February 17, 2005
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The
REAL NASTY PARTY- How
Labour is the true home of spite, bigotry and contempt for the
public
For
the health of our democracy, we, the people of the United Kingdom,
must find a way to force Mr Blair to resign
Such
defiance of the democratic process and the will of the majority
of we people of the UK, must be exposed by voters as a matter
or urgency, and not just in the two by-elections we have had this
July and the European elections in June 2004. But how can this
be done?
The
most effective way of getting our deceitful PM to resign would
be to mobilise the army of Labour MPs currently in the House of
Commons and get them to demand it, the loss of their seat to be
a penalty if they did not. All voters in Labour-held constituencies
need to write a letter along these lines to their local Labour
MPs:
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Dear
Despite
his absolute and unequivocal assurances over the past year
of the serious risk to our security of Saddam Hussein's
'weapons of mass destruction', Prime Minister Blair
has admitted, that the threat was non-existent. For that
critical error of judgement and for his gross incompetence
in handling this very important issue, I ask you to take
immediate steps to ensure that Tony Blair does the honourable
thing and resign without delay..
I
would therefore be much obliged if you would propose and
help mobilise a Parliamentary vote of 'No Confidence' in
Mr Blair which, despite Labour's huge majority, would leave
the PM with no option but to resign.
If
I get no reply to this letter, I shall assume you will continue
to support Mr Blair as our Prime Minister. In such circumstances
I shall not vote for you in the forthcoming General Election.
Signed:
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Simple,
non-violent, protest letters along these lines on a variety of
issues could be the basis for re-vitalising our democracy and
increasing voters' interest and participation in politics. Download
a printable copy of the above letter here.
There
is another way for the voice of the silent majority to be heard,
a voice that made sure broken promises would not only be revealed,
but punished in subsequent elections.
In
the year available before the General Election expected in 2005,
many topics are available as ammunition, each one asking questions.
A weapon for our purpose will be the results of Opinion Polls
in individual constituencies using ICM, NOP, Gallop, Mori
or YouGov.
Questions
suggested for this purpose are listed here.
CAST
YOUR VOTE ON A VARIETY OF OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES HERE.
Current
and prospective Parliamentary candidates of all Parties running
for election could share a platform at public forums in every
constituency. They would be presented with the results of
polls on this issue expressed by the majority of voters in that
constituency.
The candidates could be asked if their own views and that of their
Party manifesto corresponded with the polls, and if not, how they
intended to represent the will of the majority of local voters.
Local and National Press, Radio and TV coverage would be arranged
and the results published on this web site.
Here
is another powerful strategy for using your vote effectively in
the forthcoming General Election. Send your sitting and prospective
MPs a letter defining your requirements if they want your vote.
This example deals with the proposed
EU Constitutional Treaty.
Your
letters would end: "If you do not answer
this letter, I shall take it that you intend to follow the Government
line. I shall act accordingly in the forthcoming General Election.
Or
why not create a questionnaire that you send to all the candidates
in your constituency, getting them to give yes/no answers to questions
of your choice, and ending it with the same paragraph(above).
Download
a printable example of the questionnaire.
It
is high time for the people of this United Kingdom to stop allowing
themselves to be manipulated by politicians. We need our representatives
in Parliament to genuinely reflect the view of the majority in
their own constituency, even if this means going against their
personal and/or their party's policy. While they may argue their
case, hoping to change the minds of the majority in their constituency,
they should ultimately be obliged to reflect the majority view
of those who elect them.
It
will be argued by politicians of all parties that most voters
don't have the knowledge necessary to express an opinion on important
subjects at issue, and that our vote is a form of delegated democracy.
We should argue that it is their duty to ensure that we voters
do have ready access to such information as is necessary to form
an intelligent opinion. That, after all, is one main purpose of
Opposition Parties in our Parliamentary Democracy.
Most
important of all, such proceedings would rekindle in voters their
latent interest and obligation to cast their vote, knowing that
the candidate of their choice would be more likely to act in accordance
with their wishes. A much higher turnout in elections would be
the result.
Contact
your local Party Chairman. Gain his support for setting up public
forums in your constituency on these, as well as any other relevant
topics, well before the next General Election expected in 2005.
You should then, depending on the integrity of the candidate of
your choice, feel fairly certain that your view on any subject
being debated in Parliament will more accurately be reflected
by your representative in that assembly.
