In case you haven’t seen the latest update from Urgent Legal Action for Our NHS #JR4NHS here’s the link:

http://r.mail.crowdjustice.co.uk/10ow6qfckfale3f.html

It appears that Hunt’s plan

to sneak in ACOs under the radar via a parliamentary Statutory Instrument has been put on hold for a few weeks. Pause for a healthy dose of scepticism that a public consultation will carry much weight unless the response is massive.

And how will there be much of a response unless the public knows about the consultation?

Googling

NHS consultation on ACOs

gets

NHS England announces consultation on ACO contracts.

Towards the end of a very warm and cuddly explanation of ACOs,

NHS England state:

Given the interest in the ACO proposals NHS England will hold a 12 week public consultation process to provide further clarity about their role and scope.

That must qualify for one of the understatements of the twenty-first  century!

“Given the interest” when five leading medical experts are seeking a judicial review and hundreds of members of the public have crowdfunded £thousands to support their legal case. I think there’s more than a little interest in this attempt to change our NHS for ever!

Nothing about ACOs in the Conservatives 2017 General Election Manifesto,

as far as I can see. What happened to the 2010 “no more top-down re-organisations of the NHS”? Or was that the Lib Dems before they joined hands with the Tories in The Coalition? Instead we’re going to have countless bottom-up reorganisations at local level, if the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care gets his way.

I’m sure the thousands who called for proper NHS funding in a huge London march last Saturday would have plenty to say on the subject.

I wonder when the consultation period commences and how the public can respond? No information on that page as far as I can see. If you hear anything about the NHS England public consultation, please let me know; and if I find out I’ll pass it on.

If you missed the January 30th update from #JR4NHS, you can read it here.

And my precis is here.

Professor Allyson Pollock and Dr Colin Hutchinson talk about ACOs in this video.

And read why Professor Stephen Hawking’s joined the campaign, in this Guardian article.

Quote:

I am concerned that accountable care organisations are an attack on the fundamental principles of the NHS,” Hawking told the Guardian, explaining his move.
“They have not been established by statute, and they appear to be being used for reducing public expenditure, for cutting services and for allowing private companies to receive and benefit from significant sums of public money for organising and providing services.  Professor Hawking to The Guardian newspaper 8/12/2017

Thanks for reading my blog today.

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Save one life you’re a hero. Save 100 lives you’re a nurse. #NHS

There’s been an important development in the #JR4NHS campaign to secure urgent legal action for our National Health Service.

Read the latest update here.

This  whole issue of ACOs (Accountable Care Organisations) is very complicated but the #JR4NHS campaign explains in language that everyone can understand what’s being planned for our NHS.

My understanding is that ACOs are the means by which the Tories will achieve their dream of privatising our NHS and introducing an American-style health insurance system to the UK.

I hope I’m wrong. I was born into an NHS that embodied the hopes of the WW2 generation for a better future for all. And, when the time comes, that’s the health care system I want to die in. I don’t want to end up like Walt in “Breaking Bad” who had to spend his final  days stressing about how to fund his cancer treatment without bankrupting his family.

Please visit the  #JR4NHS website, read the information and support the doctors and medical professors who are trying to prevent the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (no joke intended) from changing our NHS irrevocably.

STOP PRESS!!!

I received another #JR4NHS update yesterday evening.

Good news but with an almighty sting in the tail.

READ THE LATEST #JR4NHS UPDATE HERE.

Thanks for reading my blog today.

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and

All that any of us can do is try to live today as best we can.