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Tag: NHS

  • NHS accused of racism

    NHS accused of racism

    The NHS has been accused of racism after figures showed applicants from ethnic minorities find it harder to get a job, are more likely to be bullied if they do and have more grievances taken out against them.

    Figures from the South East Coast NHS, one of ten regions in England, found that although black and minority ethnic groups made up almost a third of applicants for jobs they only represented 16 per cent of appointees.

    Rob Berkeley, deputy director of the Runnymede Trust, a racial equality think tank, told the Health Service Journal: “The patterns are broad enough to suggest it’s about institutional racism. The NHS has been slower to address it.”

    The data show three per cent of the 193 executive directors were black and ethnic minority in origin along with only 2.5 per cent of non-executive directors.

    Candy Morris, chief executive of NHS South East Coast, said: “We recognise that we need to do more to address the needs of black and minority ethnic patients and members of the public as well as provide greater leadership opportunities for black and minority ethnic staff members.”

    A spokesman for the Department of Health said The Race Equality Service Review had shown there were still areas of concern.

    The Telegraph

  • Woman sells home to pay for cancer drug denied by NHS

    Woman sells home to pay for cancer drug denied by NHS

    A cancer sufferer has been forced to sell her home to pay for a potentially life-prolonging drug after being turned down for treatment on the NHS.

    NHS

    Nikki Phelps, 37, suffers from a rare form of cancer, and believes the medication Sunitinib, also known as Sutent, could help.

    It is available through the NHS and costs £36,000 a year. Although effective at slowing down the growth of tumours Sutent has not been approved to treat multiple endocrine neoplasis (MEN1), which Mrs Phelps suffers from and which has caused aggressive tumours to form in her endocrine system.

    Mrs Phelps, a former primary school teacher, who was first diagnosed with cancer ten years ago, has criticised the NHS for failing to offer her the drug.

    Last week David Cameron told his Witney consituents that £200 million from his planned efficiencies savings would be put into a Cancer Drugs Fund for sufferers refused access to treatments by NICE.

    Mrs Phelps and her husband Bill, who have two-year-old twins, Jack and Harry, have already spent their £6,000 savings on a two-month supply of Sutent and are now selling their £200,000 family home in Luddesdown, near Gravesend, Kent, to pay for the tablets which cost £100 per day.

    Mr Phelps, 45, said he is also prepared to sell his business, The Cat’s Pyjamas cattery, if the money for treatment runs out.

    He said: “Her life is now between the bedroom, the bathroom and the sofa.

    “Emotionally she’s very strong. She has to be. There are two little boys who can’t have their mum sobbing around them.”

    Mrs Phelps was diagnosed in 2000. Her father died from the disease the following year.

    She had surgery in 2002 and was given the all clear shortly afterwards. She then gave birth in November 2007 through IVF treatment.

    The following year she was re-diagnosed with the disease and in January of last year underwent surgery to remove a tumour weighing 11lbs.

    Mrs Phelps says that doctors believe that cancers previously kept at bay by successive courses of chemotherapy ‘ran riot’ during her pregnancy.

    She says doctors have also warned her that there is a 50 per cent chance one of her sons could contract the condition in later life.

    Meanwhile, the family are receiving donations from friends at the mother-and-baby group which she attended who have set up an online fundraising page.

    Mr Phelps added: “It’s a strange situation where you realise that just when you were starting to lose faith in everything, people rally round to help like this.”

    NHS West Kent said Sutent is only for licensed for treatment of a form of kidney cancer called renal cell carcinoma and gastro-intestinal stromal tumours.

    Dr James Thallon, Medical Director for NHS West Kent said: “NHS West Kent routinely funds Sunitinib for conditions approved by NICE (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) .

    “However, for certain types of tumour the drug is not licensed, or approved by NICE, and it is vitally important that we consider all the clinical evidence in deciding to fund a drug in these circumstances.

    “We have to prioritise treatments that we have clear evidence will work over those where we can?t be certain, to get the best from our limited resources and to not endanger patients with unproven treatments.”

    The Telegraph

  • Royal College of Midwives attacks BNP maternity claims

    Royal College of Midwives attacks BNP maternity claims

    rcmThe Royal College of Midwives has hit out at claims by the BNP that it blames immigration for increased pressure on maternity services.

    An article on the BNP website said: ‘According to a survey by the Royal College of Midwives issued in 2008, the quality of NHS care has plummeted because ministers failed to predict a massive rise in the birth rate among immigrant mothers.’

    According to the article, ‘several maternity wards at NHS hospitals in areas which serve largely white areas of the country, have been forced to shut their doors for months at a time because staff were needed elsewhere to deliver babies from foreign-born mothers in immigrant-dense areas.’

    But the RCM denied that it considered immigration to be a problem.

    General secretary Cathy Warwick pointed out that many midwives were born outside of the UK and without them, NHS maternity care would be ‘on its knees’.

    Instead, Ms Warwick said the pressure on maternity units was caused by increasing fertility rates in older women.

    Ms Warwick said: ‘We have seen an almost 50 percent rise in the fertility rate for women aged 40 or over, for example, and these women place more demands on the service than younger women. ‘Every year, the amount of medical intervention in maternity care increases and the number of babies delivered by caesarean section rises, both of which place extra demands on those providing maternity care.

    ‘The growing complexity and quality of maternity care are therefore the main reasons why pressures on the service are growing.

    ‘Thankfully, all mainstream parties recognise this and there is cross-party support for more resources for maternity care to deliver the first-class service we all want. That is the approach that responsible political parties should be taking, not scapegoating foreign-born mothers for a failure to invest in more midwives and better facilities and choice for all women.’

    Source:  www.nursingtimes.net, 17 June, 2009