Jeremy Hunt needs to be sacked?

[deeedeee]

I cannot begin to imagine what possessed David Cameron to give him this job. He's an utter liability. The Government need to sack him, restart negotiations and distance themselves from him asap.

Not only for the junior doctors contract debacle, or his views on abortion, but also his views on homeopathy and also his dirty doings with the Murdochs show he has absolutely no discretion. Also lying, misconstruing statistics and covering up reports. www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/07/jeremy-hunt-accused-cover-up-critical-nhs-report-tory-mp

He's awful. Did you hear him squirm when interviewed ? He comes across as an ignorant and toady little man and it beggars belief that this man holds responsibility for the health of the nation!

Even Tories want him sacked www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-former-chief-whips-junior-7359501

[ABetaDad1]

My DW just told me to stand as a town councillor. I have the time, the skills, the knowledge.

Problem is the local big party hierarchy make it impossible to stand for a seat without being the 'right' person who is already pre-selected. Good people almost never get elected.

[GruntledOne]

So should every junior doctor go into politics? Mightn't that cause one or two problems with the NHS all by itself?

[Babycham1979]

Hunt should resign, but it will make no difference who the Health Secretary is. The strategy has been written by Oliver Letwin and his cabal of neocon advisers; whichever patsy they install as Health Sec will be delivering the same programme.

There really should be a referendum on the NHS to finish this once and for all. The sad irony is that (regardless of the loss of equal access), private healthcare will cost us all more!

Also, as has happened with rail privatisation and train drivers, fragmentation will drive wages up not down, providers have to compete for a diminishing trained workforce.

It's ideologically-driven madness and I can only assume their commitment to this lunacy is bolstered by the personal enrichment the likes of United Health have privately promised them at the end of it.

[yorkshapudding]

"not patients but children. Clearly you aren't because you are posting on here."

Not sure what point you are making. I prefer to think of the children and young people I work with as individuals not just "patients" but not sure why that's relevent.

Yes, you've caught me out, here I am wantonly posting on MN on my day off (in between catching up on work admin and looking after my child) when I could be selflessly serving my community every waking minute like yourself

So you're a local councillor, good for you, that doesn't mean that people who don't want to do the same are less entitled to express an opinion and don't have the right to disagree with the actions of their elected representatives. When people on MN criticise the NHS I don't start demanding to know "so where will you be studying medicine? Why haven't you applied to be chief executive of your local NHS Trust?? What are you doing about it??" That's a ridiculous attitude.

[mummymeister]

I am not castigating. I am just saying that my local council did stuff that got right on my nerves so I spent months whinging about it and bugger all changed.

so I got off my arse and now I do get a say. outvoted some of the time, sure, but at least I am trying to do my bit.

you on the other hand are quite happy to moan about the job someone is doing but not at all interested in doing something positive about it.

so go on Voyage. carry on moaning (in between treating sick children of course) and I guarantee you bugger all will change.

stand up and be the next Martin Bell and people might actually vote for you and change might actually happen.

Politics isn't some mysterious woo woo job. if you can be bothered to take part then you can make a difference.

I am an insignificant town councillor in the arse end of nowhere with a budget less than your annual salary. I don't for one minute think that what I do is the least bit vital but sometimes we do do things that make a difference.

[Varya]

In common with many ministers and MPs, they talk a lot of BS.

[longtimelurking]

And much of the Labour party, the so called moderate wing, would implement very similar policies - just look at what Blair/Brown did with PFI and increasing the internal market bullshit.

[mummymeister]

I'm a bit busy treating sick children at the moment thanks

not patients but children. Clearly you aren't because you are posting on here.

I am busy too yorksha. its not the preserve of people in the nhs. but I still find time to be an independent town councillor because I didn't like the decisions my council kept making on planning apps, toilets, etc.

[longtimelurking]

People are going after Hunt as the man but this is a mistake as they are failing to see that even if he is removed things wont change....... he is pushing through desired Tory policy will the full support of the PM and his party.

We are stuck with this shit for another 4.5 years and unless Labour get their act together they will have completed the destruction of the NHS and many other public services well before the next general election.

[mummymeister]

careers in politics are accessible. Heres the link:

www.parliament.uk/get-involved/elections/standing/

you need people to nominate and second you. then you get out and about and start campaigning for what you believe in and get people to support and vote for you. You don't have to belong to a party or be part of a big party machine. you can just have your own ideas which if popular enough people will vote for you.

what an eyeopener it would be for some of the posters on MN if they actually went out and doorstepped people.

Another Martin Bell anyone?

[nebulae]

mummymeister some politicians are arrogant, but imagine the uproar if they described themselves as "the most resilient, driven, passionate, intelligent group of people in Britain"? Or if bankers did? Or lawyers?

Should we accept junior doctors being arrogant because we respect the work they do?

I'm not taking sides here, I don't know enough about the issue, but I'd be more inclined to support the junior doctors if they showed a bit of humility.

[yorkshapudding]

"yorkshapudding - and which constituency will you be standing for? Local? Europeans? parliamentary?"

I'm a bit busy treating sick children at the moment thanks.

[IPityThePontipines]

As an individual, I vote at every single election for a party who are not the Conservatives, support my union and sign relevant petitions. That's what I do.

As for going into politics, there definitely does need to be a big move to make careers in politics accessible to all, as opposed to Oxbridge wonks.

Those claiming the NHS is in tatters, would you like to review what happened to Huntington hospital after Circle took over?

I've worked in a private hospital. It was eye-opening and not in a good way.

Another point about Hunt, he stymied NICE's work on safe staffing levels, something which is vital for safe clinical services.

But then again, this government wanted to get rid of NICE anyway...

[mummymeister]

yorkshapudding - and which constituency will you be standing for? Local? Europeans? parliamentary?

I get absolutely fed up of people who stand on the sidelines doing the "well you shouldn't do it that way." but aren't actually prepared to show what they can do.

Its not about daring to have an opinion. its about having the balls to do something about it rather than ranting on a website.

We get the politicians we deserve. if ordinary people aren't prepared to put themselves forward for public office then why are they continually surprised when someone else does.

[yorkshapudding]

"The sheer vehemence of opinion of some posters on here and on other threads is quite frankly pathetic when they aren't willing get off of their computers and show to all of us that they can in fact do a better job".

Seriously, people who disapprove of Jeremy Hunt are "pathetic" for daring to have an opinion unless they are willing to abandon their current careers/commitments to pursue becoming the next Health Secretary?

[Tanith]

He won't be sacked; he's doing precisely the job he was brought in to do and he's doing it admirably.

I think he's the fall guy - the politician set up to deflect the heat away from Cameron while they dismantle the NHS.

Shame really - he's an excellent and hardworking constituency MP in my experience. I believe he's simply doing what he's been tasked to do.

[mummymeister]

nebulae and people say politicians are arrogant.

this is by no means the only letter or missive from doctors that ascribes some sort of super human, god like powers to a group of workers.

This is an industrial dispute. its about one side wanting to change the terms and conditions of the other. its about the other side not wanting that change.

still waiting for some of the other posters to tell me what they as an individual intend to do about this rather than just moaning and whinging on.

if you don't like the job the politicians are doing then stand for office and do it yourself and do it better. not difficult really.

[nebulae]

i100.independent.co.uk/article/this-junior-doctors-powerful-letter-has-a-stark-warning-for-jeremy-hunt--byX92xikRx

I found this quite interesting and I had sympathy for the doctor who wrote the letter until he irritated me with his last sentence. I have the utmost respect for junior doctors but to describe themselves as "the most resilient, driven, passionate, intelligent group of people in Britain" is arrogant and disrepectful to the rest of us. Lots of us are resilient, driven, passionate and intelligent. Lots of people are all those things and are paid a lot less than junior doctors.

[ZedWoman]

I neither agree nor disagree with the strike. I simplly don't know enough about it to be able to form an opinion. However, I am getting a bit fed up of the way the grievances of trade unions and their members are always expressed. Teacher strikes are allways about pupils. Train driver/guard strikes are always about passenger safety. Doctor stirkes are about patient safety etc.

I pay several hundred pounds a year to my taching union because I wanted them to represent my interests. Why should I feel guilty about that? Why should I have to dress it up as something it isn't and pretend it's all about caring for the pupils? Why can't trade unions be honest and upfront and say that they are trying to secure the best deal for their members?

[tsonlyme]

The NHS is already being dismantled at an alarming rate. I work in a GP surgery & a large part of my job is deciding which clinics to refer patients to. In the last two or three years suddenly the options have changed from NHS hospital clinics almost exclusively to lots of private clinics with NHS contracts (& the NHS logo on their buildings/paperwork to make it less obvious). Treatment centres who are paid a set amount for a period of time regardless of how many patients choose to go there, private hospitals being paid to do some of the more routine ops like cataract surgery or hip replacement. Those two examples also only take on patients that fulfil certain criteria ie bugger all else wrong with them so the hospital success rate and/or death rate looks almost perfect because their patients are generally healthy and the old NHS hospitals lose those statistics because their patients often have multiple problems so are more likely to have complications. I suspect this will be used against the NHS hospitals eventually as we move further towards exclusively private care. Audiology clinics in specsavers, physic clinics in private rooms. Our midwives have had to be evicted from our health centre because we lack space and the NHS won't fund any expansion. Where are the midwives going? Well one option being considered is office space above bloody Waitrose! I expect Waitrose will enjoy having all this hungry pregnant women having to walk through their shop for their appointments.

And as for waste - capita, who now have the contract for... Hmm not sure actually, admin management of some sort? are currently changing the way paper notes are moved between GP surgeries. For years we've been using heavy duty sealable bags, they're so strong that I've never had to replace them despite heavy usage. Capita are now saying that every single record must go in its own single use plastic bag. I work in a smallish surgery, around 60 patients coming or going each week, so that's 120 plastic bags into landfill. I know of one surgery where their turnover is more like 200 per week, so four hundred plastic bags into landfill. A week. Not to mention the expense of producing the bags & the labels for each bag, and the time spent scanning each and every record in to the surgery and out again. Wonder who owns the company that makes the bags?!

[/rant]

[paulapantsdown]

Why on earth would he be sacked? He is doing exactly what his boss, the private health care speculators, and anyone who voted Tory wants him to do! He is doing a fab job for them.

[mummymeister]

VoyageofDad you would say that wouldn't you.

tilder of course people can express dissatisfaction with politics. last time I checked we lived in a democracy and therefore that is perfectly acceptable.

However, the sheer vehemence of opinion of some posters on here and on other threads is quite frankly pathetic when they aren't willing get off of their computers and show to all of us that they can in fact do a better job.

its really easy to stand on the sidelines and shout abuse. its far harder to put yourself in the job and the firing line.

I don't feel free to post tilder Doctors do a very valuable and valued job, one which I myself would never be willing or able to do. I support their right to strike and I support their right to express their views. They aren't angels or saints though. they are employees of the state with contracts. What about those doctors who having cost £300K to train (far more than will be paid back in student loans) who just upsticks and leave as soon as they qualify. why isn't someone asking for this training cost to be paid back.

what I feel deeply uncomfortable about is the making of any one person into the devil or any one profession into demi gods. neither is right or healthy in a democracy.

[tilder]

peggy as you are throwing numbers around why don't you look up the gdp other countries spend on health care? The NHS is incredibly cost efficient.

Numbers out of context in the you have expressed them are disingenuous (sp?) to say the least.

I also wasn't aware that the only way to express dissatisfaction with politics was to become elected. Last time I checked anyone can express dissatisfaction. They do work for us you know.

If threads seem one sided, maybe it's because it is reflecting the majority? Feel free to post. If you agree with Hunt you are entitled to your view.