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

[Room101isWhereIUsedToLive]

Rather than reducing the number of people entitled to anti-social working hours pay scale, it should be increased to cover everyone.
How is it fair that working before eight in the morning and after eight at night, isn't compensated financially?

[peggyundercrackers]

Titclash - how can it be fit for purpose - we already spend 1.2BILLION pounds a year on the NHS, approx. 8.2% of GDP, in real terms spending continues to rise year on year - it cannot continue like that.

Every day you read drugs are not being made available, there are no beds available, there are no doctors available, equipment is old and people are going abroad for better treatment. ONS recognise productivity has been falling since 1995, child mortality rates are higher than many EU countries, cancer survival rates are poorer than many other countries. 30% of the public aren't happy with their care, here are surgeons and consultants writing in tabloids all the time about how much the system is under strain - its not just me who thinks the system needs overhauled... - the list goes on and on - how can you ignore all these things to think we are getting good value for money?

[mummymeister]

there are loads of threads on here about Hunt at the moment and I keep wanting to post but also know that if I do I will be branded some evil bitch because I just think this baiting of one person has all got a bit out of hand.

hands up how many of you are going to stand for public office then? how many of you are going to try to become MP's at the next election so that you can be somewhere where your views will be listened to and acted upon as either government or opposition.

I am not saying he is right. I am not saying that the cuts aren't devastating. I just think there are too many people standing around moaning about it who actually wouldn't take on the job of health secretary or leader of the opposition or some other political position.

if you don't like it, get yourselves elected and change it.

The reason these threads are so incredibly one sided at the moment is because there are an awful lot of posters who disagree partly or wholly but know that if they go on the thread they will be attacked so they just pass by it.

The NHS is no longer fit for purpose and everyone, all of us, should be trying to find ways to make it work. Hunt isn't the answer but then neither have I read a different answer on any of these threads only the usual "yeah hangings too good for the bastard" from people who would never inconvenience themselves by standing for public office.

[peggyundercrackers]

How is it fair that working before eight in the morning and after eight at night, isn't compensated financially?

so for you its not about patient safety its about money?

[Room101isWhereIUsedToLive]

I mean across the board, in all sectors and industries.

[Nottodaythankyouorever]

The reason these threads are so incredibly one sided at the moment is because there are an awful lot of posters who disagree partly or wholly but know that if they go on the thread they will be attacked so they just pass by it.

I tend to agree with this. Not saying I agree with what is happening but those that do would get called all names under the sun and basically hounded off the thread.

It has happened many times before.

[ZedWoman]

The reason these threads are so incredibly one sided at the moment is because there are an awful lot of posters who disagree partly or wholly but know that if they go on the thread they will be attacked so they just pass by it.

I agree. I've started to write several posts on this thread but have ended up scrapping them.

[yorkshapudding]

Even if Cameron did bow to public pressure and get rid of Hunt, he would be replaced by someone just as odious. This Government have made it abundantly clear that they are ideologically opposed to the NHS and from day one have set out to undermine public confidence in the organisation and it's staff, starve it of resources and sell it off piece by piece. Hunt's appointment to the position of Health Secretary may seem ludicrous to anyone who understands how the Health service works and gives a shit about preserving it but from Cameron's point of view I suppose he's the ideal man for the job. From a Tory perspective, his only crime is not doing a better job of concealing the lies, dirty tricks and falsifying of statistics that he has relied on in his attempts to undermine Junior Doctors and specifically the BMA.

[Sixweekstowait]

I'm convinced Hunt will be gone by the Autumn. Foundation Trusts are able to negotiate their own contracts with junior doctors and will do so. August is the big changeover date for doctors so will be crunch time. My guess is that after he's gone the next Sof S will reclassify Saturday working to what it is in the old contract which if I understand correctly will have a positive knock on effect.

[Shutthatdoor]

The reason these threads are so incredibly one sided at the moment is because there are an awful lot of posters who disagree partly or wholly but know that if they go on the thread they will be attacked so they just pass by it

^ this

[mummymeister]

VoyageofDad which party will you be standing for in the next election?

No, thought not.

No-one wants to answer that bit of my post because they are all happy to talk about posh Cambridge white boys and stuff but not actually to do this job themselves.

someone has to be a politician and run the country. so if you don't like who is doing it, then do it yourself and show us that you can make a better job of it.

[evilcherub]

Jeremy Hunt is the perfect poster child for everything that is wrong with the current government/politicians.

[Sixweekstowait]

www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/health-care-spending-compared . Some facts for those of you huffing and puffing about the proportion of our GDP that goes on health care. The reason the critics of the NHS get such short shrift on threads like this is that they generally post ill informed twaddle.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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]

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?