Tory attack on NHS backfires badly; Hunt and Gove (and Mrs Gove) labelled ‘c—s’
Jeremy Hunt, pretending to be in a hospital on a weekend (it was in fact a Friday). He also managed to tweet confidential patient details to the general public. This man is the Conservative Party’s choice to be Secretary of State for Health. No wonder a petition calling for him to be removed via a vote of ‘no confidence’ gained the 100,000 signatures necessary to be considered for debate in Parliament within a matter of days.
Conservative Party bigwigs seem determined to make fools of themselves, and undermine their own policies, during the summer Parliamentary recess.
Already, This Blog has recorded how Priti Patel single-handedly wrecked any credibility the government had over its claim that it will publish figures relating to the deaths of sick and disabled benefit claimants.
On Friday, it was the turn of Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove – and Michael Gove’s wife, Sarah Vine – courtesy of Channel 4’s satirical bombshow, The Last Leg. The segment was so good, it is worth quoting almost verbatim.
Reading a message the show had received on Twitter, host Adam Hills said: “Hannah asked, ‘Is it okay that Jeremy Hunt breached patient confidentiality and still continues to criticise NHS doctors? #dontbeadick #dontbeajeremyhunt’?”
The question alone encouraged the studio audience into a loud and sustained round of applause.
“Hmm!” said Mr Hills. “I think that just measured the temperature of the room! Yes, the man who is his own rhyming slang upset more doctors than an outbreak of ebola this week, when he criticised NHS staff for not working seven-day weeks – to which most NHS staff replied, ‘Dude, we totally do’.”
Co-host Josh Widdicombe pointed out that what’s needed is more doctors, but Jeremy Hunt isn’t prepared to provide the money for it; he just wants them to work longer. “The ideal scenario would be: Each hospital has one doctor who never goes home.”
And Alex Brooker, the other co-host, added: “The way I see it is, a doctor is working all the time because, even when they’re not in the hospital, if they go to the supermarket and someone collapses, they can’t turn around and go, ‘I tell you what, a few hours ago when I was in, I could have helped you!'”
“Lozzle McFozzle said, ‘Is it okay that Jeremy Hunt attacks doctors for supposedly not working weekends, shortly before his eight-week holiday?'” continued Mr Hills.
“Jeremy Hunt tweeted a photo of himself in a hospital on a Saturday, but came under fire when a quick look at the rosters behind him showed it was actually a Friday. Mm-hm!
“A quick look at the confidential patient details behind him showed that he had also tweeted confidential patient details.
“In Jeremy Hunt’s defence, he says he’s trying to forge new contracts that will make the NHS safer – but doctors claim they are already providing five-day-a-week care on four-day-a-week funding. If you make them work seven days a week but with no extra funding, it actually makes the NHS less safe.
“Some doctors have even suggested this is all part of Hunt’s plan to undermine the public’s trust in the NHS, so he can eventually privatise the whole thing. And bear in mind, this is a guy who co-authored a book about dismantling the NHS – and we’re surprised that he wants to dismantle the NHS? It’s like getting freaked out when the author of 50 Shades of Grey breaks out the handcuffs. You’ve read the book, you know what you’re in for; you’re going to get screwed and it’s probably going to hurt!”
Alex Brooker cut in again: “I find it so incredible that we’re even talking about this… For a country’s economy to work, the workforce is absolutely fundamental, and what can be more important than keeping that workforce healthy? So what is more important, to spend money on, than the NHS? ‘Cos they’re not putting it into the schools. So at what point do you think, ‘We should probably scrimp on one thing that completely makes the country run and our economy work’?”
“Meanwhile, a petition to call a vote of ‘no confidence’ in Jeremy Hunt has reached over 100,000 signatures, which means it must now be considered for debate in Parliament,” said Mr Hills.
Moving on, he stated: “Someone called Shab said, ‘Is it okay to NOT feel sorry for Michael Gove, who’s been left on crutches this week?’
“Justice Secretary Michael Gove hurt his foot over the weekend but couldn’t get an X-ray until Monday morning. His wife claimed, in an article, this was proof that the NHS needs to be open 24/7 – but forgot to point out, he didn’t actually go to an NHS centre. He went to a minor injuries unit which was established to ease the pressure on accident and emergency, who deal with accidents and emergencies!
“If Michael Gove really needed to be seen over the weekend, he would have been sent straight to A&E where there are 24-hour-a-day radiologists.
“This is not proof that the NHS needs to be open seven days a week. This is proof that Michael Gove needs to go home, take a tablespoon of cement and harden the f**k up!
“As for Jeremy Hunt, everybody wants a seven-day-a-week NHS but you don’t get it by degrading doctors and making them look workshy. Many doctors are on call at weekends, they earn below minimum wage for that work and they often work unpaid overtime beyond all of that.
“In the words of a letter written by a doctor this week, called Karan Kapoor, ‘We don’t go on strike, we don’t hold the country to ransom, we don’t compromise patient care because we were meant to go home two hours ago; instead, we go above and beyond. Without this silent and diligent commitment, the NHS would have crumbled many years ago’.
“This is for Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove and Michael Gove’s wife: You are badmouthing some of the hardest-working, best-qualified people in Britain, who are also woefully underpaid; the people who may one day need to save your lives. You’re not just being dicks, you’re being a massive pack of…”
(Cut to a clip of BBC Breakfast News presenter Bill Turnbull misreading a news piece earlier in the week) “C***s.”
Just to make sure the point hit home, the show had one more dig at Jeremy Hunt up its sleeve:
For further background reading, try this article. Undoubtedly there are many others.
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The petition is now in fact nearing 200,000.
I know – I just helped it on its way.
And all my family and friends.
I was in tears laughing at this this week. I so wish I’d discovered the show earlier!
I downloaded the last series on catch up – I had to pause so many times because I was laughing so hard and clapping too often I kept missing bits and my dogs were running for cover thinking I’d lost the plot (which I had). Great series. Many thanks to Mike for this heads up.
Don’t Care UK run that centre?
You know, the fabulous, can do no wrong private sector.
Jim
Care UK have since Nov 2009 from former chairman John Nash and his wife Caroline paid donations of £21,000 to Andrew Lansley – former Health secretary and architect of privatisation; Nick Herbert £15,000 and David Ruffley £10,000 – that’s a lot of donations for privatisation, money that the patients didn’t get spent on them
So which fine, upstanding MP is going to lift the lid on things like this and see it out to the end?
Any volunteers?
Not quite accurate, in fact. Care UK run the treatment centre in Shepton Mallet, but Gove visited a Minor Injuries Unit next door. The MIU is run by the local NHS Foundation Trust.
Nonetheless, the stories in the Mail and the Telegraph are still nonsense, as an MIU is a ridiculous place to go to when you have a possible broken bone.
http://thegreatcritique.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/gove-on-crutches-oh-please-tell-me-no-ones-falling-for-this/
https://thegreatcritique.wordpress.com/2015/07/26/more-on-goves-pr-stunt/
Many MIUs are being created by downsizing existing A&Es that offered 24/7 care. I would have to travel for about 35 minutes up the M6 to get to a proper A&E. In bad traffic you could call that 45 minutes. Many people now go to their local hospital and find it is in reality now an MIU. People are then told to go to the remaining centralised A&Es that still offer 24/7 care, if needed, as and when they can be moved.
This is government policy. Gove is a government minister and collective cabinet responsibility still applies. So isn’t his inconvenience his own fault and he shouldn’t be blaming himself for allowing the cabinet he serves in to let these changes to A&E provision be made in the NHS in the first place?
Yes.
NOTE: I wasn’t arguing in any way with the general point Jim was making, I was just offering a small factual correction. The notion that the MIU in question is privately run has gone viral over the blogosphere, and it isn’t true. Best not to give the right-wing foam-at-the-mouths any inaccuracies to seize upon, they’ll use them to discredit and confuse any discussion of this latest anti-NHS fraud by the Tories.
“Don’t Care UK . . . ” – an apposite re-branding?
The Tory’s in a bit of one-upmanship over the Labour party who had pledged real cash for the NHS, decided to pledge £8 billion knowing full well they could not find the funding. Now when it has become apparent to them that their spending is out of control their only hope is to dismantle the NHS by demonizing the staff (nurses and doctors) as they did the disabled to drive a wedge between the people and the NHS staff. They probably believe that it will make the dismemberment of the NHS that much easier. Time to call them out on their tactic and start supporting the NHS staff – whoever they are, because if we don’t many people will believe the lies perpetuated previously against the disabled, now being levelled at the NHS staff. Jeremy Hunt is a lying … and he is as poisonous and corrupt as so many other politicians, many of whom are currently serving in Parliament.
You have to read the article to appreciate the stupidity of those involved in this concerted attempt to destabilize the NHS.
I have really gotta start watching this show. Nothing like satire to restore a bit of faith.
Sarah Vine – the most odious woman not in politics.
typical tory, all good thou, for the voter’s who are also thick scum, i wish i was in that waiting room poor old tory bet he said ……DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM… YES NOW F*** OFF YOU SCUM SLAG
Why do NHS Workers (unless tory) stand by HUNT THE **NT.for photo, once when i worked for ROYAL MAIL, DVLC WHERE ON STRIKE (BLESS THEM before DVLA) I WAS ASK TO SIT IN EMPTY FITTINGS where DVLC WAS SORTED , BBC camera’s were in attendance, i said no to my boss i’m going for a s**t report that if you want. HE SAW RED, AFTER ALL WAS DONE Alistair in the office,( was not worried i lent him pirate video’s (1983 i think ) He didn’t give a s***e, sald i remember him of himself, great bloke first one i’d told to f**k off. my mate TERRY best of the best.
38 degrees have a petition on privatisation and in particular Care UK.
Signed it and reposted on F/B
I am not laughing. We employ this government at vast cost to the taxpayer. No one wants to employ fools and liars, and with so many discrepancies and false statements it is dreadful that we cannot find a way to relieve ourselves of their irresponsibility much sooner than almost another five years.
Totally agree, but unless we can convince the 11 million 300,000 twerps who voted for the nasty party, we cannot do much about it. The only silver lining is that whilst so many of those voters did not care that the vulnerable in society were the ones suffering, they themselves, with the reduction in their child credits and benefits being reduced, are now under attack and are all fired up and feel “betrayed” by the Tory party. If not for the children at risk, i’d say “serves them right”, but for the sake of those children I’m not happy either.
Now that the child tax credits and benefits have been attacked many Tory voters feel betrayed – if enough of them begin to realize they have been conned, who knows, perhaps they will start signing petitions on behalf of not just their own loss, but that of the disabled.
Both Hunt and Gove are nasty, dishonest and poisonous characters.
So far there are only 199.500 including me.
The conservative government have always loathed the NHS in private and in any private conversations and at some point one of them will slip up in a private conversation so that all will become clear to everyone
The main thing that worries me thou is that the people that voted for them do not understand what a true conservative is
Let me spell it out and it is true for every conservative that i have ever known and yes there are millions of these people worldwide
(1) There selfish and greedy
(2) There insular if you are not one of them
(3) They like a small state
(4) They want everyone to dependent on themselves only in all areas of life
(5) There mean and get angry at the slightest hiccup
(6) They only like people like themselves with wealth and power
(7) The front door is always shut
(8)They believe in full privatization in everything
(9) They like slavery
(10)They only tolerate foreigners if they work in slave low pay type of environment
Well that is my take on my 60 years of living in among conservatives with virtually no change in their outlook
I’m pleased that Gove’s stunt back fired (with his wife conveniently having a photographer ready), I’m pleased that Jeremy Hunt has totally enraged everyone. Why? Because now we as in the NHS are ALL united and I don’t remember that happening before in the 20 years I’ve been in the NHS.
The icing on the cake was watching the Last Leg and rewinding it again, and again and again..!
Heard and saw about this on The Last Leg, haha, good, pleased it backfired on the b*****ds, glad egg was elegantly put upon their smug, devious, tory faces!