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Office of Dr Sarah Wollaston MP Totnes Constituency

Dear Nina,

Which party does Dr Wollaston currently represent?  I am not sure.  I do know she left the Conservative party some time ago.  So I cannot help wondering which element is paying the office expenses, but 'not my bag' as they say.  Incidentally, I had some useful correspondence with her re OUR NHS early on.  I have summarised the strategy as

destabilise>demoralise>dismantle. 

The latter started in about 1988 with Mrs Thatcher's/Milton Friedman's/Chicago School's Internal Market.  All the main organs opposed it, and I did my best alone from Torbay Hospital and the Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital, ** to oppose it.  ***  The latter was bulldozed for a housing estate in c.1994 against the opposition of the surgeons bar two of ten.  PEOH - > RD&E as the PEOC.  This was under a Tory government and with Dame Margaret Turner-Warwick at the helm of the RD&E.  I had five colleagues at the RD&E then.  There are now 33.  This is in inverse proportion to the available beds.  eg  In February 2018, 8 operating lists were set up one weekend - as Mr Hunt was instructing should happen.  (You will recall he had angered the younger medical staff by calling the service then a 5 day one.)  There were only 12 available beds and as yet hip replacements etc cannot be done from day beds!  Norovirus on one ward and big overflows from the acute medical intake.  We were completely insulated from the latter at the PEOH and had 120 beds including one for children.  And you have heard how at Derriford, almost all elective orthopaedic surgery has been shifted from the NHS  to Care UK.

6 out of 8 lists had to be cancelled.  Those for hip fractures etc went ahead.

The three main parties have all been party to the strategy outlined above - especially the Tory/Lib'DEMs' with their Health and Social Care Act 1-04-12.  You might be aware that the medical services are in chaos and the standards of practice very low with a few notable exceptions in GP.

The 'jam' tomorrow of 40 new/revamped/rebuilt (Derriford) is not good news.  The four priorities are
 
a.  restore morale in the professions and with that, retention and re-recruitment of nurses in particular - 40,000 down for years.  see

https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/37-articles/nhs/242-retention-of-nursing-staff-failure-of-leslie-darke-torbay-trust-board-member-to-answer-a-key-question-asked-october-2018

startling additional responses need to be added - answer 9 months from request.  Included - 60 questions in a questionnaire to leaving staff - since 2011.  18% response rate but 'policy' continued until last year.

b.  reopening of closed community hospitals which are ideal for dealing with about 20% of acute medical conditions, and for several reasons allow quicker discharge

c.  putting general practice back as primary in importance, and economy with priority on thought and not process.  eg 'Scans' easily requested without a good history and examination.  Excessive screening via NHS England with incentives to practices distorting clinical priorities.

d.  through a revitalised and much better funded public health service, tackle the terrible epidemic of gross obesity (minor tinkering at present but £5 billion being spent on diabetes type 2), STDs etc - great ignorance re the latter whilst sexual drives stimulated by the BBC etc.

Silos are the way to more expensive, poor and unwise 'medicine'.  They are failing badly now.  Many of us were trained well in older, and often dilapidated buildings.

yours sincerely Nina,   copy later to Mr Hancock

David Halpin FRCS

** a.   Predicted the breaking of a good Patient>GP>Specialist triangle, b.  lowered morale which had a lot to do with a doubling of bureaucracy.  c.  I predicted the latter but the Regional Manager, Ms Hawkins dismissed that.  £1.4 billion was added in the first year to a budget of £32 billion due to extra desks with long titles. (Now £ 120 billion +)
***  Shown well on    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su4Qm5pvagY