South Africa's budget airline 1time has increased the number of flights available during the festive season to meet the customer demand in December.
The airline is offering 52 additional flights on the George <> Johannesburg route, 32 more flights between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth, 26 additional frequencies between Johannesburg and East London as well as 16 extra flights between Cape Town and East London.
Meiringspoort, the first road to link the Central Karoo and the coast, is one of South Africa's most scenic drives. The 25km road, lined by spectacular rock formations and an incredible plant diversity, is winding along the gorge, crossing the Groot River no less than 25 times. The road is the perfect place to experience the Cape Fold Belt and its stunning beauty, but also keep a look out for birds, baboons and smaller wildlife abound in the protected kloofs and crevices.
Halfway through the gorge you'll find an Information Kiosk where the history of Meiringspoort is displayed as well as samples of some of the different plant species growing in the area. Make sure that you take a walk up to the impressive waterfall hidden in the deep ravine. The water drops some 60 m into a deep pool.
Entry to Meiringspoort is via Klaarstroom or De Rust. Klaarstroom is located 55km east of Prince Albert en route to Oudtshoorn and the coast, while it is about 80km to De Rust.
update (28 Dec 2011): SSouth African Airways has revised its planned operational schedule for the new Johannesburg <> Beijing route, due to start from 31 Jan 2012.
The new schedule results in operational day changes out of Beijing, which currently remains subject to Government Approval. Plan for 3 weekly Airbus A340-600 operation remains unchanged.
South Africa's flag carrier, South African Airways, will launch a direct service between Johannesburg and Beijing in China. The inaugural flight is scheduled to depart on Tuesday 31 January 2012 from Johannesburg to arrive in Beijing, China,on Wednesday 01 February 2012.
Introducing direct flights to Beijing is in line with SAA's strategy to expand its network to Asia, the fastest growing market in the world. South African Airways will operate the route three times a week. The route will be served by the Airbus A340-600 aircraft, which have the capacity to operate the route directly all year round with no passenger payload restrictions. Flying time between Johannesburg and Beijing takes on average 15 hours.
The elephants of the Mount Elgon region in Kenya are actually ordinary savannah elephants, but since hundreds or even thousands of years they have developed a unique pattern of behaviour unknown to any other elephant group in Africa.
The elephants of the area, and not only them, but also buffaloes, antelope, leopards and hyenas, are coming to the "Kitum Cave", which is over 60 metres wide and penetrates 200 metres, to "lick" the natural salt found on the cave walls. Using their massive tusks elephants scrape the cave's walls, pull off chunks of it, crush them and finally lick up the salt.
The Mount Elgon National Park is located on the border of Kenya and Uganda, about 140 km North East of Lake Victoria. The Kenyan side of the park covers 169 km² while the Ugandan part covers 1110km².
Towards further enhancing the customer experience and ensuring on-time departures at Terminal 3 Dubai Airport, Emirates will be closing its check-in counters 60 minutes prior to a flight's scheduled time of departure.
Check-in counters are open at least three hours before the flight departure and will now close 60 minutes prior to departure from 1st December 2011. However, passengers are requested to report to the check-in counters no later than 90 minutes prior to departure, in keeping with the airline's commitment towards greater efficiency and an enhanced travel experience. Customers who check-in with less than 60 minutes to their scheduled flight will not be accepted to board the aircraft, ensuring that passengers who have already checked-in and boarded will not be inconvenienced by delays and possible missed connections.
Passengers who have opted for the online check-in facility with check-in baggage, are also required to check-in their luggage no later than 90 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of their flight. Passengers holding an eboarding pass and travelling with carry-on bags only, can proceed directly for security clearance. All passengers are requested to be at the boarding gate no later than 35 minutes before departure and boarding gates will close 15 minutes before departure time.
Transit passengers from flights arriving late into Dubai will be escorted by airport staff through formalities to ensure they make their onward connections.
The Namibian government has launched the Namibia protected landscape conservation area initiative (NAM-PLACE) in a ceremony held at the Safari Hotel Conference Center in Windhoek on 15 Nov 2011.
NAM-PLACE is a five-year project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to an amount of US$ 4.5 million and is aimed at the establishment of the landscape conservations areas necessary for the conservation of country's biodiversity as well as the stimulation of sustainable social and economic development. The proposed landscapes will ensure that land use practices are of areas adjacent to existing protected areas are compatible with biodiversity conservation. The project is implemented by the Ministry of Environment & Tourism (MET) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the implementation agency.
The project intents to bring an additional 15,550 km² of land under protected landscapes management arrangements, designed to conserve biodiversity at a larger scale, rather than individual patches of land units. The project has five demonstration sites where this will be demonstrated and attained.
Namibia currently has 20 state-run protected areas which account for 17% of the total land area, while communal conservancies cover over 17% of the land. Private land used for conservation represents slightly over 6% of the country's land surface.
Namibia's Environment Minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, said in the keynote address held at the official inauguration of NAM-PLACE "[...] A growing demand to create more conservancies across the country is an indication of the Ministry's Community-Based Natural Resource Management programme's successes. Therefore Government, communities and private sector, in total have close to half of the country, an astonishing 42% earmarked for conservation. This is a remarkable achievement noting that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recommends that each country must set aside at least 15% of its total area for conservation purposes. [...]"
Ambitious plans, Namibia, but very good plans!
The flag carrier airline of the Netherlands, KLM, will serve Lusaka in Zambia three times a week using an Airbus A330-200. The aircraft has space for 243 passengers, 30 in World Business Class and 213 in Economy Class.
South Africa will no longer be making 5 cent coins, says Cabinet spokesperson Jimmy Manyi.
Briefing the media on Thursday, Manyi said at its ordinary meeting on Wednesday that Cabinet had noted the discontinuation of the production of the South African 5 cent denomination coin.
Further to this, the 10 cent denomination coin is to be replaced with a new 10 cent denomination coin with effect from April next year.
"The new proposed 10 cent denomination coin will remain the same size. The metal content will change from the previous bronze-plated steel to copper-plated steel. This will result in the reduction in cost of producing these coins," said Manyi.
The independent South African documentary un•earthed seeks to investigate plans of potential shale gas development and its method of hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo and broader regions. The project is committed to thorough, objective research and encouraging open and accurate discussion amidst heated debates currently unfolding in the country. After filming locally and abroad, un•earthed is currently in post-production and a massive release is expected in early 2012.
Pls check the website of the documentary and their facebook page for more info!
Qatar Airways, flag carrier of Qatar, will focus its 2012 route expansion programme on Australia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East with a raft of new international flight destinations set to join the airline's global network.
Operating from the its hub in Doha, capital of the State of Qatar, the airline will start operating flights to Zanzibar (Tanzania), Mombasa (Kenya) and Kigali in Rwanda, as well as to Perth in Western Australia, to the Finnish capital Helsinki, to Croatia's capital city of Zagreb and to Gassim in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Qatar Airways, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, currently operates a modern fleet of 102 Airbus and Boeing aircraft to 109 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America from its Doha hub. Recently named Airline of the Year 2011 by global industry audit Skytrax, award-winning Qatar Airways will operate over 120 aircraft to more than 120 destinations worldwide by 2013.
We featured quite a number of surf videos, as well as paragliding, rafting, bouldering videos in the blog, but actually never took a look at bodyboarding videos. Time to change it - check out Simon Beesley's video about bodyboarding at South Africa's West Coast somewhere close Namibia. Kudos to Simon, Wesley & Dre!
Bodyboarding: West Coast Solitude from Simon Beesley on Vimeo.
British Airways asked its Facebook followers in a recent poll where they want to go this winter and Cape Town came out as the fifth most popular destination. London and the Caribbean topped the poll - Britain's capital came in first due to its great shopping and the Caribbean's warmth and beauty secured it a close second place.
As the weather chills, many respondents also suggested that 'anywhere warm and sunny' would be a winter winner with them. And perhaps unsurprisingly, visiting friends and family or returning home was a popular reason for people to travel in the winter season.
Visitors who travel through the Kruger National Park (KNP) using its northern border gates, like Pafuri or Giriyondo, as ports of entry or exit through to the neighbouring countries such as Mozambique will be required to produce a valid overnight booking in either Kruger National Park or Limpopo National Park, effectively from 01 December 2011.
To allow visitors who have already planned their holiday schedule in Mozambique but have not secured accommodation booking yet, an additional fee of R150 per person will be charged to allow one to travel via the Park; however one should still provide valid proof that no accommodation is available in either of the two National Parks and possess the required travel documents. This option will only be available for a period of six months, effectively from 01 December 2011.
Essentially, without a confirmed booking and confirmation that all facilities are fully booked, such travellers will be refused admission and they would need to use other routes outside the Park leading to their destination.
The new control measures were introduced to reduce and eventually eliminate the number of vehicles using the gates as a drive through basis only, which is having a negative impact on the park as well as on its regular visitors (heavy laden, un-roadworthy vehicles, speeding, road kills etc.).
According to SANPark's HOD: Public Relations, William Mabasa, the routes for the border gates are classified as tourists roads only and do therefore not allow for any commercial traffic.
SAA is the only airline that is flying between South Africa and Malawi. Malawi's national airline, Air Malawi, had to ground its Johannesburg flights because the lease agreement on the aircraft (Boeing 737-300) the airline has been using for those flights is expired.
South Africa and Cape Town's beer heritage goes far back into the country's culture and history. This heritage is deepening, with interest in all things beer on the increase. Several micro-brewers and new players have entered the field with new brews that have sprung up in recent years. This has resulted in a rising culture of understanding, tasting and appreciation of beer.
The Cape Town Festival of Beer, the largest of its kind in South Africa, is the first festival to bring people together to celebrate beer and the art of brewing. Approaching 100 brands of beer on exhibition, this is an event you should not miss out... in case you are in Cape Town between 25 - 27 November 2011!
Public tickets are on sale for each of the three days at R60, with gates opening from 12H00 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 25 - 27 November. You can also buy entrance for more than one day and buy a 2 day (R100) or 3 day (R120) ticket to make sure you can return for more fun in the sun! For more info about the festival, accommodation in the area and more, pls click here!
If you are in South Africa next April (05-09 April 2012), make sure that you are missing out the "Splashy Fen", the country's longest-running annual music festival. Held every Easter, this five-day event attracts thousands of people from around the country and abroad to a farm near Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal for what is regarded by many as the ultimate outdoor music experience.
The winners of the 2011 Eat Out DStv Food Network Restaurant Awards and the Top 10 Restaurants 2011 have been announced.
Restaurants are judged on food, service and ambience, as well as other aspects that make or break the eating out experience.
Although I am not a big fan of dance music, I found the the following two part documentary actually quite interesting. Check it out and follow the guys from Pascal & Pearce, who are promoting their new album "Passport" through the films, around South Africa's dance scene and explore what Cape Town and Johannesburg are like... dancemusicwise!
The first video of the two part 24min series is taking a look at the electronic/dance music scene of Cape Town.
The second video of the series is focussed on the city of Johannesburg, its artists and the music scene.
Kudos to Warwick Allan & team for the videos!
Video: Another great G Adventures ad - "Africa"!
Video: Awesome G Adventures ad - "Earth"
Fourth issue of "Safari" digimag out now!


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ESA Science & Technology - Multiwavelength images of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Multiwavelength images of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Satellite: Herschel, XMM-Newton
Depicts: Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
Copyright: infrared: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/J. Fritz, U. Gent; X-ray: ESA/XMM-Newton/EPIC/W. Pietsch, MPE; optical: R. Gendler
This mosaic of images shows the Andromeda galaxy, also known as M31, the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way, as observed by the two ESA space observatories Herschel (infrared) and XMM-Newton (X-rays). An optical view is shown for comparison.
Due to its proximity to us, Andromeda is ideally suited for investigations of star formation and evolution on the global scale of an entire galaxy similar to our own Milky Way with a degree of detail that cannot be achieved through observations of other, more distant galaxies.
Observing the Universe at far-infrared and submillimetre wavelengths, Herschel is sensitive to the cold material that represents a window on the early phases of the formation of stars.
The data collected by Herschel in the far-infrared domain (top right panel) probe the cold dust component of the interstellar medium (ISM), the mixture of (mostly) gas and dust from which new stars originate in galaxies. The dust, heated by young and massive stars as they form, shines brightly in the wavelength range explored by Herschel and traces the overall distribution of the ISM, revealing its intricate structure. The image highlights how the mixture of dust and gas in M31 exhibits a complex pattern organised in spiral arms and at least five concentric rings. In addition, a series of other smaller-scale features, such as bright arcs and dark "holes", disclose regions where the star formation activity appears to be more or less intense. The large rings of dust that encircle the centre of the galaxy may be the result of a smaller galaxy having collided with Andromeda some time in the past.
The image shown here, the most detailed ever obtained of M31 at a far-infrared wavelength of 250 micron (500 times longer than that of yellow light), was taken with the SPIRE instrument on board Herschel, and is based on a total observing time of 18 hours. The field of view of the image shown is 1.5×2 degrees, although a larger area was actually observed.
In contrast, XMM-Newton probes the X-ray portion of the spectrum and is thus sensitive to highly energetic phenomena typical of the latest evolutionary stages of stellar life. This short-wavelength radiation is either emitted by stars close to the end of their life cycle or by the remnants of stars that have already died.
Visible in the XMM-Newton image (bottom right panel) are hundreds of sources of X-rays, which mostly belong to two classes: supernova remnants (SNR), the remains of the powerful explosions through which massive stars end their life; and binary systems, pairs of objects consisting of a compact stellar remnant—a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole—exerting an intense gravitational pull onto a companion star, from which it strips material via an accretion disc.
Some of these binary systems—those comprising a white dwarf, referred to as novae—are also expected to give rise to supernova explosions (producing a different kind of object, the so-called type-Ia supernovae) and are thus extremely important in the global recycling of material within the galaxy, since the enormous amounts of mass and energy released by supernovae have a major impact on the surrounding, cold material from which stars are born.
The XMM-Newton image shown here has been generated from data obtained with the EPIC camera in the 0.3-7.0 keV energy range, corresponding to wavelengths of 1.8-41.3 Ångstroms. This deep map of M31 is the result of a few tens of observations performed between 2000 and 2010, with a total observing time of more than 2 million seconds, equivalent to over 20 days; different amounts of time were spent observing different regions of the galaxy.
Combined, the two images taken by Herschel and XMM-Newton (central panel) offer us a comprehensive view of the evolution of stars in the Andromeda galaxy, from the cold material where star formation takes place all the way to the remnants of stellar demises which, in turn, influence the ISM and contribute to shaping the birth of future generations of stars.
To complete the picture of the stellar populations of Andromeda, an optical image (top left) taken by astrophotographer Robert Gendler, shows the distribution of several hundred billion stars, currently in the main phase of their life cycle, that make up this massive spiral galaxy. All three images, at far-infrared, optical and X-ray wavelengths, are combined in a colour-composite (bottom left panel) showing the interplay of stars at all evolutionary stages and, thus, a unique view of the history of star formation within Andromeda: the current stars in the optical, in X-rays the stars that once were, and in the far-infrared the stars that will be.
https://sci.esa.int/s/WmQV2oW
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Hard to swallow: dysphagia in Parkinson's disease
Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor Nick Miller, Emma Noble, Professor David Burn
Background: swallowing changes occur from the earliest stages of Parkinson's disease (PD), even in cases asymptomatic for dysphagia. Little empirical evidence exists concerning the individual's own perception of changes, the impact these have on their life and coping strategies to deal with them. Objective: to establish if and how changes in swallowing impact on the lives of people with PD. Design: in-depth interviews with qualitative analysis of content. Setting: community. Subjects: a total of 23 men and 14 women and their carers. Methods: participants were purposively sampled to give a mix of men, women, family circumstances, stage and duration of PD and severity of swallowing symptoms. Individuals were interviewed at home. Interviews were transcribed. Emergent themes were identified and fed back to participants for confirmation and clarification. Results: two broad themes emerged: (i) effects on swallowing of underlying physical changes, with subthemes of oral-pharyngeal-laryngeal changes, manual changes, effects of fatigue and (ii) psychosocial impact, with subthemes of alterations to eating habits, feelings of stigma, need for social adjustment and carers' issues. Coping strategies could aid swallowing problems but often to the detriment of others in the family through altered demands on preparation and organisation. Presence of significant impact was not necessarily associated with abnormal range scores on objective swallowing assessments. Conclusions: the psychosocial consequences of the physical changes concerned people most. The importance of the early detection of changes for health and quality of life is underlined.
Author(s): Miller N, Noble E, Jones D, Burn D
Journal: Age and Ageing
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afl105
DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afl105


It's best to start from a bottom-up approach when making your campaigns. You should try and identify all the keywords you'd like to bid on and then group them together by relevance to make an AdGroup with respective relevant Ads. You can then decide if it makes sense to have several campaigns. Budgets are primarily set on a campaign level so if you wish to push one product/service more than another, it might make sense to create different campaigns for each product/service.
Similar to SEO, you'll need to consider what keywords are relevant for your product/business. If you haven't done so already, you should conduct a simple keyword analysis.
To start, make a list of all the keywords you think could be relevant to your business/products/services. Don't forget your brand/business name and localized keywords!
Plug in this list to a tool like the Google Keyword Tool to find out their popularity and competitiveness in your market.
The keyword tool may also give you additional keyword ideas that are relevant.
Revise your list with the keywords that are most relevant, realistic for your budget and have a potential to drive search traffic to your site.
Once you've gathered a solid list of keywords you think will drive relevant traffic to your site, it's time to group them together. You should group keywords together in terms of their similarities and eventually you can define these groups as AdGroups. As a rule, AdGroups should contain no more than 50 keywords.
For each AdGroup you you should create at least two ads in order to find one that works best in driving clicks. Ads are comprised of a headline, up to 2 description lines and a display URL and non-visible actual destination URL. Make sure to incorporate keywords from the AdGroup to help increase relevancy and click-throughs. You should make sure your ads point to pages (destination URLs) that also have relevancy to keywords in that group.
Campaigns should comprise of several AdGroups around the same theme (product, service, etc) and market/language. You set your overall daily budgets, region and language settings, and network settings at a campaign level so it's important to consider the ideal mix.
Learn more advanced tips and tricks when it comes to SEM and AdWords in order to increase the success of your campaigns.


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AMD Professional Gamers League (PGL) — профессиональная киберспортивная лига, основанная в 1997 году. Считается одной из первых профессиональных лиг электронного спорта.

PGL была запущена Total Entertainment Network и спонсирована AMD. Первый профессиональный турнир, который провела организация, был турнир по StarCraft проведённый в сентябре 1997 года. Лига была официально представлена на пресс-конференции в Кэндлстик-парк,Сан-Франциско 3 ноября 1997 года. Организация была проспонсирована Microsoft, NVidia, и Levi Strauss & Co. Организация собрала более 1,2 миллиона долларов спонсорских денег.

Около 1400 игроков приняли участие в первом турнире по Quake, который прошёл в онлайн формате. Первый финал PGL прошёл с 30 по 31 января 1998 года в Сиэтл, штат Вашингтон в аркадном павильоне Sega GameWorks. В этом соревновании было сыграно две игры: Command & Conquer: Red Alert и Quake. В обоих турнирах была игра один на один: Дэвид «DeepBlue» Магро выиграл турнир Red Alert, а Дэннис «Thresh» Фонг выиграл турнир Quake. Оба игрока выиграли 7500 долларов и новые компьютеры AMD.

В третьем сезоне состоялся первый в истории чемпионат мира по StarCraft, где с 14 августа по 6 сентября 1998 года онлайн соревновались 128 игроков со всего мира. Последние 8 участников играли вживую в Сан-Франциско, Калифорния. Джей "Gadianton" Северсон занял первое место, ни разу не проиграв в Double Elimination сетке, и выиграл 8500 долларов вместе с новым компьютером AMD.

В 2000 году Gamers.com приобрел PGL у Pogo.com, после того, как PGL не был активен в течение года.

В данный момент организация упразднена.

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Posts tagged 'NHS'
Pandemic: Cholera 1832. Part 2
Guest blog by Textor
The way in which the financial side of the 1832 cholera pandemic crisis was handled in Aberdeen reflects something of the social and economic climate of the period. Central government established rules and guidelines to manage threats to civic and commercial life while at local government level it was left to commercial and professional classes, ratepayers of some standing, to decide how the financial demands of cholera should by managed.
In Aberdeen it was proposed that £4,500 would be necessary for the Board of Health to operate effectively. The question then was, how the money should be raised. Eventually it was decided against a specific compulsory local tax in favour of voluntary charitable contributions from better-off ratepayers. To this end local men-of-standing were identified and canvassed and £2,172 was raised. By the time the city came out of the crisis in May 1833 the Board of Health had £735 of this amount unspent.
Monies were also raised in the County of Aberdeen, a portion of which was used to identify and forestall the entry of vagrants. This made some medical sense for many though not all physicians believed cholera to be contagious. Ratepayers in the County set aside £200 for constables to guard strategic points (such as the Bridge of Don) – protecting the shire from unwanted visitors. Somewhat akin to present-day migrant watches by July 1832 it was claimed 1,000 vagrants had been turned back from attempting to get into the County.
Cholera brought with it fear to communities. An incident at Skene Lane a fortnight before Aberdeen's first case was identified demonstrates this. Citizens on the lookout for carriers of the disease discovered a man collapsed on the roadway. He was seized, bound hand-and-foot and carried away to the infirmary at Woolmanhill where the hapless individual was diagnosed as drunk. The infirmary did not want him so the police were called and he was wheeled off in the Police Barrow: The mob cheered, the straps were firmly fixed, the cholera subject writhed and cursed, and the policeman went on with his barrow.
Not every incident connected with "mob" action had such a light-hearted (though not for the victim) tinge. Prejudice mixed with perfectly rational fears could excite communities sufficiently to result in threats of violence against those attempting to impose quarantine and other regulations. An incident at Wick found a Dr Alinson under attack and forced to seek refuge when fishermen threatened him at the quarantine hospital. He was rumoured to have been involved in scandals involving acquiring corpses for medical study and of killing patients in Edinburgh to supply the College of Surgeons with bodies for dissection. In Wick it was feared patients in the quarantine hospital faced the same outcome. Before dismissing this as irrational and blind prejudice it should be remembered that the 1832 Anatomy Act created the opportunity for surgeons to claim bodies of the poor for dissection. And who were the ones almost certain to die in quarantine? The poor. Not for them the prospect of a noble memorial stone cut in granite but the unceremonial disposal of their dismembered parts.
Before the Anatomy Act was passed, the poor or "lower classes" (as defined by the local paper) in Aberdeen hit out against the cavalier and at times illegal behaviour of the medical profession. In December 1831 the Anatomy Theatre in St Andrew's Street was the scene of a riot when skulls, bones, and entrails were discovered on open ground. The building was attacked, wrecked and set alight while the anatomist was forced to run for his life. Nobody died. We cannot know whether the febrile atmosphere of a country threatened by the cholera epidemic helped provide an explosive edge to the "mob" but given that this was also the period of agitation for political reform and democratising of the parliamentary system the city's streets where popular action occurred must surely have had a buzz about them we can only imagine.
Cholera visited Aberdeen very late in the day and never assumed the large epidemic proportions of elsewhere in the UK. Glasgow, for example, had thousands of deaths. Why Aberdeen had such a low number of cases is unclear. Within ten days of the first diagnosed case (27 August) at Cotton and Old Aberdeen there were a further nineteen cholera patients recorded on the register. The death rate among those affected was high – eight succumbed putting the death-rate at 40%. The spread of the disease was slow. By mid-September thirty-three cases were listed with fourteen recorded deaths. The gradual increase in numbers led Aberdeen's physicians to conclude that while very dangerous cholera was not highly contagious, unlike scarlet fever. The editor of the Aberdeen Journal musing on the reason for so few cases in the town concluded that amongst other things it was probably the gracious interference of superior power-an interference which we shall ill-deserve, did we not gratefully endeavour to testify, as we best may, our humble acknowledgements.
With the spread of disease it became apparent it was the poor who suffered most. The first case occurred at a centre for textile production, at Cotton, and where textile and other workers lived. In late September cases emerged in the city, again among the poor, in the east end, where people lived cheek by jowl in crowded and at times insanitary conditions. By the end of the following month a total of ninety-two had contracted cholera with thirty-three cases fatal. In one particular week twenty-three fresh cases were diagnosed, mostly in the area of Park Street and Justice Street.
Through November reported cases fell away before more incidents emerged in Windy Wynd and the Vennel; areas that housed the poor. A description of the Vennel comes from the poet William Scott:
Vagrant Lodgers-
Wi tinklers, knaves, pig wives, and cadgers,
The coarsest kind o' Chelsea sodgers,
Like beggars dress'd,
In holes and dens, like toads an badgers,
Here make their nest.
High occupancy where cleanliness was difficult to ensure increased the danger of contracting disease. The most shocking outbreak occurred in the fishing community at Fittie (Footdee) where in November "with some virulence" fifty-six cases of cholera appeared out of a local population of about 480. It was calculated that the occupancy of each house was four persons per room. The Board of Health was particularly scathing at the state of drainage at Fittie. Aberdeen Town Council was the landlord.
By the end of the epidemic Aberdeen had 260 diagnosed cases. Mortality was high, 105 persons died which, however, was small compared with Glasgow where over 3,000 died between February and November 1832. In our current Covid-19 pandemic habits have changed. The emphasis on hand washing has been particularly important, even men, it is claimed, have taken to washing after going for a pee. Back in 1832 the Board of Health patronisingly commented that even the lower classes [resorted to] unwonted cleanliness in response to its injunctions. In 1833 the city's charitable Dispensary reported on the impact of cholera highlighting a subsequent slackening in demand for their assistance from the poor. This they put down to three factors: cleaner housing; more fever wards at the infirmary; and "full employment" of the labouring classes, enabling them to have a marginally better standard of living, better diet, clothing and furnishing.
However, this apparent improvement in personal cleanliness among the poor was unsurprisingly not matched by significant improvements in the housing available to them. When doctors Kilgour and Galen reported on the sanitary state of Aberdeen, they described ill-ventilated properties with gutters running with all sorts of filth. People without privies (dry earth or bucket non-flush lavatories) and sewers had no option but to dump human waste. Dunghills built-up at doorways. The Gallowgate, with about 170 houses, had ten privies used by about 500-600 persons. Bad as this was at nearby North Street there was not a single privy. As for the availability of fresh water it was estimated that just under 6,000 persons lived in homes with their own water supply in a population of around 58,000 in Aberdeen at the time. All others relied on public wells distributed across the city. Attempts at cleanliness by poor tenants was further frustrated by the very high occupancy rates in accommodation. A Dr Keith reported crowding was fearful. His colleague Dr Dyce's opinion was that with the first case of fever in a poor family came the likelihood it seldom ceases until all its members have been attacked.
As much as some local ministers considered epidemics to be a kind of divine retribution Boards of Health concentrated on the disease being a sign of an active and toxic agent which might be stopped or mitigated against by social measures such as quarantine, whitewashing walls and improvements in hygiene. The role of Christian God in sending cholera their way to chastise sinners might have occupied their private thoughts but their main preoccupation was with providing some form of active intervention.
Cholera, like Covid-19, is a product of Nature. Both are organisms capable of living in and harming the human frame. To this extent at least epidemics are "natural disasters." But just as these harmful organisms can evolve so, too, can the human-social context within which they might find a home.
Both in 1832 and 2020 the economically vulnerable in society have suffered high infection rates. In both pandemics greater precautions could have been set in place prior to the outbreaks; there were no providential reasons why conditions could not have been other than they were. The NHS should have been better prepared for a pandemic as epidemiologists have been predicting one for decades.
Despite what Bob Dylan might say about the loss of lives on the Titanic there is understanding of pandemics, whether the one in 1832 or 2020. Grounded in the appearance of a harmful organism does not mean they are Acts of Nature. The way in which these organisms hit populations is dependent upon the state of scientific knowledge and divisions of wealth and power across society. The poor of Aberdeen occupied insanitary housing because of such divisions not because a God so decided. Equally the way in which the NHS found itself ill-prepared for pandemic despite decades of warnings speaks of economic and ideological priorities rather than an act of nature. Dylan's song Tempest is wrong. We can understand and we can change things.
Posted in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, coronavirus, Covid19, Doric, politics, Poor Relief, Scotland, Scottish history, Uncategorized, Weird and Wonderful | 2 Comments »
Tags: 1832, 2020, Aberdeen Journal, Board of Health, Bob Dylan, cholera, Glasgow, NHS, Tempest, Titanic, Wick, William Scott
Year of the Plague in 2020 a far from average year – self-isolation diary. Week 6
Week 6 was fairly uneventful. That is probably a good thing.
News and figures of casualties of Covid-19 continue to be grim. It's a strange kind of reality that we grow accustomed to high numbers of dead and dying overnight from a single cause. It is a shock to the system that so many of those we are dependent on, carers and NHS staff of every level, have lost their lives to this terrifying virus. It is a sharp reminder that our complacent lives built around consumerist capitalism and celebrity banality are nothing compared with the force of a tiny virus with knobs on; rich 21st century nations brought to their knees.
We learn revelation by revelation prised from the mouths of politicians of rising numbers of dead. We learn there are so many different ways to count the dead – confirmed by tests, confirmed at hospitals, confirmed by GPs but some dead are omitted. Some in this case being around the same number again and way above the figure of 20,000 quoted by Sir Patrick Vallance on 17 March as the number below which would be a "good result." As that figure has already been swamped by upwards of 100 per cent it appears the get-out-of-jail card "we are following the science" used as a shield by politicians has been exposed as not being quite THE science it was held up to be. THE science behind Westminster's response to the virus is a secretive club called SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) and includes Sir Patrick Vallance who is the government's chief scientific adviser. Westminster has been forced to admit that SAGE includes Johnson's political aids. So, the mantra should be – "we are following the political science." The political science isn't that good for as the Financial Times has been highlighting the real number of deaths from Covid-19 in the UK is running in excess of 40,000. Perhaps SAGE should change its name to STAGED – Scientists and Tories Advisory Group for Emergency Deception.
The seeds are out of quarantine and sown so fingers crossed we'll have good germination and a bumper crop of veg and herbs later in the summer. Some begonia plug plants arrived, too, for pots and containers which would normally be packed with annuals but as we can't get out to buy them this year it's going to be a begonia summer.
Walks have been largely uneventful although I did have a socially responsible social distanced conversation with a local man who cycles for exercise and was lugging around a plastic sack full of empty drinks cans thrown out of vehicles by litter louts or as they are known in these parts, minkers. I felt obliged to do my bit a few days ago and picked up yet another can, the usual Red Bull, and placed it in a recycling bin near at hand. Only then did I remember I should have been wearing gloves so had to do the whole washing of hands thing when I got home. Would love to walk along a beach but the nearest beach is 25 miles away so I'm making do picking over some delightful types of rock filling our ditches. Mainly granites there are other igneous rocks, some white quartz, lots of stones with shiny pieces of mica and bits of flint. You have to find interest where you can and rocks and minerals are fascinating – and every one is different.
Birds – house martins have arrived. Not yet building nests but flying overhead with that fast, darting movement. They are only in penny numbers where in recent years we would see lots of them. It's beyond sad that some people actively prevent them from building their beautiful nests against gable walls. We love our house martins, waiting impatiently for them to arrive from the south, watching them build and following the broods fly for the first time catching insects in the air. Some folk need to get a life and stop complaining about bird droppings. In actual fact there was no mess beneath our martins' double nest last year although that's not always the case. Hanging plastic carrier bags on the end of houses and garages to prevent birds building nests is shameful – and looks mingin – adjective from the noun minker. Pulling down nests is criminal.
Those starlings still seem interested in nesting in the tree hole still under scrutiny from jackdaws. It's a strange setup. These starlings are like cowboy builders – start a job, turn up once or twice then disappear for ages.
I've been re-reading some of Stewart Alan Robertson's essays in A Moray Loon (loon is a youth in northeast Scotland.) Stewart from Loanhead in Midlothian was a teacher in Scotland and England and for a time an inspector of education. He wrote engagingly on all kinds of fascinating Scottish topics from Kale Kirks to the scientist Mary Sommerville (science writer and polymath – I bet she would have come up with better science than any emerging from SAGE.) Stewart used his extensive Scottish vocabulary to great effect in his articles – many largely forgotten terms such as halflin for a young loon (usually a farm labourer) and blackneb which was one who sympathised with the French Revolution.
I've just started J. MacDougall Hay's Gillespie. MacDougall Hay hailed from Tarbert. Goodness know what sort of place Tarbert in Argyll was in the mid-19th century – this is where the novel is set. It's dark. Very dark. Perhaps too dark to read during these dark times.
Posted in Aberdeenshire, Doric, politics, Scotland, Scottish history, Uncategorized, Weird and Wonderful | 2 Comments »
Tags: blackneb, capitalism, coronavirus, Covid19, Gillespie, halflin, House Martins, Mary Sommerville, NHS, Red Bull, SAGE, Sir Patrick Vallance, Stewart Alan Robertson, Tarbert, Westminster
The Making of the NHS: from Tannochbrae to the Highlands and Islands
Dr Finlay's Casebook, a hugely popular television series in the 1960s and '70s, had something of a reputation for being a bit twee with a good dollop of Scottish sentimentality rolled in; human interest stories of everyday people and a heroic doctor who tried to turn their lives around; except, of course, he couldn't.
The stories were set in a fictional Tannochbrae somewhere in Scotland during the 1930s – the hungry thirties of the Great Depression when vast swathes of Britain led a hand-to-mouth existence with very little help coming from the state. Those most badly affected were dependent on charities, local health schemes, friends and their own families.
Tannochbrae was not as obviously impoverished as other places – this was no filthy, ugly, disease-ridden inner city but impoverished it was – bonnie but disease-ridden this rural village shared with its urban neighbours hunger, poverty and ill-health. The taciturn Dr Finlay who assisted the inscrutable Dr Cameron was surely the author A J Cronin himself for there is much in the writer that appears in Finlay's character.
Underlying the stories is a strong sense of decency – of humanity, a benevolent outlook by Tannochbrae's doctors who breathed air that was fresher and purer than many of their patients yet were driven by their sense of duty and consideration to ease their lives, as far as they were able; behaviour not always typical of their profession with its share of uncaring snobs, over-ambitious dilettantes and ignorant oafs, if Cronin's characterisations are anything to go by.
Far from being happy-ever-after frippery the Tannochbrae stories exposed the bleak reality of life for so many before the advent of the National Health Service. Poverty not only produced despair but starvation, susceptibility to illness and premature and avoidable death. Poverty in a world where money is king and the king-makers include respected members of parliament often reluctant to change a system built on inequality because inequality benefits those at the top which often included them. Money didn't guarantee you didn't get sick but it did buy medicine and treatment and it did buy better housing, clean running water, a warm fire and with those came better odds, an improved chance, to avoid contagions, work-related accidents and to survive serious illness.
A J Cronin
Cronin dealt with much of the awkward social divisions that consigned the working classes to unbelievable misery for as a young Scots doctor he found himself thrown into working class communities where life was a daily grind that offered spartan comforts.
I re-discovered Cronin when clearing out the house of a deceased relative and picked up a copy of The Stars Look Down that had belonged to my late uncle, also a doctor. I was captivated by the book, a tale of miners in northeast England who were victims of political opportunism and betrayal. It is, in my opinion, Cronin's finest work – hugely impressive and its description of a mining accident is truly memorable. The Stars Look Down should be read by everyone in this country, and should be on school reading lists for not only is it well-written it is our social history in easy bites. But it is not this book that's being spoken about at the moment. The Citadel has been resurrected for its influence in the debate that led to the creation of the National Health Service in 1948.
Set in Wales and London during the 1920s and 1930s The Citadel draws from Cronin's own experience as a doctor in both places. The young Cronin had his sights on a Harley Street practice and he did get there but by a circuitous route that opened his eyes to the dreadful impact on the poor of Britain's ramshackle medical services – a rag-bag of medical chance – postcode lottery before postcodes.
Corruption features a great deal in Cronin's works – the medical officer of health who doesn't care a fig for the sick, the conscientious doctor driven to drink by a system that overburdens him as an individual, the ambitious practitioner blithely striding forward in his career at the expense of his patients, manipulative politicians on the make – they were Cronin's colleagues and acquaintances and a rich source of characters for his writing.
Hatter's Castle was Cronin's first book but it was The Citadel published in 1937 that attracted huge attention – and fame and riches for its author when it was made into a Hollywood film with four Oscar nominations in 1938. The Citadel was credited with shifting opinion towards a universal health care system – a national health service. In it a young doctor, much like Cronin, struggled to make a difference to the lives of his Welsh patients in a small mining community. Cronin worked in the Welsh mining town of Tredegar and was employed at the its hospital which was financed locally through contributions paid into Tredegar Medical Aid Society (MAS) in return for medical treatment for contributors and their families. Tredegar MAS was an amalgamation of smaller benevolent or friendly societies. Around Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries there were many similar organisations that helped their working class members – providing a doctor service and sick pay but as they were linked to particular industries and their members largely men women and children were not covered. The Tredegar MAS broadened the range of benefits to include payouts for work accidents, sickness, unemployment and death expenses. Doctors were attached to a society by a ballot of members and in turn he could employ an assistant, the role of Dr Manson in Cronin's The Citadel.
Welsh mining village
Local friendly societies were run by powerful individuals so open to corruption. Medicine was then near wholly privatised with everything having its price as it is in private practice today: consultations, examinations, operations, x-rays, scans, every pill and plaster. Young doctors cut their teeth working as assistants to more senior colleagues who sometimes creamed off a sizeable portion of the little income they earned. Such corrupt practices were exposed in The Citadel. By shining a spotlight on the paucity of health care in Britain Cronin was able to educate and influence people, to alter attitudes towards the ramshackle health (don't) care system.
"I have written in The Citadel all I feel about the medical profession, its injustices, its hide-bound unscientific stubbornness, its humbug … The horrors and iniquities detailed in the story I have personally witnessed. This is not an attack against individuals, but against a system"
Cronin's hero, Dr Manson – a Scot like himself – is shocked at what he finds on his arrival firstly at Drineffy, a little Welsh coal mining town. Underpaid and undervalued, Manson struggles to cope so early into his career as the only fit and sober doctor in the town but he also struggles against penury for most of his salary is retained by the senior society doctor. Driven to resign Manson finds himself in a bigger town where there is greater scope to practise and undertake scientific research into the lung disease that he has become all too familiar with since arriving in Wales for it was a major killer in the coal mining communities. Again Cronin draws on his own experience with Manson eventually building his reputation and moving into private practice in search of wealthy patients easily conned to shell out for useless bottles of 'tonics.' This was not meant to be a book review so I won't reveal more of the story for the real value is in its description of an alternative system of health care that stood out amidst all the various styles practised around the UK.
Lord Northcliffe at work
But let us back-pedal a little. A National Insurance Act came into being in 1912, despite the British press loudly opposing it. Most of Britain's major newspapers were then owned and controlled by Tory press baron Lord Northcliffe whose empire Associated Newspapers Ltd produced such titles as the Daily Mail, The Times and The Observer. They all used their columns to churn out propaganda against the scheme. Northcliffe had no sympathy for working class people and was hostile to old age pensions while at the same time he demanded, through his newspapers, increased government spending on armaments. There is little doubt he was an unpleasant and violent bully and not untypical of his class. He could not stomach a scheme to help protect the most vulnerable which involved employer and government contributions along with workers' own in order to provide such basic benefits as sick pay, free treatment for tuberculosis, care by a panel doctor and maternity benefits. Despite fierce opposition from Northcliffe and other loud voices the Act became law but it was far from perfect. It was fine in urban areas and much of Britain but Scotland's topography is markedly different from the south in that it is far more widespread (don't go by weather maps on television) which meant the Act was unworkable across half of Scotland's land mass and its crofting communities.
An answer here in Scotland came in 1913 with the establishment of a centralised state-run health service which operated across the Highlands and Islands as The Highlands and Islands Medical Service (HIMS) and it continued until superseded by the UK-wide National Health Service in the summer of 1948. It was the Dewar Report of 1912 which revealed major problems in Scotland's rural areas with the National Insurance Act so a bespoke alternative scheme was put in place whereby doctors, nurses and midwives were subsidised to live and work in sparsely populated areas with few opportunities to rake in substantial earnings. A medical laboratory was set up in Inverness (which Cronin would have approved of) and an air ambulance eventually provided. This bold endeavour became a model for similar schemes in rural Canada and the USA and in the 1940s influenced the design of the NHS.
The Highlands and Islands Medical Service was not identical to the later NHS for it was not free to patients but it did establish a body that attempted universality of cover and was a vast improvement in what had gone before.
Britain in the 1930s was riven by extremes of wealth and degrees of poverty unimaginable to us today. There was virtually no state help and having nothing then meant nothing to buy food, keep a roof over a head, buy clothing or keep healthy. Living conditions in towns especially were quite atrocious. Cronin's candid writing about health inequalities helped raise popular awareness and highlighted a system that put patients at its centre. Such was the appetite for his books it was clear public opinion demanded change to lift Britain's millions of families struggling against the odds out of perpetual misery and despair while others worked the system – political, social, industrial and medical – to amass riches way beyond most people's comprehension. Then came the Second World War.
During the war a study into the provision of social care in the UK resulted in the Beveridge Report which identified five areas requiring attention by government: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease. Discussions between the government and the medical professions including the Tredegar Society and the Highlands and Islands Medical Service led to proposals for fundamental reforms in health and social care. At the end of the war there was such a groundswell of opinion for change that the Labour Party was swept into government on the promise it would set up a National Health Service. Central to this was Aneurin Bevan, one-time a health board colleague of Cronin's in Tredegar. It should be said that Cronin did not support the NHS when it first emerged and his scepticism and opposition was shared by a fair number of the medical establishment. Reading his biography it's fair to say he comes across as something of a snob, tediously religious in a judgemental way, attached to the very hierarchies that maintain inequality and he was vehemently hostile to abortion (and, yes, I recognise the time he was writing but there were many doctors in Scotland and elsewhere, his contemporaries, who recognised the need for offering abortion in particular circumstances [and in Scotland medical abortion was not the criminal act it was in England and Wales] .) I know from that same uncle that rekindled my interest in Cronin's works just how split over the prospect of an NHS were doctors – many regarding it as socialism, an anathema to the mostly ultra-conservative medical profession. Cronin shared this view. And, contrary to what you might expect, the NHS was launched not with a bang but a whimper, certainly as far as newspapers I've looked at were concerned. The main story of the 5 July 1948 was Britain's worst air crash or concern over the Russians.
Cronin was born in 1896 at Cardross in Dunbartonshire and as a schoolboy exhibited a talent for writing at Dumbarton Academy. Torn between a career in the church or medicine he said he chose the lesser of two evils, so medicine it was. He won a Carnegie scholarship and graduated from Glasgow University in 1919 and from there went on to obtain further qualifications. He practised medicine in Scotland, England and Wales where he was confronted by life in the raw in a dirty, alien village smothered in coal dust and scarred by distress. He was made Medical Inspector of Mines for Great Britain in 1924 which provided scope for his research into lung diseases brought on by breathing in industrial dust, such as coal dust, and rife among miners. The link seems obvious to us today but it was not when Cronin studied it. Once he found success as a doctor the work seemed to bore him; prescribing medicines and dispensing advice to his then wealthy patients in Harley Street and Notting Hill in London and he abandoned his medical practice for life back in Scotland to try his hand at writing.
Cronin's itchy feet saw him move to more places around the world than there is room for here. He became a major name in the world of celebrity and wealthy as Croesus and I suppose it is an irony that he made his money from his gritty depictions of the powerless and exploited during some of Britain's bleakest and most impoverished times. While not great literary works Cronin's easy style of writing and his eye for detail makes reading his books a pleasure rarely a chore.
I know one or two people, all male, who never – that's never ever- read books. Literature is not only an enjoyable (mostly) pastime it is a vehicle to encounter experiences we would otherwise never know about. It offers us opportunities to confront issues in a palatable way which might alter our preconceptions. I hope some of you will pick up a Cronin novel – I recommend The Stars Look Down and be prepared to have your eyes opened to a world that is hard to imagine today. In the meantime when you next visit the doctor or are admitted to hospital spare a thought for how the NHS came about and worry that its days might be numbered in which case we might all be closer than we'd like to experiencing the pre-NHS world of Cronin's sick and vulnerable patients.
Posted in BBC Scotland, Fiction, politics, Poor Law, Poor Relief, Poorhouse,, Scotland, Scottish history, Uncategorized, Weird and Wonderful | 3 Comments »
Tags: A J Cronin, Bevan, Daily Mail, Dr Finlay's Casebook, friendly societies, Lord Northcliffe, National Health Service, National Insurance Act, NHS, Tannochbrae, The Citadel, The Observer, The Stars Look Down, The Times, Tredegar
Vote No and we lose our free NHS in Scotland: leading surgeon speaks out
Tags: NHS, politics, Scotland, vote no
Reasons to Vote Yes: Privatisation and the NHS
Private businesses operating within the National Health Service must be pretty pleased with how policies pushed by successive governments at Westminster have allowed their interests to flourish. Why would they not be? Opportunities in this area of social provision are staggering and perfect to boost company profits. Shareholders must be drooling at the prospect.
There was a time when those responsible for safeguarding and running the NHS – politicians – were proud to declare it the best health service in the world and one of the greatest achievements in history – and some still do though what they mean by this now is less clear. The NHS became something of a sacred cow – a marker for how civilised the UK was compared with other countries with their piecemeal services based on health insurance and unequal access to care.
You don't hear so much of that now – now that the NHS is steadily heading towards the American health care model – the steady incursion of private providers such as Serco and Circle increasingly managing aspects of public health care. Serco's expertise takes in everything from nuclear weapons to health. Circle, established by former banker Ali Parsa, is run along mutual lines with doctors holding a stake in the business. I should point out in passing that just last week Serco's finance director of outsourcing was on the point of resigning over a financial scandal involving the government.
In 1948 the NHS was started as a comprehensive health and rehabilitation service for the prevention and cure of diseases in response to the miserable health provision available to the majority of people in the UK. The NHS was established as free at the point of delivery and available to all, paid for by the people through public taxation.
We all know how successful the NHS proved to be, and rather than fewer people accessing its services the healthier the population became, the scale and variety of specialist care led to increasing numbers turning to the NHS with issues never envisaged at its initiation e.g. IVF treatment for fertility problems and gastric bypasses.
When a national health service was proposed opposition from some quarters, notably well-off doctors who feared a loss of income through restrictions on private practice, were well aired. For most ordinary people, however, the NHS was welcomed and proved a revelation. Lives were saved and improved enormously. It is not possible for any of us in the UK today who didn't live through the years before 1948 to fully comprehend the awful misery inflicted on the poor having to make choices between paying out paltry earnings on keeping a roof over their heads, putting something in their bellies or paying for essential medical treatment.
Over the last half century the lives of people in the UK have been transformed by the opportunities for decent care provided by the National Health Service and life expectancy as a result has risen by around 10 years.
The cost of upkeep of the NHS has also risen year on year which is why Westminster governments have looked to ways of offsetting some of that financial burden onto the private sector – outsourcing to private companies to manage aspects of care. The private sector is regarded by some as more efficient than the public. That efficiency does come at a price – private is more ruthless in regards to its employees but it is not per se any better at the job it does although it does bring in alternative means of funding such as raising cash through shareholders.
So where is the NHS heading?
I fear that in England there is little chance of what today we would recognise as the NHS still being around in another 10 to 15 years time with increasing numbers of health trusts outsourcing multi-million pound contracts on the open market for everything from mental health provision to tests and diagnosis. In Scotland things are a little different. Here there has been strong resistance to interfering with what is regarded as a vital system of health care.
But in England there is a different perspective, from government at least. A choice between direct infusion of funds into the NHS or outsourcing to the private sector has come down firmly in favour of private. Austerity measures drive this to an extent, it is argued, but that doesn't wash in a country that supports Trident. Funding for the NHS is ideologically driven and pretty well shared by Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats.
England's move into privatisation will no doubt lead to patients becoming clients and will be accompanied by the well-rehearsed refrain of those clients being provided with greater choices over their care. That great myth of choice and the right to choose – such choices are always conditional in such circumstances. The concept of choice so loved by rightwing commentators from both Labour and Conservative sides is not absolute – in some areas there will never be real choices of provision and moreover choice is mainly exercised by the wealthy and the middle classes creating gulfs in what was once a fairly equitable health service.
A health care system operated by the markets will have as its number one goal, irrespective of claims from business people and politicians (sometimes the same people), the company's profits. Why would they not? That after all is their raison d'être.
Why are privately operated companies more likely to employ temporary rather than permanent employees? How does having transitory staff in hospitals fit in with putting the patients' interests first?
Any private health care business will think carefully about where it operates to try to ensure success. Their bottom line is never going to be the service to be provided irrespective of cost. So what happens to the universal provision of care – does it become ghettoised? Like schools? Replacing the notion of universal care for competition at the heart of health planning has meant private providers are able to get more snouts into more troughs of readily available public cash.
In these so-called times of austerity NHS budgets are squeezed. Deciding that aspects of NHS care should be opened up to private companies is a political decision. It is dressed up as opportunities to improve care through competition therefore enabling 'best value' for patients or taxpayers or whoever – ie us. The slick, market-oriented operators breathing down the necks of cash-strapped health trusts are having a field day.
A second rate service provided by the state as a kind of safety net for the socially excluded and those not willing or capable of exercising their choices will probably jog along for a time but the best service, the one that will be held up at election times as epitomising the best of British, will be that which is used by the better-off and the determined or pushy.
Of the billions of pounds paid out by UK taxpayers to provide essential services much will be siphoned off to pay for outsourced services from enterprising agencies and this is a national disgrace.
Such a trend has meant 'putting multinational companies in the driving seat of the NHS,' according to former health secretary Frank Dobson. He was talking about the Labour government's push to contract out to private and third sector providers.
Health care in England is being transformed and unlike the public body that is the NHS private enterprise does not have a duty to provide a comprehensive range of services only 'such services or facilities as it considers appropriate.'
Who then is making decisions about health priorities in the UK?
Circle's profits have risen from £170.3million to £192.7million encouraging the company to build more private hospitals in England. It and Capita (the UK's biggest outsourcing company which earns half its turnover from the public sector) expect to continue to pick up contracts from NHS trusts whose incomes are stretched to breaking point. Privatisation in England is there to stay – hospitals and clinics springing up in Cambridgeshire, Manchester, Birmingham, Bedfordshire, Nuneaton, Bath, Reading – anywhere and everywhere.
For those who judge the NHS by the state of its waiting rooms and chipped paint corridors such rampant privatisation will be just what the doctor ordered. For those who recognise that each time a contract is put out to tender and won by a company operating for profit another part of the NHS is being undermined. At some point the whole edifice will go in all but name with implications for staff as well as patients. Actually the terminology has already changed from National Health Service with all that suggests to healthcare market.
Health care is devolved thank goodness. In Scotland at present the SNP government is adamant that the structure of the NHS is safe and there are no moves into the kind of health privatisation happening in England.
I don't think we should be complacent however. Scotland has seen examples of reckless behaviour from Holyrood. In 2005 when Scottish Labour was in coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats Andy Kerr then Minister for Health and Community Care announced a Scottish Regional Treatment Centre pilot at Stracathro funded under PPI which was duly opened in a blaze of publicity in 2007 by Jack McConnell then First Minister. The white elephant of the Golden Jubilee National hospital in Clydebank also established under New Labour had to be bought by the NHS.
While both the Scottish National Party and the Green Party in Holyrood have stated opposition to any privatisation of clinical services in Scotland's NHS there must be a question mark over what will happen in the future if Scottish Labour and the Liberal Democrats and Tories (those two in coalition presumably) get back into power.
http://www.keepournhspublic.com/pdf/SRTCshort.pdf
Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats have been criticised for their underhand methods when it comes to privatising health care – omitting mention of it in their election manifestos. The Labour Party, very keen on Public Private Initiates, did include references to mixing private and public health care in its Westminster manifesto of 2005 – all in the guise of providing better, 'more quality healthcare' to 'expand provision' and 'reduce waiting times' but there was nothing in its Scottish manifesto before setting up the pilot at Stracathro and the National Waiting Times Centre later renamed Golden Jubilee National hospital – all £180million of it built in 1994 and having consequently failed, bought by the public purse as an NHS hospital in 2002.
John Reid one-time Health Secretary at Westminster under Tony Blair tried to persuade Scots the 'the medical market place' was the way to go. Reid would no doubt welcome chief executive of LaingBusiness (a so-called healthcare intelligence company) William Laing's observation that Circle's success is 'significant for all private sector providers to the NHS.'
There doesn't seem any way back for the NHS in England but here in Scotland we have a chance to hold onto what has proved an excellent provision for the past 60 plus years. Voting no in the referendum will put Scotland's NHS at risk of going the way of England's. It's time for people to wake up to the real danger of losing this brilliant health service.
A positive vote for independence is the only chance we have to retain our universal health service, free at the point of use. Use your vote well.
Tags: England, National Health Service, NHS, politics, Scotland, Scottish independence referendum, Scottish Labour