Apologies for this test message, just checking if the blog works alright.
If you could kindly send a simple, quick reply, that would be great; so I can see if the blog is properly aligned for the Green Party Seniors group.
It would also be good to know if you wish to receive occasional, sporadic blog messages relating to issues of potential interest to Green Party Seniors.
Thanks in advance,
Erwin Schaefer (Green Party Seniors media person)
New Green Party Seniors group set-up
The Green Party Seniors group has recently held its AGM to approve an updated constitution, elect a new committee and to develop a new focus on representing the interests of our members within the framework of the Green Party.
Green Left notes that 70 GP practices in the Uk, 49 of them in London, have been taken over by the Centene Corporation, a major US health insurer, through its UK subsidiary, Operose. These were approved by NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) without consulting the public or local councils and with minimal oversight of the effect on NHS staff and quality of service.
We demand that CCGs prohibit any further takeovers by Centene or other for-profit companies; and that all such existing for-profit contracts be terminated as soon as legally possible.
While salaried GP partners quite reasonably prefer to use their training and experience to care for patients rather than on managing surgery finances, that task can be carried out by suitably qualified NHS employees.
We believe that Centene has made its large investment in UK NHS GP practices, through Its UK subsidiary Operose, in the expectation that Operose will in future pay dividends to the parent company. Operose has contracts to digitalise the NHS, transferring various patient-physician interactions to online only, with serious implications for future. quality of care. It is clear from the business model that dividends will involve the closure of non-profitable parts of its business. This could include closure of GP practices that remain unprofitable despite "rationalisation" through cuts in staff, wages and services to patients. Local GP practices in deprived communities, or with a large number of older patients, may be particularly vulnerable to closure and transfer of patients to large area GP hubs. This will create difficulty for patients with impaired mobility to reach a doctor.
Unless these profit-driven takeovers are stopped, our NHS GP Services will be commercialised and taxpayers will pay more for a reduced service, the profits ending up in the US.'
https://weownit.org.uk/blog/here-are-gp-practices-taken-over-us-health-insurance-giant-centene
This branch condemns the government’s preposterous and wasteful ‘Indo-Pacific’ defence strategy which involves increased expenditure on nuclear warheads. We call on UCU to campaign for more rational expenditure on such areas as combating climate change, an internationally just distribution of anti-pandemic measures and increased UK foreign aid.
"The most compelling and concise guide to averting climate breakdown.”
Brendan Montague, editor, The Ecologist.
Download Jonathan Neale's Fight the Fire from The Ecologist for free now.
The Ecologist has published Fight the Fire for free so that it is accessible to all.
We would like to thank our readers for donating £1,000 to cover some of the costs of publishing and promoting this book.
hard copy paperback from resistance books https://resistancebooks.org/product/fight-the-fire/
