NHS Crisis Tracker informs you about health crisis in your area

38 Degrees has launched the NHS Crisis Tracker which shows by postcode the extent of the crisis in a particular area.  It includes the percentage of people waiting for more than 4 hors for treatment at A&E, the local funding gap and personal experiences of the NHS in the area.

It is simple to use - just put in your postcode HERE

Should Brent follow Hammersmith & Fulham and replace glyphosate

I am well aware that dangers to public health are often under-estimated or dismissed only to be cited decades later as the cause of illness and perhaps early death. As an NUT representative at a school in Fulham in the early 70s I discovered asbestos, claimed to have been safely removed over the summer holidays, stuffed behind classroom radiators.  The borough Medical Officer of Health at the time was  not particularly sympathetic. Now the effects of exposure to even small amounts of asbestos dust  is well documented.

Currently concerns over the weed killer glyphosate are being similarly down-played.  When I informed Brent Council about the TUC's concerns about safety concerns for workers who use the spray LINK

The TUC report said:

There is no question that weed killers containing glyphosate are dangerous. If it gets on the skin it can cause irritation and dermatitis. It can also cause oral and throat discomfort if it is breathed in. Eye exposure may lead to mild conjunctivitis. If swallowed it may cause corrosion of the throat and can lead to kidney or liver failure.

It is also believed that it can cause cancer. In March 2015 the International Agency on research into Carcinogens (IARC) announced that glyphosate probably caused a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma. This was based on a study of agricultural workers who were exposed to the chemical, although it was backed up by tests on animals. However it is not known whether the cancer is being caused by contact through the skin or through breathing it, or both. It is therefore necessary to try to prevent any workers coming into contact with glyphosate.

It advocated action to protect workers:

Given that the risks to the skin, lung and eyes have been known about for many years, employers should already have been taking action to prevent any contact to glyphosate, even before there was evidence it causes cancer

Now that there is new evidence that glyphosate is likely to cause cancer, all employers must review their risk assessments, including their COSHH assessments. Where possible they should consider alternatives to the use of herbicides, but if that is not possible they must investigate whether there are safer alternatives. If there are alternatives then they should be introduced, regardless of whether they are more expensive. However they should not rush into substituting another herbicide for glyphosate without ensuring that they know the risk from the substitute. All herbicides are likely to have some dangers to humans.

If they are going to continue to use glyphosate then they should look at whether there are alternatives to how it is used now. Often it is sprayed from backpacks (which often leak) and are filled in an enclosed space. The employer must consider alternative ways of applying it and also look at how containers are filled, cleaned and the chemical stored and disposed of. They also need to provide training and information to the workers about the risk.

If, after that, any workers are still likely to come into contact with glyphosate, they must provide protective clothing. That may include gloves, masks and protective overalls. This must be done free of charge, and arrangements need to be made for them to be stored and cleaned. The safety representatives should be involved in any discussion on the best protective equipment.

Employers should also be monitoring the health of all those who use glyphosate (or any pesticide).

 In my email to Brent Council I said:

 I would like to draw your attention to the latest advice from the TUC re Health and Safety and the use of glyphosate  based weed killers which was issued last month.

With many schools out-sourcing grounds maintenance I wonder if a warning could be issued to them as well as clarifying the situation with Veolia.

Samantha Haines replied for Brent Council:

I have spoken to our contractor and the public realm department here at Brent and they have told me that our contractor are aware and adhere to these practices.

This did not address the issue regarding school contractors and of course some schools may have their own premises staff using the chemicals.   Apart from the danger posed to the workers concerned there is also that of exposing children to the herbicide.

Last week Hammersmith and Fulham Council responded to a 38 Degrees petition on the use of  glyphosate.   Wesley Harcourt, the cabinet member for environment, said:

As is the case at almost all local authorities, glyphosate-based herbicides are currently  used by Hammersmith and Fulham council contractors, Quadron-Serco.

However we have been working with contractors for some time to replace these with chemical  alternatives, such as hot foam and steam.

In May a group of 48 MEPs volunteered for a test to detect levels of glyphosate in their urine. The average was more than 17 times the safe limit and the lowest double the limit. at 0.17ng/ml LINK

Jean Lambert, MEP for London, a member of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee whose personal test results show a glyphosate contamination level of 0.67 ng/ml, said:

It is genuinely frightening that glyphosate is everywhere in our everyday lives. These test results show that no matter where we live, what we eat, or our age we cannot escape exposure to this toxic substance. With glyphosate widely used in cities, in urban parks and public spaces, on streets and pavements, the European Commission must bow to public pressure and put the safety of people and the environment ahead of the profits of chemical industry giants.

The general public using herbicides in their gardens, need to be aware that popular weedkiller Roundup, on sale in garden centres and other outlets, contains glyphosate.  Manufacturer Monsanto is fighting a public relations battle against critics of its product LINK

In May campaigners claimed a minor victory when the EU decided to delay re-approval of the use of glyphosate in the EU.  The Monsanto backed Glyphosate Task Force  complained about ' acute politicisation of the regulatory procedure' while Pekka Pesonen of the main European Farmers' Union deplored the fact that a ban on glyphosate ban would put them at a 'competitive disadvantage'.

The battle continues.

 The 38 degrees petition can be modified for any local authority and can be found HERE

Green Brent and Harrow GLA candidate pledges support for 'Save the Bridge' campaign

The Green Party's candidate for the Brent and Harrow GLA constituency, Jafar Hassan, today put his party's weight behind the 'Save the Bridge' campaign.

  Jafar said:

As Green Party GLA candidate for Brent and Harrow I am strongly opposed to the closure of The Bridge in Harrow.  It is a vital service, one that is  a lifeline to many in the Harrow community.  Mental health problems are common and rising, often as a result of current widening inequality and economic uncertainty and we should therefore be protecting these professional services rather than cutting back. Greens support the 38degrees petition, calling on Harrow Council to reconsider the decision to withdraw this service.  We hope that the council acknowledges the strong public opposition and act accordingly.

The petition can be found HERE

This is what it says:

To: David Perry, Leader of Harrow Council 

Please don't close 'The Bridge', next to the Harrow Leisure Centre, in Christchurch Avenue, Harrow.

Why is this important?

The Bridge is a purpose built place for the Mentally ill people. It's an activity centre and a drop in centre with a cafe. The building is all on ground floor. There are gardens at the back and side for people to relax.

The activities include Arts and Craft, Music Learning, Guitar Learning group - 'Dont Fret', Tabla (Indian drums) learning, Library, Choir meeting -- 'More than Just a Choir', WhyFI - for Paranoia, Pilates, Yoga, 30 Clients with Personal Independence Budgets attend for therapy. People with depression, Bipolar, Schizophrenia etc. etc. attend with great benefits to their daily life. The Northwick Park Hospital's Mental Heath Unit refers clients for further support from the services available at The Bridge.

I had asked my family, two years ago, to take me to the Switzerland clinic to 'have me put down'. Then I heard of 'The Bridge' and attended the Choir -- ''More Than Just A Choir'' every Tuesday evening. This has turned my life around.

The people receiving a great deal of therapeutic benefits will have to revert back to the overloaded GP services and the NHS -- waiting list. The attempt to close The Bridge will end up costing the community far greater!

Rebecca Johnson, Green candidate for H&K will pledge to protect the NHS from privatisation, funding cuts and TTIP this afternoon

A cause the Greens support

38 Degrees members in Hampstead and Kilburn are to present a petition this afternoon outside Waitrose, close to Finchley Road station, asking candidates for the constituency to protect the NHS if elected.  Rebecca Johnson, Green Party candidate in H&K will be there.

The event starts at 3.30pm and is expected to last about 30 minutes.

This is the text of the petition:

Our NHS is precious. Please do everything you can to protect it, including:

* Stopping privatisation
* Making sure it has the funding it needs to provide high quality healthcare to everyone
* Protecting it from US health corporations by keeping the NHS out of TTIP

Why is this important?

Our NHS is precious. We all rely on it to care for us and our loved ones. We want to protect it for the future, and we don't want to see it run down or sold off.

Over the past few years, NHS funding has been squeezed so much that services are suffering. This winter, hospitals up and down the country have declared "major incidents" because they're struggling to cope. And now most hospitals are warning that their budget for next year has " reached the point where patient care is at risk."

Meanwhile, the government is letting profit-hungry companies take over more and more NHS services. At at a time of squeezed budgets, this is the last thing the NHS needs. We want an NHS where patient safety is put first, and where the NHS is run for the public good.

TTIP, the planned trade deal between the EU and the USA, could threaten the NHS further. If TTIP opens our NHS to American private healthcare companies, we could see even more privatisation and a slide into more US-style healthcare. We want the NHS excluded from TTIP.

NW London GMB backs TTIP fight ahead of Saturday's Day of Action

The campaign organisation 38 Degrees LINK is holding a Day of Action on TTIP (Transatlantic  Trade and Investment Partnership) on Saturday August 30th. (More information below) There is more about TTIP and video of a public meeting on the issue on the excellent Haringey Green party website. LINK

Here in North West London the GMB has called for a campaign of opposition in a motion passed last month:

This North West London GMB branch notes with alarm that an EU/US Transatlantic trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is being negotiated by the EU Commission on behalf of the EU member states  - and due to be partly completed by December 2014.

TTIP, if signed, will give multinational companies the right to sue governments over regulations that the companies object to - under 'investtor-state-dispute-settlement' (ISDS) rules - outside and above the courts and parliaments of the EU member states.

TTIP focuses on removing the regulations covering labour laws, food contents, environment standards and protections, working conditions and state-provided health and education services.

The TTIP negotiations, secret up to now, are a direct threat to existing standards and Trade Union collective bargaining. They signify privatisation on a massive scale and threaten the most essential rights won by the working class after generations of struggles.

This North West London GMB branch calls on the GMB leadership to help animate a national campaign of opposition to TTIP and stimulate all GMB affiliated Labour Party branches and Trades Councils to do the same.

This GMB branch resolves to send this resolution to all its own affiliated Trades Council and Labour Parties.

The 38 Degrees website has published useful downloadable campaign materials. This is from their blog:

If you’ve volunteered to get the word out on TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) during the 38 Degrees day of action on Saturday 30th August, you’re not alone – and here are all the important materials you’ll need.

Thousands of 38 Degrees members will be handing out leaflets, getting petition signatures and making sure people know about this terrible trade deal between the EU and the US. There are over 200 events happening across the UK and there’s still time to get involved.

Here are copies of the leaflets, posters, stickers and badges you can hand out on the day. Everyone who has signed up to volunteer will also get a pack of these in the post late next week. There will be 100 leaflets plus a poster, badge, sticker and petition in each posted pack.

To download copies of these online, please click the links below:

A5 leaflet

A3 poster

Badge

Bumper sticker

Petition

Feel free to print out or photocopy any of these. There is also a Welsh language flyer coming soon. If you want any extra materials posted to you, please just drop the staff team an email.

If you can’t download the PDF versions of the materials below, here are JPEG copies:

A5 flyer front
A5 flyer back
A3 poster
Badge
Bumper Sticker
Petition front
Petition back

We won't be SILENCED: oppose the Gagging Law

Brent fight for NHS moves up a gear

The fight to preserve and enhance the NHS in Brent and prevent privatisation took a step forward on Saturday when campaigners met up on the initiative of the 38 Degrees Campaign and planned their next steps.

The 38 Degrees petition asks the Brent Clinical Commissioning Group to protect the NHS from privatisation by including a clause in their constitution affirming that they will commission services from the NHS in preference to private companies. Hackney CCG has already agreed to this

The petition will be presented at the Shadow Brent  CCG at their consultation meeting on 14th November at the Wembley Centre for Health and Care, 116 Chaplin Road, Wembley, HA0 4UZ. The meeting is from 6pm until 8pm.The services currently being commissioned can be found HERE

The meeting will be discussing the Brent Integrated Plan which is a 3 year strategy  that outlines financial planning and details health care services the CCG plans to buy,


On Friday afternoon of this week pressure will be exerted on Sarah Teather, MP for Brent Central, when campaigners present her with a petition against the proposals in 'Shaping a Healthier Future' which includes the closure of Central Middlesex A&E. This petition also opposes privatisation of the NHS. Campaigners will meet at The Nest cafe at Willesden Green Station at 2pm on Friday 9th November and present the petition at Ms Teather's office in Walm Lane at 2.30pm.

When she left her government post Sarah Teather said that she wanted to devote more time to serving her constituents and this meeting will give her the chance to do just that.

On Wednesaday 28th November NHS NWL will be providing feedback on their 'Shaping  Healthier Future' consultation at the Hilton Metrropole in Edgware Road (opposite the tube station) from 5.30-7pm followed by a workshop for the public, patient representatives, clinicians and voluntary sector organisation working in groups on issues raised in the consultation. To attend register HERE

Pile on the Pressure: e-mail your MP on NHS now

A message from 38 Degrees:

In just one week, your MPs have to vote on massive changes to our NHS. But 38 Degrees members now have something our MPs don’t – thorough, independent legal advice about what these changes really mean.

Our expert legal advice is sobering. Despite the “listening exercise”, the government’s changes to the NHS plans could still pave the way for a shift towards a US-style health system, where private companies profit at the expense of patient care.

MPs are being told by the government that the NHS is safe. If they read our evidence, they’ll know that the spin doesn’t stand up. We can put them under massive pressure to vote to save our NHS. So we need to work together to get the legal advice to our MPs right now!

Email your MP now:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/email-the-evidence

Our independent lawyers identified two major problems in the new legislation:

• The Secretary of State’s legal duty to provide a health service will be scrapped. On top of that, a new “hands-off clause” removes the government's powers to oversee local consortia and guarantee the level of service wherever we live. We can expect increases in postcode lotteries – and less ways to hold the government to account if the service deteriorates.

• The NHS will almost certainly be subject to UK and EU competition law and the reach of procurement rules will extend across all NHS commissioners. Private health companies will be able to take new NHS commissioning groups to court if they don’t win contracts. Scarce public money could be tied up in legal wrangles instead of hospital beds. Meanwhile, the legislation lifts the cap on NHS hospitals filling beds with private patients.

So who are MPs going to listen to when casting their vote – you, or lobbyists from private health companies? This is our NHS, and it’s up to us to defend it. Email your MP now:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/email-the-evidence

It’s pretty extraordinary what we’ve managed to achieve together already. Nearly half a million of us have signed the petition to save the NHS. And after Andrew Lansley announced the last round of changes, thousands of 38 Degrees members immediately chipped in to get top independent legal advice on the new plans.

Barrister Rebecca Haynes found that the government's plans could pave the way for private healthcare companies and their lawyers to benefit most from changes, not patients. Another barrister, Stephen Cragg, found that we were right to be worried that Andrew Lansley was planning to remove his duty to provide our NHS.

This is the conclusion of a top legal team paid to have no other interest at heart but yours.

MPs vote in just seven days. Seven days to not only get the evidence, but be convinced there’s way too much public concern to ignore it. The good news is, with over 800,000 of us now armed with expert legal advice, we are just the people to speak up. Let’s give MPs from all parties the mandate they need to think again and vote against these changes to the NHS.
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/email-the-evidence

ACT NOW ON NHS - 38 Degrees

Things are moving fast. The press are reporting that David Cameron and Nick Clegg are trying to finalise changes to their NHS plans - at least two weeks earlier than expected. [1] The next few days are critical - we need to move quickly to influence their decisions.

It looks like Clegg and Cameron may try to push ahead with at least two of the more worrying parts of Andrew Lansley's original plans. They're still toying with imposing more competition from private health companies. And they're still looking to scrap their legal duty to provide the same level of healthcare to everyone wherever they live.

Together, we can persuade them to drop these dangerous bits of the plans. MPs don't get a lot of phone calls from their voters. If thousands of us call them today, it will send shockwaves through parliament as MPs, Clegg and Cameron realise how determined we are to protect our NHS!

Can you phone your MP today? It's quick and easy. Find their name, number, and tips for what to say, here:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/phone-your-mp

Yesterday, in the 38 Degrees office, team members Johnny and Becky contacted key allies and experts at health organisations, charities and in Parliament to try find out what's going on behind the scenes. [2] It's a bit murky. But reliable sources are saying that, right now, Clegg and Cameron are plotting out which parts of Lansley's plans they need to drop to win public support.

Everyone seems to expect that whatever decision is reached will be a lot better than Lansley's original plans - thanks, in no small part, to the efforts of 38 Degrees members! But they're telling us that we need to pile on more pressure in two key areas:

- Competition in the NHS - an argument is still raging: will the future of the NHS be about health professionals working together to ensure patients get the best possible treatment? Or will Andrew Lansley get his way and shift the NHS towards a US-style system, with a growing role for competition, private companies, and "market forces"? [3]

- The government’s duty to provide a "comprehensive health service" - the government still wants to water down their legal duty to provide a decent health service to everyone, regardless of where they live. This legal duty has been enshrined in law ever since the NHS was created in 1948! Scrapping it would pave the way for a more patchy service, and mean in the future we could all face more problems with "postcode lotteries". [4]

There's still time to push these decisions in the right direction. But we need to move fast. Can you call your MP right now?
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/phone-your-mp

Together we can make sure that as senior politicians sit down round the negotiating table, they're hearing reports of record numbers of voters on the phone calling on them to stand up for the NHS. That could just tip key decisions the right way.

The very fact that Clegg and Cameron are having to negotiate which parts of Lansley's plans they have to drop proves that, by working together, we can play a key role in protecting our NHS. [5 ]Sky News reported in April that the government had started backtracking on the NHS as "the result of a lobbying campaign by a pressure group called 38 Degrees". [6] That's us!

Whatever deal is announced next week, it's unlikely to be the end of our campaign. Any changes to the NHS will still need to pass through Parliament to become law, which means we will have fresh chances to improve them. But decisions made in the next few days definitely matter - so let's take our chance to stand up for the NHS.

Please give your MP a ring. Find their name and number, and some tips for what to say to them, here:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/phone-your-mp

Sign up to save the NHS

I’ve just signed a petition to Save the NHS. Right now the government is rushing through plans which experts, and groups representing doctors and nurses, warn could break the NHS up and hand control to private health companies. It's also a huge waste of money at a time when funding is already squeezed with beds and wards being cut.

It worked when enough of us signed the petition against privatising England's forests. The more of us that sign up to Save the NHS, the more chance we have of winning. Please sign now:

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/NHS-petition

NHS Web Campaign Launched

38 Degrees has launched a web campaign to defend the NHS against cuts and privatisation. They say:

Money may be tight. But the government is still planning to find billions of pounds to fund new Trident nuclear submarines. These changes to the NHS are about ideology, not saving money. Some Tories have always wanted to trash the NHS.Last year, one MEP described the NHS as a "60-year-old mistake" and another MP said that the NHS "would not be out of place in Stalin's Russia".

But these hardliners have never managed to get their way, because the NHS is popular with voters.  People power has stopped them before, and it can stop them again.

We need to show that the NHS has the support of tens of thousands of people. Everyone has been touched in some way by the NHS. It's there at the start and end of most people's lives. Everyone who signs the pledge will be added to a map of the UK, so politicians can see for themselves how many thousands of people want to defend the health service from political attacks. Every MP will be able to see people in their own constituency who don't want the NHS to be destroyed. 

Add your name today - so politicians know how many of us are standing up for the NHS:

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/protect-the-NHS