Horatio’s Garden at Salisbury district hospital, Salisbury
Horatio’s Garden is a charity which creates gardens of sanctuary in centres for spinal injury. The gardens are named after Horatio Chapple who came up with the idea with his father while volunteering in Salisbury. Various events for patients with spinal injuries are held in the garden, such as painting classes with artist-in-residence Miranda Creswell.
The Chapel Garden, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital
This chapel garden features a central wish tree and a number of water features, such as a vertical fountain and a rill, which give the impression of water moving continually throughout the garden. The calming flow of water and the illusion of space have transformed this small and previously unused area of the hospital.
The Morgan Stanley garden, Great Ormond Street hospital, London
This woodland-themed garden, designed by Chris Beardshaw, was transplanted from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (where it won a Gold medal) to a disused roof space, surrounded by tall hospital buildings that look onto it. The garden provides a quiet and peaceful space for children and families, the centrepiece of which is a sculpture of a child.
Ninewells community garden, Dundee
Patients, staff and the local community can volunteer at this garden. The vegetable and sensory gardens, orchard, wildlife habitat and play areas offer multiple options for people to de-stress, recuperate and exercise
Horatio’s Garden, Queen Elizabeth national spinal injuries unit, Glasgow
The second Horatio’s Garden on this list has six distinct spaces, all of which serve to stimulate different senses. There is also a greenhouse which is surrounded by areas used for horticultural therapy activities.
Chase Farm hospital rehabilitation gardens, London
Chase Farm hospital has renovated two areas into specialist therapeutic gardens for patients. One of the gardens supports dementia patients, while the other supports stroke and rehabilitation patients. Based on a Japanese design, the gardens are compact but tranquil sanctuary within the hospital, and are also open to staff and visitors
Bournemouth hospital garden, Bournemouth
A desolate tarmac courtyard in the hospital was revamped and made into a three-part garden. There is a therapeutic garden outside the chemotherapy suite, a sensory garden linking the courtyard to a lakeside garden, and a large area to walk around and exercise in.
£3,300,000,000 = The amount we got last year for arms exports to Saudi Arabia.
Wikileaks: Saudi Arabia’s rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted… told they faced “another 7/7” and the loss of “British lives on British Streets” if they pressed on with their enquiries.
Wahhabism (as part of the Salafi movement) = The ideological concept of destruction and terrorism (suicide bombings, indiscriminate attacks) which is the root of current home-grown terrorism. From Saudi Arabia. We have now sponsored it for years and years to come.
£3,300,000,000 = The amount we got last year for arms exports to Saudi Arabia.
Wikileaks: Saudi Arabia’s rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted… told they faced “another 7/7” and the loss of “British lives on British Streets” if they pressed on with their enquiries.
Wahhabism (as part of the Salafi movement) = The ideological concept of destruction and terrorism (suicide bombings, indiscriminate attacks) which is the root of current home-grown terrorism. From Saudi Arabia. We have now sponsored it for years and years to come.
46,700 = Total number of police cut by Theresa May since she became home secretary
£3,300,000,000 = The amount we got last year for arms exports to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia 2016 (Wikileaks) Saudi Arabia’s rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted… told they faced “another 7/7” and the loss of “British lives on British Streets” if they pressed on with their enquiries
Wahhabism (as part of the Salafi movement) = The ideological concept of destruction and terrorism (suicide bombings, indiscriminate attacks) which is the root of current home-grown terrorism. From Saudi Arabia. We have now sponsored it for another decade.
The Destruction of the NHS: A Dialogue at Breaking Point
by Nima Ghadiri
Is the NHS at breaking point?
Yes, it really is. As things stand, it will not exist in five to ten years time, and different elements of our Health Service will be apportioned as Dialysis-Plus East Coast, CrossCancer, Virgin Maternity, or whatever other word-pasticcio the “brand positioner” regorges.
With consecutive governments in seemingly total denial about the state of the NHS, the phrase “crisis point” is an understatement. We need to do something now, every month which passes brings the death sentence closer.
Ok, just…. just chill out there for a second. Are things really THAT BAD?
Chucking about numbers is often a precursor to a well-known Disraeli quote, paraphrased by Mark Twain. Nevertheless, sometimes they are needed so people can grasp what is happening.
Since 2011, there has been a 504% increase in the number of patients waiting over four hours in A&E Departments across the country, forcing Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt to ditch the target. 23 hospitals were simultaneously on black alert earlier this year, which means that they “are unable to guarantee life-saving emergency care”. This included Jeremy Hunt’s own local hospital The Royal Surrey, which had 27 patients urgently needing a bed but no space.
Waiting times for surgery have been getting much longer, and 4093 urgent operations were cancelled in 2016, an increase of 27% in just two years. Knee and hip operations are now being rationed only for those who aren’t able to sleep because of agony, using bogus “pain tests” as a differentiator.
Cancer treatment targets have been missed for four consecutive years, and services are now failing. Mental health services are being rationed, so people who suffer are dying in their homes, unable to care for themselves.
These are frightening figures, it’s no wonder the Red Cross (who stepped in early in the year to help with a shortage of ambulances) has declared the NHS a humanitarian crisis, as people are dying needlessly in the world’s fifth-richest country…
Stop, I get the idea, things are looking gloomy all round. Surely, we have the MONEY to stop this?
Source: BMA
Astonishingly, as demand has risen hugely, funding has been cut. Our spending on the NHS as a percentage of our GDP has plummeted below 10%. This is a lot less than France and Germany, and amongst the lowest in the developed world.
If our national health funding matched the average amount that Europe’s 10 leading economies spend on their healthcare, perhaps we could lose this uncoveted accolade:
Source: BMA
Yes, we need more NURSES and DOCTORS!
And we are getting far less. Medical school applications have plummeted, the proportion of med school graduates who become first year doctors has gone down from 70% to 50%, with phrases such as “in droves” and “en masse” describing the number of junior doctors leaving the United Kingdom. Enormous rota gaps are now ubiquitous, GP vacancies have skyrocketed from 2% in 2011 to 12.2% now, and 84% of general practitioners now say that their workload is affecting patient care.
Nursing applications have fallen by 23% over the last year, and the removal of bursary funding for student nurses and midwives has sent one clear message “We don’t value you”, underlined by years of below-inflation 0% and 1% pay rises. By 2019, NHS workers will have seen their pay capped for nine consecutive years, and nurses will have seen their pay reduced by 12%.
To add salt into these raw and gaping wounds, the Secretary of State for Health massively over-estimated nurses’ average pay this month when he was asked why so many nurses are having to use food banks.
Source: British Medical Journal
So they want things to fail, is this all about PRIVATISATION?
We don’t need to speculate about this, it’s all there in numbers, contracts, even a book with Jeremy Hunt’s name on it, calling for the de-nationalisation of the NHS. There has been an increase in spending on “independent sector providers” of a third between 2014 and 2016, and an estimated 500% more contracts have gone private since 2012.
Source: BMA
The plan for privatising the National Health Service isn’t exclusive to one party. The groundwork was done by the previous government, with poorly conceived “public service reforms” leading to unfettered introduction of private corporations into commissioning. It has accelerated over recent years, however.
So what are the POLITICIANS saying?
Absolutely the wrong things. For a National Health Service which is quite visibly starving, Jeremy Hunt said: “The NHS needs to go on a 10-year diet”.
Theresa May also didn’t like the Red Cross assessment of the NHS, calling them “irresponsible” and “overblown”.
The BMA has identified five key issues for the future of the NHS, and it would indeed be “irresponsible” if politicians did not address these:
Source: BMA
Are you subtly telling me which way to VOTE?
No, it’s not for me to instruct you, and people don’t like being told what to do. Nevertheless, it’s currently very easy for the mainstream media and tabloid press to distract the general population and report on fake scandals rather than one which is very real, and affects all of us.
As long as you are aware of what is happening and can make up your own mind, then that’s already very important. If you can spread the word to others, even better. Over the next few months we will see an increase in grass-roots movements in social media and the streets, in support of the National Health Service. There will be a nurses’ summer of protest activity, a show of anger against pay-rise caps and maltreatment which has left 40,000 posts unfilled.
Battling a Murdoch and Dacre Press which has vested interests against the NHS will be challenging, and no doubt lies will be spun which confuse and subvert. Tabloid journalism had a pivotal role in the Junior Doctor contracts dispute, and may do so against the nurses too. It is crucial to appreciate that supporting our nurses means supporting our National Health Service.
