A New GP Service: Private and Remote
HUGH SULLIVAN GPs have been the gatekeepers of the British medical system since the advent of the NHS 75 years ago. Access to medical help should come initially, save in an emergency, from your local GP. But from the perspective…
Free at the Point of Delivery
Where should we stand on the creeping privatisation of the NHS? The question is topical because the Hastings Independent recently received a request to run an advertisement for a private GP service in Hastings. The view of the Editorial Management…
Community Healthcare
MERLIN BETTS considers the advent of social prescribing (part one) Healthcare can be pretty esoteric for the average patient or service user. Even in the age of the internet, hospitality and customer care, it’s fairly normal for health services to…
Letters: HIP Issue 218
Extraordinary Dear HIP, Thank you for the article An extraordinary life in HIP 214. So lovely to read and keep as a record. I have known Peter D’Arcy Champney for a mere 25 years and, despite what this article says…
Best of Us
By Rosie Brocklehurst I wanted to let local people know about the extremely positive experiences I have had with members of the RMT, ASLEF and RCN nurses. I am a chronically ill and disabled woman. I have severe arthritis, several…
Swimming Against the Tide
By Paul McLaughin The Government decision to slash the funding of its Energy Bill Relief Scheme (ERBS), designed to help businesses with spiralling energy costs, is going to cause severe problems for many of our local businesses and charities in…
Pickets at the Conquest
By Paul McLaughlin Nurses from the Conquest Hospital in Hastings joined with their colleagues in 55 NHS trusts across England last Wednesday (18 January) to strike as part of the Royal College of Nursing’s on-going dispute over their pay and…
Hastings Says “Enough is Enough!”
Simon Hester, Chair of Hastings & District Trades Union Council sums up what’s happening in Hastings and nationally. Hastings marches, 19 November 2022. Photo: Paulo Figurelli When multi-millionaire Nadhim Zahawi, Tory Party national chair, attacks striking nurses for being dupes…
Heart Surgery Stitch-Up?
Conquest Hospital Loses Out to Eastbourne on Future Despite an outcry by Hastings Borough councillors and more muted objections from within the local medical community, the Conquest Hospital is to lose its in-patient cardiac facilities including the capacity to treat…
From Anger to Action
Local nurses vote to join nationwide walkouts By Paul McLaughlin Nurses employed by East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust last week backed their leaders across the country in voting to take industrial action after rejecting a below-inflation pay offer (5% with…