The elections in Britain will take place on Thursday 6th May. A health librarian might consider several factors in deciding which party to support (leaving personalities aside of course!)
With the economic recession money will be very tight and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has said that whichever party wins the elections will have to make so many unpopular austerity cuts that they will be unelectable for a generation following their term.
Nigel Hawkes in the BMJ of 24th April examines the manifestos of the parties to see what they promise for health.
Cancer:Labour and the Conservatives have promised improvements for cancer patients but the Lib-Dem's have not mentioned cancer.
Cuts: Labour will cut the IT system and the Conservatives will cut administration costs and cap pay. The Lib dem's will halve the size of the Department of Health and cut spending on health quangos and cap executive pay.
Reorganisation: Labour will make every hospital a foundation trust with the right to expand into primary and community care and patients will have the right to choose to be treated by any provider who meets NHS standards. The Lib Dem's want to abolish SHA's and establish elected health boards.
Conservatives will set up an independent NHS board with local authorities being allocated funds targeted at areas where improvements are needed.
Information; The Conservatives want to replace targets with greater patient information Other factors: Conservatives would spend £10,000,000 a year on children's hospices and improve funding for palliative care.See BMJ 2010; 340:c2058
CILIP have issued a Library and Information manifesto
CILIP says the government must:
1. Make school libraries statutory
2. Promote and protect the rights of users within copyright law
3. Build a successful knowledge economy
4. Preserve the UK's digital cultural heritage
5. Fund and enable the effective co-ordination of health information
6. Develop a set of library entitlements for public library users
Their website does not yet show any comments from the parties but I do remember reading that some parties had responded.
A few of my own thoughts in response: it seems bizarre to read that it is an aspiration of a socialist government that has been in power for two terms that "no worker earns more than 20 times the lowest paid." Is a ratio of 20:1 supposed to represent equality or restraint? Also I am rather shocked that the only party to mention improvements in health information (a main point of the Darzi report) seems to be the Conservatives according to the BMJ. Does this mean I will vote for them? I ask myself rhetorically.
With the economic recession money will be very tight and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has said that whichever party wins the elections will have to make so many unpopular austerity cuts that they will be unelectable for a generation following their term.
Nigel Hawkes in the BMJ of 24th April examines the manifestos of the parties to see what they promise for health.
Cancer:Labour and the Conservatives have promised improvements for cancer patients but the Lib-Dem's have not mentioned cancer.
Cuts: Labour will cut the IT system and the Conservatives will cut administration costs and cap pay. The Lib dem's will halve the size of the Department of Health and cut spending on health quangos and cap executive pay.
Reorganisation: Labour will make every hospital a foundation trust with the right to expand into primary and community care and patients will have the right to choose to be treated by any provider who meets NHS standards. The Lib Dem's want to abolish SHA's and establish elected health boards.
Conservatives will set up an independent NHS board with local authorities being allocated funds targeted at areas where improvements are needed.
Information; The Conservatives want to replace targets with greater patient information Other factors: Conservatives would spend £10,000,000 a year on children's hospices and improve funding for palliative care.See BMJ 2010; 340:c2058
CILIP have issued a Library and Information manifesto
CILIP says the government must:
1. Make school libraries statutory
2. Promote and protect the rights of users within copyright law
3. Build a successful knowledge economy
4. Preserve the UK's digital cultural heritage
5. Fund and enable the effective co-ordination of health information
6. Develop a set of library entitlements for public library users
Their website does not yet show any comments from the parties but I do remember reading that some parties had responded.
A few of my own thoughts in response: it seems bizarre to read that it is an aspiration of a socialist government that has been in power for two terms that "no worker earns more than 20 times the lowest paid." Is a ratio of 20:1 supposed to represent equality or restraint? Also I am rather shocked that the only party to mention improvements in health information (a main point of the Darzi report) seems to be the Conservatives according to the BMJ. Does this mean I will vote for them? I ask myself rhetorically.
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