Patricia Hewitt discusses Labour's NHS achievements.

[swimswimswim222]

Junior doctors see us in A&E, on the wards and in clinics. They operate on us, prescribe our medications and carry out our treatment. 'Junior' doctors are there during the day, night, weekends and on bank holidays. Insufficient 'junior' doctors = NO NHS. We need MORE 'junior' doctors, not less. We need them to be able to maintain their high standard of training and we need more Consultants' posts to enable these 'junior' doctors to progress within the NHS. This is crucial.

[swimswimswim222]

Who are we referring to when we say 'junior doctors'? Most of the general public assume these are newly qualified doctors, more or less straight out of medical school. This is wrong. The term 'junior' doctor is a misnomer as some of these doctors are actually quite senior, and some are nearly Consultants. 'Junior' doctors are ALL those doctors below the level of Consultant -- in other words, the bulk of the doctors who work in the NHS, doing the bulk of the work.

[PopularAlliance2]

Given the appalling infection rates in countless hospitals, why do the majority of Hospital Estates Managers not liaise with their Infection Control Dept on cleaning and maintenance policy ? We have lots of talented people not working very well together. Popular Alliance is all about the pooling of expertise and discussion, not fire fighting with people's lives. Solutions put out fires, money just fuels the flames

[fraserwelsh]

The NHS continues to deliver an excellent standard of care free at the point of delivery *in spite of* NuLabor, Patsy Spewitt et al. This is entirely due to the dedication of the front line staff who continue to devote themselves to clinical excellence in spite of the fact that HMG wishes to make them redundant; Junior Doctors, Nurses, all across the board.

[Celtica55]

7100 changing working practice mean effictively only 280 more.

20 billion overspent on a computer project, 53 billion wasted on PFI hospitals. Closed Casulaties, 13500 JUnior doctors unemployed form August. Sign upto Bupa mow.

[whu58]

This government has sold the NHS to the private partnerships initiative, that has basically put it in the hands of big business, and we know what that means!

If you stay in hospital today, you can`t use your own tv, or mobile phones or parking without being charged a fortune by the local health trusts, what a con!

What we need is less managers, and more old style ward sisters!

[s3bbl3sdavi3s]

Keep up the great job!

[fantasticalex13]

I think its completely ridiculous the expectations that people place upon the Labour government in terms of the NHS. Thanks to years of Tory government the NHS was left underfunded and wrecked. Labour have made wonderful headway in turning it around; however miracles cannot happen over night. Fixing the damage done by the Conservatives takes time. And for everybody who is slagging off Patricia Hewitt she's a human being with feelings like the rest of you. And she's been working damn hard.

[swimswimswim222]

Unfortunately not for the long term good of the NHS. Wait and see!

[realcanadianelf]

while I accept that there are some things wrong with the NHS, and some worrying trends such as the creeping privitisation. However I do not think that we should forget the thousands of lives the NHS brings into the world every day, or the all broken bones it mends, or the operations to save lives. While ofcourse there will be problems we should be proud of Britain that we have an health service that is free of the point of need for everyone!

[gmorrison3]

Labour have done as good a job as anone could have been expected to be doing. Our experiences of the NHS under Labour have been excellent!

[damnit121]

I know every one always goes after the NHS but me, my family and friends have always had a great service. There have been problems but the NHS would have been killed by the tories

The NHS was the best thing that Labour's ever done and I'm happy that it's growing and expanding with labour

[rodders154]

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