Denham fights threat to NHS walk-in centre (From Daily Echo)

If we didnt pay silly money for top council staff (which went up loads under Labour), or even just had the money we could afford it.

BUT we don't and therefor can't pay for it.

I will never forgive Labour for the mess they have left us in.

Are they better than the Bargate HMS Centre? Went there today having walked through the Boots chemist. I asked the (corpulent) lady at the reception desk - do you do a diabetes test here? No she said we are a GP surgery. OK I said do you know where I can get the test done. No dear I have no idea, she replied.
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Is it just me?

MaximumAdrian wrote:
Are they better than the Bargate HMS Centre? Went there today having walked through the Boots chemist. I asked the (corpulent) lady at the reception desk - do you do a diabetes test here? No she said we are a GP surgery. OK I said do you know where I can get the test done. No dear I have no idea, she replied. . Is it just me?

Sorry, that's the Bargate NHS centre.

I thought that the ConDem cuts were not going to effect frontline services.
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God some of you voters are gullible.
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Like they say if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is

Why didn't Denham have the same fighting spirit to save the Shirley walk in Centre when his lot were in power ?

perhaps if Denham and his cronies hadn't inflated GP's salaries 10 years ago perhaps these services would be more affordable. Labour also created so many tiers of management in the NHS it's no wonder things are now ending up in tears.

Denham seems to be doing the right thing for the wrong reason, which is political opportunism.
He was cabinet member of 'Pro-Bankers' NuLabour government when Shirley walk in centre was closed. If he had led a campaign to save that today people would have taken him seriously.

Condor Man wrote:
perhaps if Denham and his cronies hadn't inflated GP's salaries 10 years ago perhaps these services would be more affordable. Labour also created so many tiers of management in the NHS it's no wonder things are now ending up in tears.

And what 'tiers' would they be? You will soon find waiting times much longer because the Tories are going to allow NHS hospitals to take unlimited private patients. Those with money to pay will jump in front of those who need operations but cannot pay privately. Denham is right to fight this proposed closure. If you could do better than Denhalm why don't you stand against him at the next election?

Lone Ranger wrote:
I thought that the ConDem cuts were not going to effect frontline services. . God some of you voters are gullible. . Like they say if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is

As one of those who has never believed in what either partner of this 'Brokeback Coalition' may have said, and at my age I am not going to change sides, I can imagine your frustration over how many voters got mislead.

But then I ask why millions of decent British citizens decided to put their trust in uncaring characters like Cameron and Clegg?

It happened because by ignoring ordinary working classes since 1997 and keep on telling lie after lie to the nation NuLabour got its real right wing face exposed and lost the trust of many decent people.

Please stop insulting decent citizens by labelling them as “gullible” and try to look at the situation from ordinary folks point of view.

By the way I voted for Alan Whitehead, not because I have any faith in Conservatised NuLabour but because I trust him as a person.

juan101 wrote:

Condor Man wrote:
perhaps if Denham and his cronies hadn't inflated GP's salaries 10 years ago perhaps these services would be more affordable. Labour also created so many tiers of management in the NHS it's no wonder things are now ending up in tears.

And what 'tiers' would they be? You will soon find waiting times much longer because the Tories are going to allow NHS hospitals to take unlimited private patients. Those with money to pay will jump in front of those who need operations but cannot pay privately. Denham is right to fight this proposed closure. If you could do better than Denhalm why don't you stand against him at the next election?

For once, Condor Man's actually got a point.

GPs are paid more than heart surgeons.

Mainly for either a) writing out a prescription for something that's probably totally inappropriate or b) referring their patient to the hospital doctors that actually know what they're doing.

GPs are not NHS employees. They are private contractors. And yet the entire NHS budget is going to be put in their hands.

Hmmmm.

Redback wrote:

juan101 wrote:

Condor Man wrote: perhaps if Denham and his cronies hadn't inflated GP's salaries 10 years ago perhaps these services would be more affordable. Labour also created so many tiers of management in the NHS it's no wonder things are now ending up in tears.

And what 'tiers' would they be? You will soon find waiting times much longer because the Tories are going to allow NHS hospitals to take unlimited private patients. Those with money to pay will jump in front of those who need operations but cannot pay privately. Denham is right to fight this proposed closure. If you could do better than Denhalm why don't you stand against him at the next election?

For once, Condor Man's actually got a point. GPs are paid more than heart surgeons. Mainly for either a) writing out a prescription for something that's probably totally inappropriate or b) referring their patient to the hospital doctors that actually know what they're doing. GPs are not NHS employees. They are private contractors. And yet the entire NHS budget is going to be put in their hands. Hmmmm.

If Condor's CONservatives can have their way they will start demanding GP's to work for peanuts, like they used to treat the farm workers during the time of Tolepuddle martyrs.

If the GPs are paid more than heart surgeons then it is not that these highly qualified professionals are over paid, it only proves how our society treats those who save lives so poorly but looks after those who practise immorality like 'Bankers', arms dealers and top of the tree pen pushers.

Paramjit Bahia wrote:

Lone Ranger wrote:
I thought that the ConDem cuts were not going to effect frontline services. . God some of you voters are gullible. . Like they say if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is

As one of those who has never believed in what either partner of this 'Brokeback Coalition' may have said, and at my age I am not going to change sides, I can imagine your frustration over how many voters got mislead.

But then I ask why millions of decent British citizens decided to put their trust in uncaring characters like Cameron and Clegg?

It happened because by ignoring ordinary working classes since 1997 and keep on telling lie after lie to the nation NuLabour got its real right wing face exposed and lost the trust of many decent people.

Please stop insulting decent citizens by labelling them as “gullible” and try to look at the situation from ordinary folks point of view.

By the way I voted for Alan Whitehead, not because I have any faith in Conservatised NuLabour but because I trust him as a person.

Hardly an insult.....but a fact

Both red and blue are speaking out against this one! There's a rare opportunity to hopefully see something positive happen.
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Are we going to spend endless time ranting about which government is worse? Or are we going to take an active part in the consultation and try to stop an essential service being shut?
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Again, I'll quote that old chestnut from the election campaign: "I'll cut the deficit, not the NHS"

Cyber-Fug wrote:
Why didn't Denham have the same fighting spirit to save the Shirley walk in Centre when his lot were in power ?

To be fair, Shirley walk-in centre wasn't in Denham's constituency, whereas I imagine Bitterne's is.

I agree with other comments above about GPs being overpaid aspirin-pushers. I'd recommend calling NHS Direct if you have a problem and need some attention in less than a fortnight.

MaximumAdrian wrote:

MaximumAdrian wrote: Are they better than the Bargate HMS Centre? Went there today having walked through the Boots chemist. I asked the (corpulent) lady at the reception desk - do you do a diabetes test here? No she said we are a GP surgery. OK I said do you know where I can get the test done. No dear I have no idea, she replied. . Is it just me?

Sorry, that's the Bargate NHS centre.

Hypo?

Atpost wrote:

MaximumAdrian wrote:

MaximumAdrian wrote: Are they better than the Bargate HMS Centre? Went there today having walked through the Boots chemist. I asked the (corpulent) lady at the reception desk - do you do a diabetes test here? No she said we are a GP surgery. OK I said do you know where I can get the test done. No dear I have no idea, she replied. . Is it just me?

Sorry, that's the Bargate NHS centre.

Hypo?

No Typo !!

Perhaps if Royston was to abseil down his own ego for cheeritee, we could afford a proper health centre

Who are the ones that will suffer from these cuts?
The elderly and the vulnerable!
Easy targets!
When are we going to see cuts in areas where the fat cats slim down a bit?
With this coalition, do not expect it to happen in the near future - if at all!

Lone Ranger wrote:

Paramjit Bahia wrote:

Lone Ranger wrote: I thought that the ConDem cuts were not going to effect frontline services. . God some of you voters are gullible. . Like they say if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is

As one of those who has never believed in what either partner of this 'Brokeback Coalition' may have said, and at my age I am not going to change sides, I can imagine your frustration over how many voters got mislead. But then I ask why millions of decent British citizens decided to put their trust in uncaring characters like Cameron and Clegg? It happened because by ignoring ordinary working classes since 1997 and keep on telling lie after lie to the nation NuLabour got its real right wing face exposed and lost the trust of many decent people. Please stop insulting decent citizens by labelling them as “gullible” and try to look at the situation from ordinary folks point of view. By the way I voted for Alan Whitehead, not because I have any faith in Conservatised NuLabour but because I trust him as a person.

Hardly an insult.....but a fact

The reason why working class voters deserted Labour is because their MP's are hardly 'men of the people'. Look at the current leadership candidates- all Oxbridge educated. Look at our MP's, neither came from working class homes nor live similar lives to most of their constituants. I live close to both of them and have only ever seen them in Waitrose.

Condor Man wrote:

Lone Ranger wrote:

Paramjit Bahia wrote:

Lone Ranger wrote: I thought that the ConDem cuts were not going to effect frontline services. . God some of you voters are gullible. . Like they say if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is

As one of those who has never believed in what either partner of this 'Brokeback Coalition' may have said, and at my age I am not going to change sides, I can imagine your frustration over how many voters got mislead. But then I ask why millions of decent British citizens decided to put their trust in uncaring characters like Cameron and Clegg? It happened because by ignoring ordinary working classes since 1997 and keep on telling lie after lie to the nation NuLabour got its real right wing face exposed and lost the trust of many decent people. Please stop insulting decent citizens by labelling them as “gullible” and try to look at the situation from ordinary folks point of view. By the way I voted for Alan Whitehead, not because I have any faith in Conservatised NuLabour but because I trust him as a person.

Hardly an insult.....but a fact

The reason why working class voters deserted Labour is because their MP's are hardly 'men of the people'. Look at the current leadership candidates- all Oxbridge educated. Look at our MP's, neither came from working class homes nor live similar lives to most of their constituants. I live close to both of them and have only ever seen them in Waitrose.

"constituants."

Brilliant condoman, you are a joker of the highest order. Masquerading as a senile dreamer, but hitting us with jokes all the while.
Keep it up.
Are you the juggler at the dean road club?

So, what do people think of the possible closure of Bitterne Walk-in Centre?

RadicalEmu wrote:
So, what do people think of the possible closure of Bitterne Walk-in Centre?

WGAF?

joenice wrote:
If we didnt pay silly money for top council staff (which went up loads under Labour), or even just had the money we could afford it.

BUT we don't and therefor can't pay for it.

I will never forgive Labour for the mess they have left us in.

Southampton City Council does not pay for the walk-in centres. The money comes from the NHS budget provided by central government.

News Fanatic wrote:

joenice wrote:
If we didnt pay silly money for top council staff (which went up loads under Labour), or even just had the money we could afford it.

BUT we don't and therefor can't pay for it.

I will never forgive Labour for the mess they have left us in.

Southampton City Council does not pay for the walk-in centres. The money comes from the NHS budget provided by central government.

...and we all know they don't overpay top staff....

Paramjit Bahia wrote:

Redback wrote:

juan101 wrote:

Condor Man wrote: perhaps if Denham and his cronies hadn't inflated GP's salaries 10 years ago perhaps these services would be more affordable. Labour also created so many tiers of management in the NHS it's no wonder things are now ending up in tears.

And what 'tiers' would they be? You will soon find waiting times much longer because the Tories are going to allow NHS hospitals to take unlimited private patients. Those with money to pay will jump in front of those who need operations but cannot pay privately. Denham is right to fight this proposed closure. If you could do better than Denhalm why don't you stand against him at the next election?

For once, Condor Man's actually got a point. GPs are paid more than heart surgeons. Mainly for either a) writing out a prescription for something that's probably totally inappropriate or b) referring their patient to the hospital doctors that actually know what they're doing. GPs are not NHS employees. They are private contractors. And yet the entire NHS budget is going to be put in their hands. Hmmmm.

If Condor's CONservatives can have their way they will start demanding GP's to work for peanuts, like they used to treat the farm workers during the time of Tolepuddle martyrs. If the GPs are paid more than heart surgeons then it is not that these highly qualified professionals are over paid, it only proves how our society treats those who save lives so poorly but looks after those who practise immorality like 'Bankers', arms dealers and top of the tree pen pushers.

Why should GP's be paid so much, all they do is sit behind there cosy desks unwilling to get stuck in with peoples ailments and when you tell them whats wrong with you, and I swear this has happened on more than one occasion, they went onto Google!

StEmmosfire wrote:

Paramjit Bahia wrote:

Redback wrote:

juan101 wrote:

Condor Man wrote: perhaps if Denham and his cronies hadn't inflated GP's salaries 10 years ago perhaps these services would be more affordable. Labour also created so many tiers of management in the NHS it's no wonder things are now ending up in tears.

And what 'tiers' would they be? You will soon find waiting times much longer because the Tories are going to allow NHS hospitals to take unlimited private patients. Those with money to pay will jump in front of those who need operations but cannot pay privately. Denham is right to fight this proposed closure. If you could do better than Denhalm why don't you stand against him at the next election?

For once, Condor Man's actually got a point. GPs are paid more than heart surgeons. Mainly for either a) writing out a prescription for something that's probably totally inappropriate or b) referring their patient to the hospital doctors that actually know what they're doing. GPs are not NHS employees. They are private contractors. And yet the entire NHS budget is going to be put in their hands. Hmmmm.

If Condor's CONservatives can have their way they will start demanding GP's to work for peanuts, like they used to treat the farm workers during the time of Tolepuddle martyrs. If the GPs are paid more than heart surgeons then it is not that these highly qualified professionals are over paid, it only proves how our society treats those who save lives so poorly but looks after those who practise immorality like 'Bankers', arms dealers and top of the tree pen pushers.

Why should GP's be paid so much, all they do is sit behind there cosy desks unwilling to get stuck in with peoples ailments and when you tell them whats wrong with you, and I swear this has happened on more than one occasion, they went onto Google!

Forgot to add, they also dont want to work anything outside Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm!

Redback wrote:

juan101 wrote:

Condor Man wrote:
perhaps if Denham and his cronies hadn't inflated GP's salaries 10 years ago perhaps these services would be more affordable. Labour also created so many tiers of management in the NHS it's no wonder things are now ending up in tears.

And what 'tiers' would they be? You will soon find waiting times much longer because the Tories are going to allow NHS hospitals to take unlimited private patients. Those with money to pay will jump in front of those who need operations but cannot pay privately. Denham is right to fight this proposed closure. If you could do better than Denhalm why don't you stand against him at the next election?

For once, Condor Man's actually got a point.

GPs are paid more than heart surgeons.

Mainly for either a) writing out a prescription for something that's probably totally inappropriate or b) referring their patient to the hospital doctors that actually know what they're doing.

GPs are not NHS employees. They are private contractors. And yet the entire NHS budget is going to be put in their hands.

Hmmmm.

Gp's that have invested in their surgeries and become partners etc may well earn more than heart surgeons, but the majority of gp's are purely emoyees and therfore dont earn anywhere near that much .

Id suggest you try educating yourself with facts rather than what the sun reports

I've had the need to use Bitterne Walk in Centre once, over a weekend when I had some minor complications after an operation a few days previously, and it was brilliant. I'd had to phone my GP out of hours number who gave me the option of sitting in A&E for hours (& taking up valuable A&E resource time) or going to Bitterne. (Needless to say, no doctor would be coming out to see me - do they ever now???). My partner drove me to Bitterne & I was seen within 15 minutes and the doctor was excellent. Would go straight there instead of phoning in future. There were quite a few people there at the time, including a young single mum who was obviously distraught at the poorly condition of her ill toddler, so it was good to see her seen by a doctor quickly and reassured too. If Bitterne goes, I'd see it as a loss to the wider Southampton community and think there should be more of these drop-in centres, especially for weekend use. (Perhaps surgeries could rotate the role???).

Bronson69 wrote:

Redback wrote:

juan101 wrote:

Condor Man wrote:
perhaps if Denham and his cronies hadn't inflated GP's salaries 10 years ago perhaps these services would be more affordable. Labour also created so many tiers of management in the NHS it's no wonder things are now ending up in tears.

And what 'tiers' would they be? You will soon find waiting times much longer because the Tories are going to allow NHS hospitals to take unlimited private patients. Those with money to pay will jump in front of those who need operations but cannot pay privately. Denham is right to fight this proposed closure. If you could do better than Denhalm why don't you stand against him at the next election?

For once, Condor Man's actually got a point.

GPs are paid more than heart surgeons.

Mainly for either a) writing out a prescription for something that's probably totally inappropriate or b) referring their patient to the hospital doctors that actually know what they're doing.

GPs are not NHS employees. They are private contractors. And yet the entire NHS budget is going to be put in their hands.

Hmmmm.

Gp's that have invested in their surgeries and become partners etc may well earn more than heart surgeons, but the majority of gp's are purely emoyees and therfore dont earn anywhere near that much .

Id suggest you try educating yourself with facts rather than what the sun reports

Cobblers. My information comes from talking with surgeons and GPs, directly.

It's a running joke in healthcare - 'How can you spot a really smart surgeon? They're the ones that married a GP.' - I've heard comments along those lines on countless occasions.

Are you a GP by any chance? Or related to one?

Paramjit - your comment about trusting Alan Whitehead is hilarious. Have you actually looked at his voting record? For ID cards, against an investigation into Iraq, for top-up fees, against climate regulation, for the "anti-terrorism" civil liberty curtailing legislation etc. The only thing he can be trusted to do is vote the way the whips tell him to.

Lone Ranger wrote:

Paramjit Bahia wrote:

Lone Ranger wrote:
I thought that the ConDem cuts were not going to effect frontline services. . God some of you voters are gullible. . Like they say if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is

As one of those who has never believed in what either partner of this 'Brokeback Coalition' may have said, and at my age I am not going to change sides, I can imagine your frustration over how many voters got mislead.

But then I ask why millions of decent British citizens decided to put their trust in uncaring characters like Cameron and Clegg?

It happened because by ignoring ordinary working classes since 1997 and keep on telling lie after lie to the nation NuLabour got its real right wing face exposed and lost the trust of many decent people.

Please stop insulting decent citizens by labelling them as “gullible” and try to look at the situation from ordinary folks point of view.

By the way I voted for Alan Whitehead, not because I have any faith in Conservatised NuLabour but because I trust him as a person.

Hardly an insult.....but a fact

its paving the way to privatize the NHS, all this mess you can trace back to the 1980's government, untill you get a real socialist government that mess is going to remain and just get worse.
like here denham is only jumping in on a band wagon that the socialist have been involved in for a while and that is fighting all cuts and closures of the nhs.
the socialist are the only ones now that really care about the majority of people and what happens to them. the rest are just in it for them selfs and how to line there pockets.