Thur 2nd Dec- HIV infections double in UK under bliar

The number of people infected with HIV/ AIDS has more than doubled in the UK under Labour's governance. Whilst Bliar waffled on World Aids day yesterday about HIV and Aids problems in Africa he recognised that what was needed was more money and good leadership.

However Bliar conveniently forgot to mention that this doesn't include his own country- where last week one of his own quangos admitted that HIV has more than doubled in the UK:

THE number of people in Britain who have HIV is continuing to rise, with more than 7,000 new cases in the past year.

Statistics from the Health Protection Agency show that 53,000 adults have the virus that causes Aids, and that up to 14,300 cases are undiagnosed.

There were 6,606 diagnoses of HIV infection during 2003, a figure expected to exceed 7,000 once all data have been collected. It is more than double the figure in 1998. Each HIV infection is thought to cost between £500,000 and £1 million in treatment and lost productivity.

Kevin Fenton, the author of the report, said: “This increase in the number of newly diagnosed infections is the result of a combination of factors, but is largely contributed to by the migration of people from areas of the world where there is a high prevalence of HIV, such as sub-Saharan Africa. The number of new infections diagnosed in gay and bisexual men is expected to be the highest for over ten years, with 1,735 diagnoses reported so far.”

Dr Fenton said that the number of cases of infection that were likely to have been acquired heterosexually in this country had also increased, from 139 in 1998 to 341 in 2003.

This article was first published online on November 25th at:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-1374170,00.html

These figures seem to conveniently ingnore a posting on one his own quangos:
http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/news/phls_archive/press_releases/1998/981125.htm
from Novermber 1998:

According to data compiled by the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS), there are still approximately 2500 cases of newly diagnosed HIV infections a year and diagnosis of all STIs rose by 9% between 1996 and 1997. Diagnoses of chlamydia, gonorrhoea and genital warts increased by 20%, 5% and 8% respectively.

Dr Angus Nicoll, Head of the HIV & STD Division of the PHLS said: "These data show that HIV/AIDS is still one of the most important public health problems facing us today. We must concentrate on three things in order to make real progress in tackling the HIV/AIDS problem:

"Although new drugs have halved the number of AIDS-related deaths and prolonged the life expectancy of those with HIV, these new drugs are not a cure and we cannot rely on their effectiveness over long periods of use as resistance to them may develop. Prevention is the most cost effective way of reducing the burden of this disease."

Dec 1st- Private hospitals face 60% rise in inspection costs

Private hospitals and treatment centres, including those that treat National Health Service patients, are to be charged the full cost of their inspection and regulation as part of the government's efficiency drive.

The government is also considering moving to full or increased partial cost recovery for the inspection of care homes, a sector where thousands of beds have closed in recent years as smaller operators have struggled to make a profit.

The moves were announced yesterday as part of the Department of Health's drive to cut the number of arms-length quangos and release £500m a year for NHS frontline services by 2007-08. But while the private sector faces charges for inspection, foundation trusts and other NHS facilities will still not pay. The Independent Healthcare Forum said yesterday that approach would not provide a level playing field with the NHS at a time when the service was looking to commission more care from the private sector at NHS prices.

"If everyone is working to the same NHS tariff, then everyone should face the same regulatory costs," said the forum. Without that the competition would not be fair, it said. Where the full cost of inspection had been introduced in Wales, the few private facilities there had seen a 60 per cent jump in the cost, the forum said.

The department estimated fees in England covered only 40 per cent of the cost of inspections.

Lord Warner, the health minister, said foundation trusts would not be charged "because it has always been clear that foundation trusts are part of the NHS".

Making the independent sector pay would reduce the burden of its costs falling on the NHS. Making NHS organisations pay as well would be "almost the ultimate in red tape", he argued, with the NHS giving hospitals money it would then take back. However, this line of discussion is spuriuos as the NHS is already charged for "bed blocking".

Yesterday's announcement, setting out planned savings to 2008, puts proposals from Downing Street for a merger of the Healthcare Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection - bodies that started work this year - on hold.

However, both bodies have proposals to change the way they work that ministers say must reduce the burden they currently place on those they inspect.

Lord Warner said a merger was "not off the agenda forever" but was unlikely to be raised again for another two or three years.

Under yesterday's plans, £800m a year is to be saved by 2007-08 on NHS procurement. Just less than half of that will come from the price cut on branded drugs announced recently, while the restructured quangos are expected to deliver a £250m reduction in operating costs while generating the same again in efficiency savings.

NHS hopes for the farcical ID card will fail

Even the Financial Times is against the farcical ID card- which the NHS is depending on so that the state can limit our access to the NHS services: It's lead editorial for Tuesday 30th November 2004:

Identity parade fails to convince
There are so many benefits of having identity cards, according to the government, that ministers should probably be resigning for their failure to introduce them earlier. ID cards will help the fight against terrorism and organised crime, expose illegal immigrants, protect public services against fraud and fend off identity theft. Since passports will soon include biometric data, cards will cost a bargain extra £35 a head, plus public investment of £3bn.

Yet British people walk around without ID cards for good reasons - including the impossibility of producing the promised benefits without draconian legislation. There are important risks in the scheme that ministers fail to acknowledge. And the cost is likely to be much higher, as the experience of government information technology projects has shown.

ID cards, as the prime minister and home secretary both say, are no guarantee of security. The terrorists who attacked the US on September 11 2001 travelled under their own identities. The Madrid bombers were not deterred by Spain's ID cards.

Cards will have to be produced within 24 or 48 hours of a request - little deterrent for illegal immigrants, money-launderers or drug traffickers. Meanwhile, millions of visitors, who may include terrorists and criminals, will not be carrying the ID card. Both drawbacks could be remedied by making it compulsory to carry such ID - but that would be an unacceptable change in the relationship between the individual and the British state. As for welfare fraud, sick people are unlikely to be refused medical treatment because they cannot produce a card - and nor will the penniless be left to starve. And since false passports and false driving licences are readily available, ID cards will be no guarantee against forged identity.

Indeed, identity theft could become easier if ID cards are accepted as sole proof of identity. And criminals will quickly get access to the national identity register - as they already do to other government databases.

Last, the government's record on big IT projects gives no confidence that the scheme will be introduced on time or to budget - or even at all. Earlier this month, the National Audit Office highlighted the serious shortages of public sector staff with the necessary project and programme management skills. It found that fewer than a quarter of projects reviewed were going smoothly, and a quarter were in serious trouble. Shortly after, the catastrophic failures of the new IT system at the Child Support Agency were revealed, with the minister in charge threatening to pull the plug on it.

Ministers believe they can sell ID cards to the electorate in the current atmosphere of fear and insecurity. But the experience of wartime identity cards shows how quickly they can become unpopular once the immediate threat has waned. If the government persists with its plans, it will eventually be punished at the polls.