On 22 May 2014 GP's are to vote on whether to introduce appointment charges (estimated £10 - £25 per visit). If this vote is passed it could mean the end of our NHS, free at the point of use. The NHS is currently being dismantled under the guise of an ineffective system and more consumer choice. Increased GP workload and patient demand driving this issue is largely as a result of government policy, hospital closures and privatisation. GP income has fallen by design and patient charges are not the answer. "How many times are we going to fall into the traps set by our political masters?" asks Gurdave Gill, GP Partner writing on the Pulse Today website. "Patient charges are NOT the answer. User charges deter the sick and poor as much as the 'worried well'. Expensive and bureaucratic to collect, evidence shows patients delay seeking medical advice when user charges are introduced. Delay in diagnosis can cause significant harm. If we know this to be fact, to introduce charges appears to suggest that our incomes are more important than any potential harm to the patients. Is this ethical? "The current crisis in Primary care has been manufactured to create a pressure from GPs for charges. [...] We should be demanding increased resources from Government and not our patients. The NHS returned £5bn underspend to the treasury in the last 3 years. The cost of the purchaser-provider split exceeds £10bn pa yet delivers absolutely no patient gain at roughly the entire cost of primary care! {...] We need to identify the correct target and demand our representative bodies are more effective rather than the incompetence/collusion with Government we have seen in recent past. The minority of pro-privatisation GPs leading the call for charges need to be recognised for what they are. We must not be persuaded by the 'greedy and dims' amongst us.” And how about that consumer choice? Right now we have the best of both, individual private healthcare and tax-payer funded. Both are a form of 'paid for' healthcare, one is paid for by the individual, the other paid for and negotiated collectively. If the asset strip continues we will only have the most expensive poorly-negotiated option open to any of us. That is no choice at all. UPDATE The BMA's current position on this motion as outlined to one of our members, obviously, it would be naive to rest on these laurels: "The BMA's current position is not in favour of charging patients for GP appointments. Introducing charging would undermine the basis of the NHS; that healthcare is free at the point of use, and patients receive care based on their clinical need. A fee charging system could require an expensive bureaucracy to collect money from patients. It is also possible that the charges may deter vulnerable patients from seeing their GP which could lead to delays in treatment. However, there will be a motion debated at the Local Medical Committee (LMC) conference in York later this month. If the motion is carried, this does not mean it will become BMA policy. BMA Policy is decided at our Annual Representative Meeting (ARM) in July [ed- It's actually Sunday 22 - Thursday 26 June 2014] and motions are proposed by individual branch of practice conferences (e.g. GPs, consultants, junior doctors etc) and submitted for debate by geographical divisions. It would require further consideration by the BMA's leadership and the BMA's Annual Representative Meeting in July. It is understandable that GPs are looking at raising these kind of ideas, given the enormous pressure on GP services. Many GP practices are struggling from a combination of rising patient demand and falling funding that ministers have failed to recognise. However, the BMA feels that we don't need a complicated and unfair charging system to be introduced for GP appointments. We need the government to provide the resources to enable GPs to deliver the care that their patients need. I hope this is helpful and that it clarifies the BMA position for you." Links: Facebook page that inspired this petition: https://www.facebook.com/healthcharge Pulse Today - GP leaders to vote on whether to support patient charges for appointments: http://bit.ly/1lrI1gg LMC Conference - Full Agenda: http://bit.ly/fullagenda BMC/GPC: http://bit.ly/bmcandgpc BMC Annual Meeting: http://bma.org.uk/working-for-change/arm-2014-info Wessex LMC: http://bit.ly/aboutWessex

Cumbria is the second largest county in England covering 2632 square miles, therefore it is extremely challenging for an Ambulance Service to provide excellent clinical care in a timely manner. As part of a cost saving plan the management of our Ambulance Service are proposing to reduce night time cover by a third in Carlisle, Cumbrias only city. They are also reducing the night time provision provided by a Rapid Response Car in the town of Penrith which is manned by a Paramedic some 16 miles south of Carlisle. This will have a detrimental impact on patient care & safety as a reduction in resources will mean that patients may have to wait even longer than they do now on some occassions. It will affect not only residents in Carlisle but most probably all of North Cumbria as Ambulances that cover outlying rural towns & villages are pulled into Carlisle to respond to the proposed shortfall in resource. Cumbria is a unique county and as such cannot and should not suffer any detriment in the provision of patient care provided by the Ambulance Service just because of its size. We are campaigning to keep the Ambulance resources that we currently provide for our patients within Cumbria. To make these cuts will have an impact on patients and could ultimately cost lives. Please support our campaign

Firstly, MS is incurable and progressive. Drug treatment is already a postcode lottery across different NHS areas/hospitals. Drugs which keep us as active, mobile and employable are of huge benefit to patients and to society. Neurologists report very good results from Fampyra and Sativex. Currently, patients with the help of the Neurologists are able to try Fampyra for 4 weeks, but are told thereafter that they must pay £2,500 approx if they wish to continue treatment. Cost-effectiveness includes use of long term drug treatments to stem, as far as possible, the relapses and disease progression of this illness. To ask MS patients to pay for drugs which may enable them to move about more freely (and continue in employment if applicable) is to create a two-tier service for those with this illness. Secondly, the prospect of MS patients not being able to access specialist MS Neurologists is outrageous. The proposals (1.4 - Regular Review) make clear that non-specialist professionals could carry out reviews with patients. Consider a cancer patient being told to have reviews of their illness/progression/treatment plans with their GP rather than an Oncologist specialising in their particular kind of cancer. It doesn't bear thinking about, does it? Yet MS patients are facing that scenario if these proposals are enacted. The brain is the most complex living organism known to Man and Womankind. Diseases of the brain are little enough understood, without the prospect of non-specialists being involved in reviews, treatment plans etc. Say no to these draft proposals. The consultation period ends on 10 June 2014. Please support this campaign and those of us with MS, their loved ones, their Neurologists, their employers. We need your help.

Sure Start Children's Centre services in Newcastle are facing a two thirds cut in funding over the next three years. This will mean closure of services, buildings, parents groups, activity for young children across the city. It will mean at least 100 jobs will be lost across the council and the voluntary sector. It will mean the opportunities for children and parents will continue to be worsened, following significant cuts already 2010, and the axing of the councils play and youth services last year. SSCCs in Newcastle are all rated Good and Outstanding by Ofsted, reach the vast majority of children under 5 and their families offering universal as well as targeted services. The council proposals:  For the three year budget cycle (2013 – 2016) - the cuts proposed equate to over £5 milllion (or approx. 65% of the total budget) The first £1 million savings have already been agreed, with a proposal for a further £1 million this year and then £3 million for the year 2015-16.   Overall the cuts since 2011 will equate to over 70% with the budget being reduced to less than £3 million from approximately £10 million in 2010-11.   The review of Sure Start and Early Years Services has now been incorporated with the Family Services Review which is being asked to cut £670,000 over the next two years out of budget of £2.3 million which is a 34% cut in services to the most vulnerable families, children and young people.   50% of these services are delivered by the council and 50% by the Community and Voluntary Sector. The city council have estimated that for the work they directly deliver this would equate to the lost of 63 full time equivalent posts (i.e. this will actually be more than 63 people losing their jobs as many jobs are part-time or may be job share) we can only estimate that the equivalent level of job cuts would be made by the Community and Voluntary sector meaning the job cuts proposed would be at least 126 full time posts (probably between 130 and 180 people losing their jobs)   The review has not identified which Sure Start Children’s Centres, Services, Buildings or staff will face cuts.   The councils review timetable includes: ·         April 2014 onwards: Options appraisal (looking with partners at what the cuts could like and coming up with proposals) ·         July 2014: Consultation on the proposed cuts and closures ·         August 2014: Partners agree which options are to be implemented ·         September 2014: Implementation of the cuts for both 2014-15 and 2015-16. ·         March 2015: All cuts implemented.   The councils proposals for 2014 – 2016: http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/sites/drupalncc.newcastle.gov.uk/files/wwwfileroot/your-council-and-democracy/budget_2014-15_-_pc_-_2_-_family_services_review_0-25_incorporating_early_years.pdf   Previous year budgets: http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/your-council-and-democracy/budget-annual-report-and-spending/budget   Unison’s campaign page: http://unison-newcastle.org.uk/sure-start.html   Motion passed at Unison Newcastle City AGM: http://www.unison-newcastle.org.uk/assets/files/AGM2014/140210_18%20Motion%20-%20Save%20Sure%20Start.pdf

The permission was granted by the Forest of Dean District Council for their ownership, but the Monmouthshire Council have been making excuses for the last few years since the original proposal. All over the UK county after county's citizens have been benefiting from these valuable resources for leisure and transport purposes. Why are we waiting and consistently fobbed off with trivial excuses all the time? There are no cycle paths through Chepstow while everywhere else benefits. Despite all the Bills, Papers, and Consultations you pass and now 'The Wales we Want' campaign, we are ignored. This path would enable less able bodied people to access the beauty of the Wye Valley, it would provide business and opportunities locally, and hold these opportunities within Chepstow and surrounding villages where presently people go further afield for leisure facilities. Also it would encourage forms of sustainable transport such as cycling and walking, enabling many people to leave their cars at home. The already established paths in the UK are used by thousands everyday for multiple purpose. Why are we denied this resource, is it because our Council is blind to the future?

People are suffering and not enough is being done done. Even the GP's who work in this field and they are few and far between, still dont fully understand it. They need to speak to health professionals who suffer with the conditions http://m.wikihow.com/Live-With-Chronic-Fatigue-or-M.E

At the moment LDN is not widely available on the NHS to MS sufferers in the UK but in other parts of the World,like the USA it has been available for years. Lots of MS sufferers who've had to buy it on private prescription say that it has rid them of symptoms which even high dose toxic drugs did not. It has also been for use in many other conditions, http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/index.htm#How_does_LDN_work_ but it seems that this is not widely known to most sufferers. At the moment most Doctors do not prescribe it or know of it's uses for other conditions and sufferers have to buy it privately. It is a cheaper Drug to buy than most other MS Drugs I've heard but yet it's not viable for Drug Companies to endorse it at such low doses (profit wise) and therefore tests have not been untaken on a large scale to make NICE approve of its use for this purpose

The NHS was giving to the people of the UK it belongs to us and not the private proffiteers, We all pay for NHS in our taxes and local charity collettions for the local NHS Hospitals for things that they need like CAT scans. I like many others are not prepared to see it sold off bit by bit. The idea at the moment is to get people interested in saving the NHS nationally and the only way left now is a masive march in London on a mid week day.

This is Important because Cannabis is proven to help as a medicinal natural option while people have certain illnesses such as cancer and MS. We would be able to produce no polluting bio-degradable plastic. The oil crisis the world is facing would no longer be part of britains troubles as hemp oil could be used from the stem of the cannabis plant. There is a possibility that there would be less deforestation(which doesn't really apply to uk but it's worth a point) as we could produce hemp paper, And we wouldn't need wood to burn as we would have the hemp oil. According to a recent source Cannabis has been statistically found to cure 7 out of 10 cancer patients. Whereas Chemotherapy has been statistically found to have killed 7 out of 10 cancer patients. As to how true this is i do not no. I hope you will take the time to read through this and make action, not just for the stereotypical stoners that some of the public seem so afraid of, But for the welfare,healthcare, and wealth of the United Kingdom. Thank You.

Pauls Campaign aims to raise awareness of Sarcoma on two fronts, public awareness and with those of influence. Sarcoma:'the Forgotten cancer' Sarcomas are rare cancers that develop in the supporting or connective tissues of the body such as muscle, bone, nerves, cartilage, blood vessels and fat. There are around 3800 new cases of sarcoma diagnosed each year in the UK. 100 people a year are diagnosed in Northern Ireland. Sarcomas account for about 11% of childhood cancers and about 14% of cancers in teenagers. There is a huge need for research into sarcoma, research is lagging behind that of other cancers. Sarcoma is hard to diagnose, hard to detect and hard to treat. Biopsy is the only diagnostic tool and surgery often the only curative treatment. Many Sarcomas resist current cancer treatments, Sarcoma destroys so many lives before they ever have the time to blossom. visit us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pauls-Campaign/1395524224058670 www.paulscampaign.com @paulscampaign (twitter)

Increasing research and global experience in both Nuclear Energy and Fracking highlights the profound danger of these energy sources to all Sentient Beings and the precious Earth that supports us. New Nuclear and the proposed storage of nuclear waste on threatened coastal sights is a potential environmental catastrophe of horrifying proportion; is a threat to human health and the Earth; has a huge funding legacy that will continue to increase all our energy bills for years to come; and is totally unnecessary in the light of viable, safer and more economic green alternatives. Fracking has profound implications environmentally for the safety of water supplies,the poisoning of land, air quality, atmospheric carbon levels and the potential to cause earthquake. There are now safe, economic and green alternatives which must be supported by Government alongside an energy conservation programme. If we are concerned with the future of our children, and care for the Earth that so lovingly supports us all, we will act now and encourage a potential Prime Minister to review energy policies. What we do unto this Earth we do unto ourselves. Thank you.

We as a local support group from South Tyneside have been campaigning since 2006, because a Diabetes pandemic has been predicted by professionals and we need to be prepared for this. As it stands Diabetes sufferers have to attend regular check ups e.g. Eye and Foot screening, Blood tests, podiatry and annual reviews at GP's surgery or hospital, at the moment these appointments are held at various locations and ideally would be much better to be done under one roof especially for the elderly or children who need public transport to attend each of these very important services.