The government have decided to take NHS money out of hospitals, call it the 'Better Care Fund' and give it to Health and Wellbeing Boards. In Kirklees, this body has sitting on it, the Chair and Chief Officer of Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Group and the Chair and Chief Officer of North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group. It also has a number of councillors and a representative of a company contracted to do work for the CCGs, the representative of the council responsible for Public Health and sometimes representatives of Mid Yorkshire Hospital Trust, Calderdale Hospital Foundation Trust and Healthwatch. The NHS has always been run with a public service ethos. Increasingly multinational companies without that ethos, are being awarded contracts to deliver services and they fail to honour their promises. Any private company is vulnerable to takeover bids from larger firms. We consider it worth reminding the bodies responsible for allocating around £2.5m of public money, that money channelled away from the hospitals has a potential to weaken them and that there is no clear evidence that 'Care Closer to Home' will either keep people out of hospital or save money for the NHS. eg. A very recent Kings Fund report - 'The Reconfiguration of Clinical Services - what is the evidence?' (Nov 2014) has stated that there are consistent findings that moving care out of hospital does not cut costs or reduce admissions to hospital. In fact in one study (Roland et al 2012) it increased admissions. The report states that in fact, this kind of reconfiguration of clinical services can act as a distraction from core tasks and can increase risks. North Kirklees NHS Support Group and Dewsbury Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) have been out in Dewsbury, Cleckheaton, Birstall and Batley with paper petitions, but the area of the CCGs stretches to Heckmondwike, Mirfield, Hopton, Kirkburton, Meltham and Huddersfield and district. It is with the idea of giving people a chance to sign in all the relevant areas, that we are running it for a short time online. Please sign and share, if you have a Kirklees postcode. Thank you.

In 2012 GlaxoSmithKline stopped production of Alphosyl HC Cream leaving Psoriasis sufferers like myself without any equivalent product to relieve the symptoms of Psoriasis. There is no cure for Psoriasis. I have suffered this condition since 1954, I have had numerous treatments over the years but, none have been as effective as Alphosyl HC Cream. Please help put pressure on GlaxoSmithKline to put Alphosyl HC Cream back into production.

We need to stop post coded lottery nhs support for those with High- Functioning autism and Asperger Syndrome. Derbyshire needs to take asperger syndrome as a real disorder, and start treating and managing the condition on the NHS. Because many of patients with mild autism/ asperger syndrome do not have a learning disability associated with aspergers diagnosis, then the adult cannot get specialized support from their nhs learning disability team. So where do adults with asperger syndrome go. Many adults with the condition then end up with mental health problems, like depression, on top of their aspergers diagnosis. This is not fair! Some asperger syndrome adult patients then end up thrown in the mental health service in Derbyshire, but asperger syndrome adults are not mentally ill, not can we treat the condition like mental illness - asperger syndrome cannot be cured and it is a long-term neurological developmental disorder. So adults with the condition needs specialist medical services, like specialist OT and speech therapy, specialized trained behavioral therapists and psychiatrists. Adults with mild autism and asperger syndrome are not being given a fair and personalized medical support in Derbyshire on the NHS, and this is scandalous.

There are on average one child in every classroom who is colour blind. 1 in 12 boys and 1 in 200 girls. Colour blindness is carried through the male gene which is why it affects more males than females. This can have a big effect on pupils when teachers do not know how to recognise this or have alternative teaching methods. i.e. colours of world flags, Chemistry changes to litmus paper, sports (identifying different team kits, markings on sport hall floors). Some children also have difficulty with coloured writing on coloured backgrounds. Younger children often use coloured blocks for counting and subtracting exercises. My son was in a maths lesson and they were using different coloured blocks for counting, but he used the wrong colour. The teacher then said in front of the class that as he was 8 he should know his colours. My son explained he was colour blind,( which he shouldn't have had too as I had already written to the school twice). The teacher then took my son to one side of the classroom, and held up different coloured blocks and asked him what colour they were. This was very embarrassing for my son and not necessary at all. Colour Blind Awareness are currently running a campaign to have all children tested for colour blindness at their first eye test and also to have teachers trained as standard practice so they know how to teach children who are colour blind.

The NHS cannot possibly give a large person Bariatric Surgery for weight loss without an after care package to remove excess skin. The main problem of weight loss has been solved and the operation pays for itself within 2 years as Diabetes, Sleep Apnoea, High Blood Pressure and many more ailments either reduce or disappear thereby saving the NHS money in the long run. However, one issue has been resolved and another appears which is the huge amount of excess skin which is left behind - THIS IS NOT COSMETIC, THIS IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE AFTERCARE PACKAGE. I have been refused 4 times by the PCT because they say I am doing it for vanity reasons, how ridiculous - I have several folds of skin on my back with sores and blisters where the skin is empty and just hangs, the same goes for my arms and also my stomach - I am not asking for a boob job or a face lift -- I am just asking for the unsightly skin to be removed. I have been sacked from work due to extended sick leave due to severe depression and anxiety - my marriage broke down and I am now reclusive as I don't want anyone to see all the excess skin I have - it is ugly, sore and makes me feel like a freak....... PLEASE SIGN - THANKS

This anomaly means private delivery companies look cheaper, but are not. My hospital neurology dept "saves" £250k a year on VAT on beta interferon alone this way, but the private healthcare provider offers a lamentable service, not turning up, letting patients run out of meds, etc. There are few companies to compete, and the NHS cannot afford to take service back. Jeremy Hunt and HMRC know about the unfair advantage private companies have, but ignore it. This means the NHS is paying £200 million A YEAR on drugs to the Treasury in VAT. Why penalise the NHS? Let the NHS compete fairly!

Mental Health services are stretched to breaking point there is a severe lack of units for both children and adults, sometimes resulting in people being held in police cells which is both ethically and morally wrong! People in crisis and their families have little to no help whilst awaiting a bed and often have to travel hundreds of miles away from home due to lack of suitable units close to home, breaking families apart for weeks and even months at a time. Community services, crisis teams and social service departments are not fit for purpose due to a lack of funding and staff shortages, the increasing demand of community care not being supplied is causing bed blocking in many units and is causing many to not receive the help they need to prevent admission in the first place. The whole system is in need of change and it needs to be made a high priority because the numbers of people in need and in crisis is rising fast!

The hospital is used by many patients with chronic health conditions that require regular tests, meaning some people could pay large amounts in parking charges over the year. It amounts to a tax for being ill. Furthermore, all revenue from fines imposed goes to ParkingEye, the contractor managing the site, not the hospital.

Recent cuts have lead to unnecessary deaths, as funding has been cut too far back for these services to function. People with critical illness, such as heart and even strokes had to wait 15 minutes before an ambulance appeared. Police can not attend emergency calls, as manpower has been cut. A&E is over stretched with 4 hour queues as we had nearly 15 years ago, due to unnecessary cuts by East Cambridgeshire county council. People are being placed in unnecessary range and death, as emergency services have been cut far to far. Government has falsified their statements of supporting the NHS, as they talk about a few extra millions added this winter, when in fact they have cut NHS funding by £30 billion plus. This was a tactic to be able to say that the NHS needs to be privatised, which in fact will cost as far more than we have paid so far, as shareholders expect huge shareholding premiums. Be not be fooled. the NHS worked fine, not perfectly but it was good. It was just mismanaged by various governments in the last 30 to 40 years, but in particular in the last 20 years.

I myself have been abused by the Mental Health System my first experience of being treated was as follows: I was approached by 5 nurses, one of which was carrying a needle, in response to this I panicked, I ran down the corridor and closed a door behind me and tried to hold it shut. Without any sort of negotiation they all began to barge the door open, one nurse grabbed one of my limbs until I was unable to move and I forced face down on the corridor floor, they proceeded to remove my trousers and pants and a nurse injected a psychotropic drug into the buttock. After this I passed out. I was not allowed to leave the ward to go outside, even under supervision, for simple things such as fresh air: which in the smelly, dirty, contained environment where the closest thing to fresh air was the smoking room. A similar event happened when I had given up and they medicated me by force, after this I set off the fire alarm and ended up being sent to an even more secure unit. They deprive liberty and expect you to conform to 3 hour passes that even if you are 10 minutes late they take them away. They have made me homeless before, and they continue to use invasive treatments on me. This started happening to me in 2007 and they still harass me now. This is because every tribunal is heard by 3 people tribunal of a Psychiatric member (claiming to be medical). Legal member. (Probably the psychiatrists lawyer) and a General member (Mental health Officer). There is a huge case of fraud here as it is bias and their medication is subject to publication biasing. http://youtu.be/RKmxL8VYy0M I still suffer side effects from their medication, but they ignore them. They also disregarded my advanced statement which was similar to: http://www.cchr.org.uk/wp- content/uploads/2010/01/Advance_Statement_form.pdf Every piece of evidence they have on me is hearsay and nonsense, a complete violation of human rights. http://youtu.be/RfAMbmxs7KE This is a political Science gone out of control, it is dictated by psychiatrists. http://youtu.be/II96QkZaz1E For too long have people(including me) been abused by these psychiatrists, we have to start somewhere.

This is especially important to the NHS. The NHS gets a LOT of funding, plenty of funding to provide an excellent 24h 365 day service to millions. BUT: A HUGE amount of this funding is syphoned off to "Private Finance Initiative" deals whereby a hospital that costs 1.34Bn to build is actually costing 10.32Bn via PFI repayments. This is the reason the NHS is so stretched,- the amount given by the treasury to the NHS is plenty for the service, but it its being massively wasted by epically badly planned government devised PFI deals whereby middle men and hedge funds make an absolutely (offshore) fortune from the fact they can charge anything (and do) and the government can't (legally or morally) give in and let hospitals go to waste. ===== Why has this occurred? The PFI deals came around from Gordon Brown as Treasury Cabinet Minister to allow the government to make massive expenses and to not declare them because they're actually "Private business" expenses, so the government says "Over the course of 10/25 years we will pay you an amount you want if you build this [hospital/airbase/whatever] for us right now. The Businesses said "oooh yes!" and built what was asked and had a legal contract in place that the government would pay them back a net sum approximately (as illustrated above) of approximately ten times the build cost. Failure to pay back the costs (for example if voters forced government to renegotiate or void the contract) would also be covered by legally binding charges for ~8Bn, in the example above and rather than paid for over years that would be IMMEDIATELY REQUIRED. So the government and the NHS is saddled with massive charges that are extortionate, just for build now, pay later hospital buildings. ===== What we Can do: We can not (as detailed above) void the current contracts, but we can push and force the government to remove PFI as an option for any future contracts for any public service, and also make government only take contracts where the costs are reasonable, and provable - as often PFI contracts where awarded by only being a few hundred pounds under the nearest competition offer - and then once awarded the contract costs "escalated". Certain politicians (David Cameron, I believe) did promise to end PFI before taking office, but has now changed his tune - force him to keep his word. Force his successor to keep his word. PFI is now widespread across the NHS and is the principle cause of shortage of funding, it is also getting a larger and larger hold in the UK Armed forces as well as other departments of government. We Must Stop It. ===== Background reading: This issue is well outlined in Private Eye 1383 page 10. this issue is also very well explained in the Private Finance Initiative Special Report by Paul Foot in 2004.

Everyone has times in their lives when they feel down or depressed. It is usually for a good reason, does not dominate your life and does not last for a long time. However, if the depression goes on for weeks, months, or becomes very bad, you may find yourself stuck and unable to lift yourself out of it. It can start to affect every area of your life - and this is when you may need to get help. Depression is not a sign of weakness - it has affected many famous and successful men.