The term triage comes from the French verb, ‘to sort’. During the Napoleonic wars the French military used triage to prioritise treatment for wounded soldiers.
Yesterday I had a hospital echocardiogram test. Afterwards the friendly cardiac physiologist showed me her computer recordings. My cow valve seems to be pumping away with enthusiasm. I recommit to not eating beef ever again.
She went on to tell me what the hospital policy was for cardiac patients. It is triage. The consultant cardiologist now proritises level of treatment based on medical history, telephone consultation and necessity or otherwise for an on-site test.
I am happy with my cow and with my treatment yesterday and over recent years by the NHS. But that said, we should not be returning to a system of triage, but it is happening. Not only because of Covid-19, but from years of weakening of the NHS and the enrichment of those responsible. It’s long past time to operate a people’s triage and prioritise a fight back against them for our NHS. We need to remember Aneurin Bevan’s words, “The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it.”
In my last three blogs I have written about the scandal and corruption spreading its tentacles through the NHS and how companies like Serco, G4S, Capita and Deloitte are amongst the leading ‘privateers’. That is only half the story.
The Canary has now published an article on the ‘award’ of Covid-19 PPE (personal protective equipment) related contracts. If you think the NHS is still safe from the prowling monied-mafia perhaps you need to read it.
Some examples:
£43.8m contract awarded to a ‘dormant’ company, TAEG Energy, for the supply of hand sanitisers.
£252m to investment firm Ayanda Capital for face masks.
£186m to Uniserve, owned by pro-Brexit Prosperity UK.
£650,000 to Hanbury Strategy, a company founded by Vote Leave director, Paul Stephenson and friend of Dominic Cummins.
£49m to Ventures Ltd, a company with only £100 in assets.
£18.5m to employment agency, Aventis Solution, with total assets of £322, for face masks.
£93.7m to Globus (Shetland), a company who donated £400,000 to the Tory Party.
£956,000 to Public First, headed by James Frayne and Rachel Wolf (who wrote the Tory 2019 manifesto), for “advice on Covid-19 and reorganising the health and care system”. It was previously awarded £840,000 to conduct research on public opinion regarding government policies and £116,000 to examine how the government can better learn from the Covid-19 pandemic.
£108m to Clandeboye Agencies Ltd, a nut and coffee products company and to PestFix, a rodent infestation company. PPE contracts for overalls awarded to a ‘fast fashion’ company, an online advertiser and Medpro Ltd, a private trust manager.
Read the full Canary article here. I’m afraid it goes on and on, but I will mention just one more. A company, Faculty, has been awarded over 13 contracts, worth £3m to help develop NHS labs and improvements to NHS data analytics. At a time when NHS labs are being 'awarded' to the 'privateers' and now proving worse than useless (see SERCO), I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
We need a 'People's Triage' to sort this out.
www.davidwilson.org.uk
