Following his move to the backbenches, ex-Care
Services Minister, Paul Burstow MP has become more vocal on the
negative aspects of recent health reforms and has today discussed
care funding in a newspaper article, blaming the Treasury for
wanting to “kick the can down the road despite our rising elderly
population”. In the
article he calls on those “who believe our social care system
is broken and unfair” to make their voices heard.
It all makes for interesting reading and,
never one to be afraid of making my own voice heard, I hope is
something that will be discussed frankly and with evidence of the
impact on our patients at the forthcoming Party Conferences, along
with changes to the welfare system, cuts to mental health services
and ensuring parity for mental health.
This weekend, myself and the College’s
parliamentary team (Dr Adrian James, Chair of the College’s
Parliamentary Committee, Will Pickering, the College’s Public
Affairs Manager as well as College members and service users
representatives) begin our travels from Brighton to Birmingham via
Manchester to talk to politicians and others with an interest in
our work about issues relevant to our profession and our
patients.
Working with mental health charities, other
Medical Royal Colleges and professional bodies, we have a very busy
conference schedule ahead of us as we chair and attend a variety of
roundtable meetings on issues including parity for mental health,
early intervention, obesity, social care, commissioning, and
medical education. In between these and the many fringe meetings
taking place, we are also meeting with MPs, Peers and
Ministers one-to-one to promote the importance of psychiatry
and to champion improvements in care.
I will keep you updated on how the conference
season goes over the coming weeks via the blog.
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