JP Lomas

NHS Anaesthesia/ICM Consultant ~ Open source developer ~ chairman ~ curate ~ ~ GMC 6103186

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

Sometimes typos can brighten your day 🤗

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@Davewwest @cathjw Raised eyebrows not directed in your direction… 🤗

What we do know is that torturing stats to paint a picture to suit a resignation narrative doth butter no parsnips.

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@cathjw @Davewwest It’s crackers that people can look at these kind of stats and construct a narrative of things getting better.

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

Think how good the NHS could have been with the GE majority and a SoS laser-focused on the job rather than sharpening knives.

Gaming the stats and eyes elsewhere: no wonder we've Brownian-motioned our way to even worse since Labour came to power.

[Wes Streeting @wesstreeting]

Under Labour, NHS waiting lists are falling, ambulances are arriving faster, there are more GPs, and higher patient satisfaction.

Lots done, lots to do.

The Health Bill will boost the impact of our investment and modernisation: cutting bureaucracy to invest in patient care.

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@mrjamesob I’m tweeting to wish you’d stop bleating about the fleeting Streeting meeting

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@PetersPOCUS @Anaes_Journal Turns out that it is. Welcome to the era of Opinion-based Medicine.

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

Rotameters today…

FRCA daily #1523
✅✅✅✅✅
I scored 100% today
https://t.co/GGmNy6PuZN

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@LarcombePeter @sib313 @d_magpie @wesstreeting I’d argue that falls into Staff & Systems

But while you’re at it, let’s add punitive tax regimes and brain-drain meaning you get less work out of more staff (eg look at drop off consultants working >10 PAs)

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@sib313 @d_magpie @wesstreeting Resources:
Staff (headcount alone is a terrible metric)
Space (capacity, flow & infection control)
Stuff (supply chain & procurement)
Systems (interplay of above, macro/microsystems & pathways)

The NHS remains a woefully undermanaged, under-resourced political punchbag.

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@sib313 @d_magpie @wesstreeting Resources:
Staff (headcount alone is a terrible metric)
Space (capacity, flow & infection control)
Stuff (supply chain & procurement)
Systems (interplay of above, macro/microsystems & pathways)

The NHS remains a woefully undermanaged, under-resourced political punchbag.

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@DHSCgovuk Attention @NickFerrariLBC — a “task force” detected.

The classically deployed political decoy from an uncomfortable truth.

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@DHSCgovuk @wesstreeting @BBCNews Do the committee get to speak to the whole of Cabinet?

Of course not.

You “speak” via the package you and negotiating team put together.

Quit the peacocking for the cameras and get an honest deal done.

#AsBadAsTheLastLot

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@ShaunLintern More shameful peacocking: Streeting gets to dictate with whom he negotiates no more than BMA can insist on negotiating with whole of cabinet.

A lot of trust to be repaired now, and I fear Streeting is too entrenched in his own spin/web of lies to accomplish anything.

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

From Streeting & Starmer’s POV: About to get slammed for missing all targets — easy to trigger strikes by reneging on agreements

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@LBC @NickFerrariLBC entirely manufactured strike by an abysmal government needing PR cover for impending failure to hit targets despite heavily cooking the books

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

On behalf of those you galvanised, thanks to @LondonAnaesth @ramey999 and @Shr_Nottingham for the hard turn away from the iceberg.

Time will tell if it has all been enough, but from all those of us who care deeply enough about HMS NHS — thank you.

#high6

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@noolslucas @emilyltownsend @wesstreeting @OAAinfo @NPEU_UKOSS @Marianfknight @ProfRecordSB All excellent reasons to add to the compelling case…

The de facto patient safety specialty needs to be embedded in a position of oversight, not sat it the long grass of arms-length engagement.

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

@noolslucas @emilyltownsend @wesstreeting @OAAinfo With the best will in the world, that appears too remote from core leadership to ensure the safe steer of a multiprofessional team — especially considering the make up of the taskforce main.

As on labour ward, a quiet and marginalised anaesthetic voice is bad for patient safety.

[JP Lomas @jplomas]

Bringing waiting lists down… by making it harder to get listed.

@wesstreeting @Keir_Starmer: disgusting, you should be ashamed.

Paper targets at the expense of real health outcomes.

Navigating this will be hardest for those who need help most, worsening health inequalities.

[Dr Rachel Clarke @doctor_oxford]

Yesterday you may well have seen the headlines announcing that from April onwards, GPs will be “made” to offer patients same day appointments for 'urgent' health issues. The implication, which I cannot imagine Wes Streeting is unaware of, is that he is on the side of patients, whereas recalcitrant & possibly even workshy GPs are the problem. A subtle undercurrent of GP-bashing, in other words, just as in previous governments.

The headlines omit a crucial aspect of the new GP contract, which this letter in the Times brilliantly highlights.

GPs will no longer be able to refer patients for specialist care as they do currently. New mandated "advice and refer" systems are being introduced for all specialist referrals from general practice, supposedly to 'streamline' care (as though GPs aren't highly trained physicians who know when a referral is needed).

As anyone waiting desperately for an appointment with a neurologist, oncologist, rheumatologist or orthopaedic surgeon will already know to their cost, currently waiting times can be absolutely horrendous – and this looks horribly like yet another barrier to patients receiving the prompt care they need from a specialist.

Already, for example, I am aware of patients with a new diagnosis of major, life-changing diseases such as multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease or lupus having to wait many heartbreaking months to see a specialist for the first time. That is simply not right. It is a national scandal. If Wes Streeting’s aim is to massage the waiting list figures so that it ‘looks’ as though he’s improving care for NHS patients (while actually keeping patients away from doctors via a tortuous saga of ‘pathway navigators’ and other hoops that only create more delays) this would be an excellent way to do to.