Simon Howarth 💙

@horrifiedofhh @MagnificoPedro @Shr_Nottingham @TheBMA There are approximately 166,000 beds in the NHS across the UK. The vast majority of high level complexity work currently is unsuitable for most private providers in terms of infrastructure and staff. There would have to be a sea change for the private sector to absorb this work.

@MagnificoPedro @Shr_Nottingham @TheBMA There are c. 8,900 private hospital beds in the UK and a further 9,400 private mental health and learning disability beds. 20% of employees in the private sector have PMI. 4.7 million people are covered by PMI. There is a reasonably large private health sector in the UK.

Doctors finally calling out manifestly unqualified people working way beyond their competence It’s about time & the cat’s not going back in the bag Very awkward 2026 for policy makers & those that enabled this farce on the horizon

@horrifiedofhh @MagnificoPedro @Shr_Nottingham @TheBMA You seem to be under the misapprehension that anyone other than Consultants can practice in the private sector. This simply isn’t true. For all below Consultant grade the NHS absolutely IS a monopoly employer in the UK. For Consultants there are a few other (not great) options.

@trentconsultant I wouldn’t hold your breath

Anyone working in the NHS currently knows this remains the case

@bisto1066 @_Sheryl_H Well it’s costing Wes £1B to “get rid” of NHS England so I doubt there will be much left over for anything else!

@_Sheryl_H Let’s get rid of NHS England first and see if money becomes available. Haveing said that what about social care who comes first?

What about funding the 16,728 DOCTORS that wanted to be GPs and were turned away last year.

@theveindoc @Dave__Chambers @DocMeezbah Sorry David but that’s increasingly nonsense for many “high risk” specialities with cripplingly high indemnity such as spinal, cranial and gynae/obstetrics. I do private work but “a bit” of that certainly won’t double my NHS salary any more. Many tariffs are unchanged from 1990s

@Dave__Chambers @DocMeezbah Most of my career was before I started a business. Most consultants could do private work if they were willing to. Many refuse on socialist principles. And also because of work life balance. Those who put in that bit extra deserve the extra rewards

Let that sink in.

@errjustsaying @narindertweets Yet again another example of her only passing acquaintance with the truth.

@narindertweets Yet Reeves said they “were not aware that a licence was necessary” but had requested the Agents to apply for one!

Bloody knew it! I told you all this yesterday and you all mocked me.... It's the estate agents responsibility. End of.

@prospectivetACP @ClearThinker66 @slingcamp @DrHuw Not necessarily- they’re only a fellow if they’re in a fellowship. They could easily be a senior resident (ST7/8) a year away from a potential consultant post. Depends on speciality.

@ClearThinker66 @slingcamp @DrHuw Someone a year away from consultancy is a fellow. By ST3 they are registrar. Junior is a appropriate term for the high risk liability that is unspecialised doctors

No, you don’t “work at a similar level to a medical consultant” You are not a medically-trained doctor You work at the level of a senior advanced nurse practitioner 🤡

@PeterStefanovi2 @TrevorPTweets There’s absolutely no chance of that

"Firstly, we will get by the next general election get waiting times from 18 months where they were when we came in to 18 weeks" Health Secretary Wes Streeting assures @TrevorPTweets that Labour will get waiting lists down by 2029

@simsgazette Eventually he will come to the conclusion that the relationship was so rewarding he will want to explore the possibility again but in his own time.

Sir Lewis Hamilton talking about Roscoe in his sit down interview with Juan Fossaroli 🥺 "Oh man, I miss him so much. I've never missed anything so much in my life. It's his birthday tomorrow. And so he would have been 13." "But it's a very, very strange kind of time in my life. Because now I go home and his bed is there. His toys are there. And I haven't moved them. So I see things that remind me of him every day. And when I meet people, the fans doing amazing drawings. And give me gifts. And so I think it's a beautiful thing. Because somehow through this grief, it's brought me closer to people. Because so many people in the world experience loss and grief." "I met someone today [who said] 'I lost two of my dogs in one month just recently.' And so many people just as I'm traveling. And it's given me a lot of hope that there are really good people in the world that feel. Because we live in a really divided time around the world. And there's a lot of people particularly in higher positions. In high power positions that clearly don't have any empathy. Don't care about people. And so it's really great to connect with people in that respect." "I'm going to miss him. And this Christmas, every Christmas I go to the mountains with him. And play in the snow. I don't have that now." "And someone asked me earlier on, 'are you going to get another dog?' I'm like, I can't replace him. It's not a car. I can't just go and get a new one. He was my son." [via ESPN and @Gp1Fossaroli]

@KemiBadenoch This isn’t the vote winner you think it is

The next Conservative Government will ban doctors from going on strike - just like we do for the army and police.

@gold103x @ProfRobHoward They do and the sum is eye watering and going up every year. It’s billions.

@ProfRobHoward Maybe I'm being dim but why doesn't the NHS calculate the cost of legal settlements caused due to clinical negligence/error (i.e. untrained staff), against the cost of funding a safe service? Who underwrites the cost of the risk?

Message from our Trust CEO today, kind of sums up where the NHS is in terms of its ambitions: “The overriding message from the centre is that the NHS must live within our means and be as accessible and safe as our funding will allow us to be”.

@fletchjack Sorry but this kind of hysteria is why you’re losing public opinion BMA. This just isn’t a sensible take.

⚠️ Resident doctors working tonight ⚠️ The clocks go back. Trusts don’t usually adjust rotas - putting you and patients at risk. The safe limits are there for a reason. Rotas should be adjusted. If your shift this weekend is >13 hours, exception report it.

@billwells_1 @CMO_England @FraserNelson Specialist training is designed to provide residents with a CCT in their chosen specialty and provide the lions share of evidence required for registration to allow for appointment to the level of Consultant. Care in the NHS is Consultant led and increasingly Consultant delivered

@QMCBrainSurgeon @CMO_England @FraserNelson Think problem is not so much a paternalistic view but rather a fragmented view. How does the speciality training fit into a system which is aimed at providing a consistent & speedy end to end treatment for each individual. What processes are in place to use specialist training?

Training is central to doctors providing the best care for patients. The Medical Training Review, out today, is a diagnostic report with input from many doctors, medical students and patients. It shows we need to rethink many aspects of training. england.nhs.uk/publication/th…

@billwells_1 @CMO_England @FraserNelson Well we’ll have to agree to disagree. I’ve been intimately involved in both ends of speciality training for over a decade and it’s certainly not perfect. I think many of the changes have been detrimental. However, we certainly don’t teach a paternalistic view.

@QMCBrainSurgeon @CMO_England @FraserNelson Not sure I agree. Lansley reforms seem to me to be an embodiment of top down direction no & a focus on following the individual & believe your insistence that this individual focus has nothing to do with specialist training is completely separate to this is indicative of this.

@billwells_1 @CMO_England @FraserNelson There’s a huge emphasis in medical training all the way through on treating the individual patient. The paternalistic model is long since defunct. However, this is a completely separate conversation and has nothing to do with this speciality training document.

@QMCBrainSurgeon @CMO_England @FraserNelson True, but it is indicative of the shift away from customer service to 'medical model' and doctor knows best. Object of training should be to treat the individual patient from end to end, achieve a successful outcome, and deliver for the individual in as short a time as possible.

@dirtybird12345 It isn’t

Functioning the same way as a doctor. Such audacity, can someone explain how this is possible?

@billwells_1 @CMO_England @FraserNelson That hasn’t got anything to do with speciality training.

@CMO_England One of the key impveroments that I think need to be changed is an improvement in customer service and restoration of Citizen Charter type processes. Without delivering an individual based service efficiently & speedily quality of service & waiting lists suffer. @FraserNelson

@CMO_England Sorry but what a load of old waffle - just when I think you’re coming to a definite point or recommendation it is rolled back in the next sentence. This is exactly why we find ourselves where we are educationally. No mention of national selection processes for craft specialities.

@Betty_Hende @Dr_Done_ It is though used on its own. Consultant Cardiologist, Consultant Neurosurgeon ect A Consultant Nurse is just that and would never just describe themselves as “the Consultant” to a patient as that would be very misleading.

@Dr_Done_ Consultant is not a term which is unique to doctors, clear pathways for nurses and I’m sure other allied health care professionals rcn.org.uk/Professional-D…

Hold on Is this an NHS hospital website describing someone without a medical degree as a ‘Consultant Cardiologist’?

@helpineedavodka @PolitlcsUK @trueclausefour Registrars are the same as residents

@PolitlcsUK @trueclausefour The last time I was in the hospital & junior Dr's went on strike we didn't notice any detrimental change on the ward, registrars & consultants took over the juniors work.

🚨 NEW: Resident Doctors will go on strike for 5 days from the 14th November over pay and job shortages