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Can the NHS wait 15 years for an expansion?

EDITORS NOTE: DIARY ENTRIES BLURRED ON SCREEN TO PROTECT IDENTITIES Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking to a staff member during his tour of University Hospital of North Tees, as part of his visit to County Durham. Picture date: Monday January 30, 2023. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Phil Noble/PA Wire
Rishi Sunak has said it will take time for NHS waitlists to fall (Picture: PA)

Today, readers are talking about Rishi Sunak’s NHS expansion plan.

The goal is to rely less on foreign-trained healthcare workers which some readers think will be a step in the right direction with the potential to open up the industry to talent from working class backgrounds:

Train and employ our own medical talent? 'Well, it is about time isn’t it?'

■ PM Rishi Sunak has announced a ‘plan’ for the NHS to recruit and train more GPs, doctors and nurses from our own population to ‘reduce the reliance on foreign-trained healthcare professionals’ (Metro, Mon).

Well, it is about time isn’t it?

Us wise common folk have been saying this for ten years or more. Finally, those in power have realised that Britain has a wealth of talented people that never get a chance because of successive governments’ desire to employ already trained staff from overseas to save money.

They didn’t care about extremely bright British youth who never got a place at medical school or nursing degree courses, despite achieving brilliant A-levels, because of a strict cap on student places.

Both Labour and the Tories have been guilty of this, and generations of bright Brits missed out.

Now, all of a sudden, both Labour and Conservative parties have had a eureka moment.

Finally! It is what people like me have been shouting at their TV screens for years, but nobody listens to us.

Those in parliament would be wise to get some working-class people through the doors.

We could have adopted this sensible policy years ago then.
Barbara, Gloucestershire

But, with up to 15 years until the expansion, can the NHS or indeed its patients wait that long?

Readers are also discussing: the need of a pay-rise for home carers, the real reason behind Boris Johnson’s resignation, the best and worst Glastonbury performances and whether school uniforms actually prevent bullying and whether it’s more comfortable and cheaper just to wear your own clothes.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visits St George's hospital in London, Thursday March 16, 2023. The visit comes following a pay offer from the Government, after a breakthrough in talks to resolve a long-running pay dispute which has seen the NHS in England hit by a series of strikes. (Toby Melville/Pool via AP)
The NHS is set to undergo the largest expansion in training and workforce in history (Credits: AP)

■ According to the prime minister, the NHS is set to undergo the ‘largest expansion in training and workforce’ in its history and this will reduce ‘reliance on foreign-trained healthcare professionals’.

However, he also says that it could take ‘five, ten, 15 years for these things to come through’.

So what are his plans for now, when the NHS is absolutely on its knees? Do we just muddle along until it all comes good?
Jacq, Essex

■ Having spent a lifetime working in the NHS as an SRN and social worker and counsellor in GP surgeries and carers support, I am both surprised and disappointed that in all the arguments about pay rises for health workers the people who have been the most overworked both in lockdown and since are being totally overlooked.

The pay of care attendants is never mentioned. But they are the people keeping needy people at home instead of taking up hospital beds, thereby saving the NHS a fortune every day.

And it is the care attendants who are giving essential care to old people dying in care homes.

They are the people who truly deserve a pay rise.
Name supplied, via email

Are you a care attendant? Do you feel appreciated for your work?Comment Now

■ Bernard Winchester (MetroTalk, Thu) still doesn’t seem to have grasped that Boris Johnson’s departure was not due to partying but to lying.

If in the first instance he had stood up in the Commons and said, ‘I apologise. I now realise that my actions were against the spirit and the letter of the requirements but I was swayed at that time by the need to engender a team spirit and to reward my hard-working staff at a very stressful time’, then he might have got away with it.

FILE - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, in London, on May 25, 2022. Britain???s House of Commons is likely to endorse a report that found Johnson lied to lawmakers about lockdown-flouting parties in his office. That would be a humiliating censure that would strip the former prime minister of his lifetime access to Parliament. Lawmakers on Monday, June 19, 2023 will debate a report by the Privileges Committee that found Johnson in contempt of Parliament, and are expected to approve its findings. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
Boris Johnson was found guilty of misleading UK Parliament over lockdown parties (Picture: AP)

But, instead, he chose to lie and lie again. He was not ‘hounded out’.

He resigned rather than face his constituents.
Martin, London

■ Bernard wrote that those working at Downing Street were already in close proximity and were entitled to let off steam from time to time.

It would have been easy enough for the authorities to frame the lockdown rules to reflect situations such as this but as it was not done, there is no merit in that argument.
MG, London

Lana Del Rey perform's at Glastonbury 2023
 Lana Del Rey’s Glastonbury set cut off early after she arrived 30 mins late blaming the lateness on her hair (Picture: Joseph Okpako/WireImage)

■ So they cut Lana Del Rey’s set short at Glastonbury (Metro.co.uk, Mon). The main problem here is someone as big and popular as Lana not headlining the main stage. Where were the female headliners?

Giving her a lesser stage and cutting her off with no compromise just added to Glastonbury’s poor treatment of women.
Patrick, London

■ Lana Del Rey at Glastonbury should have been rebranded Lana Del Refund.
Joe, Wakefield

Do you think Glastonbury mistreats women performers?Comment Now

■ I was dubious of them at the time in the 1980s but Guns N’ Roses proved at Glastonbury this weekend what a fantastic live band they are.

The sheer power of the music! How many households on Saturday night would have had ‘turn that noise down!’ ringing out.

Dad rock? I don’t think so. They showed the young ’uns how it’s done.

Axl Rose at Glastonbury 2023
Did Guns N’ Roses how the young ‘uns how it’s done? (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Is the music of the past better than the music of today? Why?Comment Now

Dec, Essex

■ Following their rebellion (Metro, Mon), will Wagner now take over Belarus? Seems a bit stage managed…
Jim, London

I was bullied through my school years – and wearing a uniform made no difference

Bullying in schools.
One reader believes bullies will target you no matter what you’re wearing (Credits: Getty Images/Westend61)

■ As a student who has just completed high school and is going to sixth form as of September, I can say that once we went on study leave for GCSEs, I didn’t wear uniform again.

When going in for my exams, I wore a school-branded leavers hoodie over the top of whatever I was wearing.

It felt so much better to sit there being comfortable than to sit there looking smart.

After reading Joan Green’s views (MetroTalk, Fri), I have to argue.

If uniforms are supposed to reduce the suffering of poorer families, why does it cost so much?

There are certain places where people can donate any uniform they don’t use anymore.

However, at my high school each year everyone has to wear a different colour on the emblem and their ties so uniform cannot be donated by Year 11 students.

There are places where normal, everyday clothes are donated and there are charity shops where you can find pretty decent clothes for quite cheap.

Do you donate or hand-down your child’s school uniform?Comment Now
A boy looking through the racks in a charity shop
Does buying uniform help poor families? Couldn’t they just buy cheaper every-day clothes from charity shops? (Picture: Getty)

I’m going to be honest with you, I was bullied for more than 12 years despite wearing uniform.

Bullies are going to be there whether you or your child wear uniform or not.

That’s the reality of life.

If wearing whatever you want at school means that you will get bullied or that it will impact the learning of you or any other students, why is there no evidence in A-level results to prove that it has an impact?

Uniform rules are not carried over into sixth form but in reality they shouldn’t exist at all unless it is entirely necessary, such as in a formal work environment or to be easily identified if you work in a shop.
Asher Liam-Eric, Northumberland

Is bullying in schools inevitable? What can be done to stop it?Comment Now

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MORE : Rishi says wait lists will ‘take time’ to fall after unveiling 15-year NHS plan

MORE : Lana Del Rey apologises for late Glastonbury arrival but insists on doing full show: ‘If they cut power, they cut power’



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