Reform Media Summary

17 April 2008

Health

According to statistics obtained by the Conservative Party, almost half of Britons have not seen an NHS dentist in the past two years. As the number of people routinely seeing a dentist has decreased, the number of hospital admissions for dental treatment has risen (Telegraph, p.6; Mail, p.1).

Deaths from prostate cancer have declined four times faster in the US than the UK over the past decade, raising questions about Britain’s relatively poor performance against the most common form of cancer in men (Telegraph, p.2; Mail, p.19; Independent, p.4, p.28 [leader]; Mirror, p.20).

In an article in the Guardian, Gunnar Hökmark, an MEP for the Swedish Moderate party, writes that David Cameron would do well to follow Stockholm’s centre-right government in their reforms where tax money now follows the patients and choice of GP has been introduced (Guardian, p.33).

English homeowners near the Welsh border register with Welsh doctors to avoid the £7.10 prescription fee. As a result Wales now has more registered NHS patients than people (Mail, p.7).

Professor Mike Richards, the National Cancer Director, yesterday admitted that Britain is spending around half as much per head on cancer drugs as some other European countries (Mail, p.8).

The Healthcare Commission said yesterday that cases of poor treatment and safety in hospital were up 300 per cent in the past year, to 3,918 (Mirror, p.25).

According to a report today in the Health Service Journal, the NHS Confederation has recommended a system that would allow hospitals to invoice GP practices when their patients receive primary care services elsewhere. The British Medical Association has said that any plan to charge GPs for the cost of inappropriate use of A&E services would be unworkable (FT, p.4; Guardian, p.9).

Economy

The pensions regulator will be granted powers to impose fines on owners of pension schemes that fall into deficit under plans unveiled by the Government yesterday. The plan was criticised by private equity firms as “incredibly dangerous” (FT, p.1).

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics indicate that employment has reached historically record levels whilst the number claiming unemployment benefits has fallen to the lowest level in more than 30 years (FT, p.2; Independent, p.39, p.40 [Hamish McRae]).

Further coverage of credit crunch. Yesterday, in a meeting with leading Wall Street bankers, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, called on lenders to be more open about the size of their bad debt. A leader in the Telegraph says: “the focus of attention is moving increasingly to the way global banking is regulated” (Telegraph, p.1, p.25 [leader], B1; Mail, p.14 [leader]; Times, p.17 [Camilla Cavendish], p.44; FT, p.1, p.2, p.16 [leader], p.20; Independent, p.7, p.36, p.39 [Jeremy Warner]; Guardian, p.24; Mirror, p.6).

Financial experts worry about the budgetary consequences of longer life expectancy (Mail, p.5).

Education

In an interview with the Guardian Jerry Jarvis, managing director of the exam board Edexcel, has warned that up to 40,000 students could be left with “worthless” qualifications unless flaws in the Government’s new diploma system are corrected (Guardian, p.1).

Five more teaching unions have banded together to ask for the teachers’ 2008 pay award to be re-opened due to rising inflation (FT, p.4).

Home Affairs

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, made an announcement yesterday that 300 extra police and support staff would be provided to tackle extremism in local communities. However, the Conservative party has reported her announcement to Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, for allegedly breaking election rules which prevent the Civil Service from being used to win coverage in election campaigns (Times, p.14; Guardian, p.4; Independent, p.8; Telegraph, p.12; Mail, p.20; Express, p.15; Sun, 2; Mirror, p.4).

Politics

Further coverage of the Prime Minister’s political position. Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, said last night that the Government has to “sharpen up” its act. “As one Cabinet member told me,” says Mary Riddell in a comment piece, “Gordon [Brown] just needs to stamp his authority and say to the Parliamentary Labour Party: stop this” (Telegraph, p.1, p.24 [Mary Riddell], p.25 [leader]; Mail, p.2; New Statesman, p.12; Times, p.1, p.22 [Peter Riddell]; Guardian, p.12; Independent, p.8; Express, p.12, p.15; Sun, p.2).