𝔾𝕣𝕠𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕊𝕦𝕟 🎵

This morning Conservative MP and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride said that GPs will no longer determine whether a patient gets a sick note, and that WorkWell will make the assessment. Who is WorkWell? After a quick search online: ➡️ WorkWell is a series of partnerships across the country delivering a service ➡️ They will evaluate 59,000 disabled people, and people with health conditions ➡️ £57 million will be allocated to 15 areas ➡️ One example of this is a contract issued by Greater Manchester Health Authority for a 2 month contract. It was given to the firm PWC for £91k This model will be replicated across the country So instead of your GP determining whether you, their patient, are well enough to work, or not. Various private firms will be paid to make these assessments One of the reasons why the government is doing is this is because its cheaper to hire external assessors than it is to hire more GPs. Another, is that it's cheaper to do this performative role than it is to address the underlying issues of long waiting lists on the NHS. 14 years of austerity have decimated the NHS, covid didn't help, nor did Brexit, and instead of having a plan that will actually work to bring people back to better health, time and money is wasted on these types of initiatives to give the impression that something is being done, when in reality, the cause for the hardships and difficulties facing many people are a result of the 14 years of Conservative party policies and plans.

Lord Rose, Chairman of Asda, criticises Brexit "We are the architects of our own demise. And our own demise started in 2016 when we made the ridiculous vote to come out of Europe" "Now, you would say, well, you're an old moaning remainer, but of course I am. But of course, if you look at the stats, nobody has yet convinced anybody that coming out of Europe was the right thing to do" "And by setting the barrier so low, if you like, at a 50% majority, most of those people, dare I say it, who were the one or 2% who got them over the line to get us to do Brexit, have died because they were mostly older people" "Ask young people today if that's what they wanted. Ask if that's the right thing to have done. Ask business leaders to know, are they happy with the result? And the answer is no. So we made a big mistake" "Everything that has happened since then, apart from the one big factor, which nobody could have predicted, COVID has a link back to what we did when we came out on Brexit"