Headlines show Tynwald priorities..

[joebean]

Sometimes I take a look at Manx Radio news and it gives me an indication of where our Government’s true priorities lie. Perhaps if our MHKs devoted the same amount of time spent on the  Assisted Dying Bill to improving our health service we might be able to save a few more people. Just a thought. 

[Dirty Buggane]

I think that boat sailed with the appointment of manxcare, who's only care is to take care of mates with the ever growing hierarchy. And the need for extra money to service it, while non delivery of front line care seems the norm. Yes they had a flurry of ops but that only came about by throwing long millions at it, same result could of been obtained without the cost of the high paid executive by the hospital if they were given free rein to spend spend. People seem to forget its this government's mismanagement  of the coffers and constant under funding of our health service that has led us to this sorry state.

And what's the best they can come up with let's put another layer of management, not let's increase coal face staff. How many      Doctors/nurses/  surgeons could be employed for the cost of manx care  management, but no all nodded through as arms length nothing to see nothing to do with us knobheads of MHKs. That worked out great for the post office, wish I could say I for one can not wait till this comes back and bites them in the ass. But we all know it will cost us the ordinary pleb's and no blame or action will be taken against the people responsible, LESSON'S will be learnt will be the cry by the MHK's but I have to go now as Securicor are at the door with a fork lift delivering this months pension Bye.

Right time for coffee.  

Edited July 24 by Dirty Buggane

[John Wright]

38 minutes ago, joebean said:

Sometimes I take a look at Manx Radio news and it gives me an indication of where our Government’s true priorities lie. Perhaps if our MHKs devoted the same amount of time spent on the  Assisted Dying Bill to improving our health service we might be able to save a few more people. Just a thought. 

I understand this type of post, but it’s wrong. First, I wouldn’t want my MHK’s ( or anyone else’s ) interfering in day to day medical management, administration or treatment. I do want them to enact legislation that makes the IoM better for its residents.

No amount of legislating will improve the current 9 week breast cancer referral time. The target is 4, but staffing issues, soon to be resolved, have let it extend. Likewise the online testing is potentially a good initiative, if there’s then decent support. Tynwald, and we, should be notified of these things so they, and we, can campaign and hold to account.

Assisted Dying ( Choice of Time and Manner of Dying ) is exactly the sort of legislating our politicos should be doing. They only legislate two, or three, days per month for 10 months a year.  They spend, or should be spending, the rest of their time on constituency and departmental, and parliamentary committee work.

[joebean]

14 minutes ago, John Wright said:

I understand this type of post, but it’s wrong. First, I wouldn’t want my MHK’s ( or anyone else’s ) interfering in day to day medical management, administration or treatment. I do want them to enact legislation that makes the IoM better for its residents.

No amount of legislating will improve the current 9 week breast cancer referral time. The target is 4, but staffing issues, soon to be resolved, have let it extend. Likewise the online testing is potentially a good initiative, if there’s then decent support. Tynwald, and we, should be notified of these things so they, and we, can campaign and hold to account.

Assisted Dying ( Choice of Time and Manner of Dying ) is exactly the sort of legislating our politicos should be doing. They only legislate two, or three, days per month for 10 months a year.  They spend, or should be spending, the rest of their time on constituency and departmental, and parliamentary committee work.

Government and politics is not always about legislation. Legislation is just part of it. As a lawyer you are mistaking politics with law.  It’s also about asking the right questions, pushing for the right policies, ordering priorities. Nobody wants politicians getting involved in clinical matters. We should want politicians who prioritise effort and hold Ministers to account for failures in their areas. They have spent many hours debating the pet cause of a Doctor who doesn’t want to use his time to provide healthcare rather than debating why healthcare is failing. 

[interestedman]

What I’m looking forward to is the bid for millions of pounds to train staff, set up referral centers, family welfare officers, a regulatory board, annual reports, a new senior manager and PTSD counseling for Doctors. 

[Declan]

It’s worth pointing out, as Roger has, how little legislation is taking place at the moment. 
 

People moaned about this and the removal of the bishop’s vote wasting time. But the Keys only meet once a week and Tynwald once a month. If there were legislation that was being crowded out (and there isn’t) then they could sit for longer. 
 

I think if Cannon had his way they wouldn’t be debating Assisted Dying. To be honest it isn’t my priority but it is for many people. Should they ignore those people and not discuss this issue. Maybe they’d be finished by lunch. 

[John Wright]

9 minutes ago, joebean said:

Government and politics is not always about legislation. Legislation is just part of it. As a lawyer you are mistaking politics with law.  It’s also about asking the right questions, pushing for the right policies, ordering priorities. Nobody wants politicians getting involved in clinical matters. We should want politicians who prioritise effort and hold Ministers to account for failures in their areas. They have spent many hours debating the pet cause of a Doctor who doesn’t want to use his time to provide healthcare rather than debating why healthcare is failing. 

I’m not mistaking or confusing law and politics. I’m pointing out that our politicians spend very little time on law making, and even less on this legislation. It’s part of their job.

You seem to confuse Allinson’s professional qualification and his role as an elected law maker and his job as Treasury Minister.

Im clearly saying that they’ve multi roles and this is just as important as the others. 

[John Wright]

15 minutes ago, interestedman said:

What I’m looking forward to is the bid for millions of pounds to train staff, set up referral centers, family welfare officers, a regulatory board, annual reports, a new senior manager and PTSD counseling for Doctors. 

Or just licence Dignitas.

[Albert Tatlock]

I do think the press here is influenced quite heavily by government, as at the end of the day the government are our media's main source of income.

When I look at IOM Newspapers website and Manx Radio...to me there is a lot of evidence of (to quote from '1984')...newspeak and double think.

Having the media effectively in your pocket has to have at least some influence. We see that about things that should be investigated going uninvestigated, crime not always reported etc. Some major bad news stories have never even appeared, especially those involving the FSA or GSC.

It costs money to run independent media, and that money started to drain away with the coming of the Internet.

The media funding model here can only, IMO, lead to a further lack of Independence, self-censorship, bias and even propaganda, an inevitable erosion of public trust, reduced accountability, limited perspectives and potential manipulation.

I've said it before, there are too many broadcasting licences here, sucking up what little advertising revenue there is, forcing government to supplement Manx Radio finances. 

 

 

 

[interestedman]

24 minutes ago, John Wright said:

Or just licence Dignitas.

That’s actually not the worst idea I’ve heard. Cheaper and easier - those that can afford it pay and those that can’t will qualify for support (all the usual caveats). That way the service is kept out of healthcare, we don’t have to worry about conflicts etc. You should formally suggest it. 

[John Wright]

17 minutes ago, interestedman said:

That’s actually not the worst idea I’ve heard. Cheaper and easier - those that can afford it pay and those that can’t will qualify for support (all the usual caveats). That way the service is kept out of healthcare, we don’t have to worry about conflicts etc. You should formally suggest it. 

The legislation is required to ensure that anyone driving the person, who wants to die, to the location, or goes to hold their hand, or who helps them book it, or prescribes the meds or dispenses them, or even just provides the premises,  isn’t guilty of an offence of assisting suicide, or murder, if certain conditions are met.

Im not in favour of it being delivered via the NHS or a doctor or nurse actually injecting. 

Dignitas appears to be a profit making organisation. I’d favour a non profit/charity. But, as with many things Manx there’s a viability threshold. How many will use the choice of time and manner of death process? Let’s say it’s 5% of all registered death. That’s less than 1 per week.

With premises, a prescriber/dispenser, counsellor and back up staff, plus rent, I suppose £300,000 a year would cover. That’s £6,000 per head.

Whatever we have must be self funding and well regulated.

Getting the legislation is the start. It’s the regulations that will count.

[joebean]

1 hour ago, John Wright said:

I’m not mistaking or confusing law and politics. I’m pointing out that our politicians spend very little time on law making, and even less on this legislation. It’s part of their job.

You seem to confuse Allinson’s professional qualification and his role as an elected law maker and his job as Treasury Minister.

Im clearly saying that they’ve multi roles and this is just as important as the others. 

I’m not confusing Allinson’s roles at all. I have no time for him and waste none of my time thinking about him. I’m merely questioning our priorities. I know someone who had, in the past an urgent referral for breast cancer who was seen in two weeks. It was an aggressive cancer that required urgent chemo and radiation and, eventually a double mastectomy. She survived. I suspect that a 9 week delay would have had a seriously negative impact on the outcome. But this slip in our standards goes unnoticed by our politicians. However Assisted Dying gets their full attention. There is an irony there and demonstrates a lot of what is wrong with our politics. No doubt an assisted dying clinic here will prove to be a nice little earner for some though. It’s nothing to do with law; it’s about whether our politicians have the ability to get their heads out of the Tynwald ass and look after their own. 

[Non-Believer]

1 hour ago, Declan said:

It’s worth pointing out, as Roger has, how little legislation is taking place at the moment. 
 

People moaned about this and the removal of the bishop’s vote wasting time. But the Keys only meet once a week and Tynwald once a month. If there were legislation that was being crowded out (and there isn’t) then they could sit for longer.

Also bearing in mind that they are now (or shortly will be) in recess until October...

[GreyWolf]

Most are all very tired sitting on there backsides or having jollies away they need some holly bobs.

why are a good percentage of our politicos overweight it’s not a good example to set when we have a health care system at bursting point.

[Ringy Rose]

I don’t understand the point of this post at all.

In a private company the Directors are strategic not operational. You wouldn’t expect a Director to be getting bogged down in operational minutiae. And it’s the same with government. The politicians decide what should happen and then the employees go and do it.

Missed waiting list targets don’t go unnoticed by the politicians, but ultimately the reason is very simple: insufficient staff. Other than voting to increase the budget- which they did do- the operational side of spending the money is not their job.