Government plans to end the existence of an independent voice for patients and service users in health and social care have come under challenging scrutiny this week with the publication of a major new report by the respected think tank, the King’s Fund. Healthwatch Birmingham and Solihull, which I chair, has published this response …
Over the past week, my thoughts about the Epstein–Mandelson scandal have jumped from revulsion about the revelations themselves, to trying to process what they will mean to those who have experienced abuse. Then they have reawakened memories of my own run-ins with Mandelson – and got me thinking again about the culture of self-justified impunity that power brings with it.
Learning lessons from the 1990s genocide could help us to better understand what is going on now – in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the wider world and here in the UK.
I was a Labour MP throughout the Blair and Brown governments. I had my differences with them. Sometimes those differences were so profound that I voted against the government in the House of Commons – for example over the invasion of Iraq and over the extension of detention without trial. My votes on those issues and what I said on a number of others were not popular with the Labour establishment …
On Friday, Ministers announced that they want to scrap Healthwatch, the statutory patients’ and public watchdog for the NHS and social care. This is my response as Chair of Healthwatch Birmingham and Solihull:
Health and social care services in Birmingham are failing to provide the care that many children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) need and deserve, with parents and carers reporting waits of a year or more for assessment and diagnosis, problems getting referrals and a lack of support to help them care for their child. Read …
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.