Health


On the eve of the 1997 General Election Tony Blair said, "we have 24 hours to save the NHS".

On the eve of the 2001 General Election, 86% of doctors were considering leaving the NHS!

On the eve of the 2005 General Election, deaths from MRSA had doubled because of Labour's election targets


Department of Health
Ferret Fancier (blog) get the inside story on the NHS


Tony Blair: "The very simple choice that people have in this next 24 hours is this. It is 24 hours to save our National Health Service" Trimdon Labour Club, 30th April 1997

Labour's 'cronies' cashing in on cushy NHS posts - 11/04/99

Milburn defends NHS record - 14/01/00 more coverage of Labour's reaction than of the actual allegations

Waiting list fall 'only temporary' - 14/01/00

Peer fuels health funding row - 14/01/00

Doctors: Intensive care failing patients - 15/01/00

Vital surgery cancelled seven times - 17/01/00

NHS dentistry 'denied to thousands' - 18/01/00

Dead man kept on trolley for four days - 18/01/00

Tories launch NHS offensive - 18/01/00

Government accused of NHS complacency - 18/01/00

Health gap 'even bigger than thought' - 18/01/00

William Hague's letter on the NHS - 18/01/00

Blair prepares for new NHS onslaught - 19/01/00

Blair's father buys private healthcare - 23/01/00

Call for probe into NHS 'lab danger' - 24/01/00

NHS 'wasting money' on temporary nurses - 06/02/00

Helpline staff 'mimicked answerphone' - 10/02/00 !!!

NHS 'needs 4,000 more beds' - 10/02/00

Government 'spins NHS funding pledges' - 14/02/00

Hospital waiting lists lengthen by 36,000 in month - 16/02/00

NHS bugs 'kill 5,000 a year' - 17/02/00

Prescriptions up 10p - 17/02/00

Cancelled operations soar - 24/02/00

Recruitment boost for NHS - 28/02/00

Doctor exposes heart wait deaths - 29/02/00

Blair's health pledge 'flawed' - 03/03/00

Pledge to slash heart disease waits - 06/03/00 (Health Secretary Alan Milburn)

Call [by GPs] to abolish outpatient clinics - 09/03/00

'Elderly denied lifesaving treatment' - 09/03/00

Toddler dies after frantic bed search - 09/03/00

Dobson faces attack over NHS 'cronies' 13/03/00 a report condemns the politicisation of appointments to the NHS since Labour came to power... NHS trusts are packed with Labour activists

NHS spending claims 'misleading' - 13/03/00

Dobson faces attack over NHS 'cronies' - 13/03/00

Surgeon fuels NHS heart row - 14/03/00

Blair challenges GPs to change - 15/03/00

'60 patients died waiting for surgery' - 15/03/00

Red tape trips up the ill - 21/03/00

Labour heartland wooed with £20bn for NHS - 22/03/00

Report reveals cronyism in NHS appointments - 22/03/00

Labour under fire for health 'cronies' - 22/03/00

£2bn for the NHS 'is a panic move' - 23/03/00

Milburn is forced to end NHS 'cronyism' - 23/03/00

We've failed to deliver on NHS - Blair - 23/03/00

Policy: Labour takes the spin off health spending - 23/03/00

Blair misled House on NHS - 26/03/00

Care of elderly 'a national disgrace' - 31/03/00

Bosses face NHS 'hit squad' - 31/03/00

Old NHS wards used in nurses' homes crisis - 02/04/00

Nurses: Six months to save NHS - 03/04/00

Hague: I won't privatise NHS - 04/04/00

Clampdown on hospital hygiene - 05/04/00

Blair pushes health reform - 07/04/00

Third World plan to save NHS - 09/04/00

Milburn declares war on waiting - 12/04/00

NHS 'failing' diabetics - 12/04/00

Diabetic: Service was appalling - 12/04/00

Tory delight at Labour's NHS attack on web site - 15/04/00

NHS 'smart card' may hold patient's records - 17/04/00

Doctors 'wrote off lives of 50 patients' - 17/04/00

Prosthetic hips 'not evaluated properly in NHS' - 19/04/00

Blair roadshow on use of NHS cash - 24/04/00

Patients will be able to look after themselves - 24/04/00

Dewar denies jumping NHS waiting list - 01/05/00

NHS advert 'misled on nurse pay levels' - 03/05/00 Government advert said average nurses earned more than £20,000

Hotel 'room service' is planned for NHS wards - 11/05/00

Cancer 'missed 19 times' - 11/05/00

Elderly patients 'denied cancer treatment' - 11/05/00

NHS waiting list pledge "met" - 17/05/00

Ageism is rife in the NHS, say family doctors - 17/05/00

Labour keeps its pledge on NHS waiting lists - 17/05/00

Breast cancer deaths cut by a third - 19/05/00

Breast cancer deaths plummet - 19/05/00

Millions for critical care beds - 23/05/00

Labour accused of deceit over health spending - 24/05/00

Junior doctors end strike threat - 25/05/00

Wage deal seen as end to 'abuse of doctors' - 26/05/00

NHS must sell £1bn of assets - 26/05/00

NHS 'must not pay road injury costs' - 30/05/00

Public quizzed over NHS - 31/05/00

Plan 'to end NHS queues' - 31/05/00

Meningitis boy loses benefits - 31/05/00

Milburn apologises over misleading NHS leaflet - 01/06/00 incomp

£500,000 public NHS census 'a useless PR stunt' - 01/06/00 incomp, spin

Doctors' fears over centres to cut waiting lists - 01/06/00

Blair's authority will be at stake if health crusade fails to deliver - 01/06/00 Behind the scenes, Downing Street aides and Mr Milburn's staff have been heavily spinning to convince journalists that the reforms they propose will be the biggest since the founding of the NHS.

Milburn apologises for £1/2m blunder - 01/06/00

Father dies after wait for surgery - 02/06/00

Cash for consultants who end private work - 04/06/00

Consultants must answer to patients, says Milburn - 05/06/00

Blair gets back to work on NHS reform - 05/06/00

Blair on collision course with doctors - 05/06/00

Big changes ahead, Milburn warns NHS staff - 07/06/00

Abolish GMC 'to protect patients' - 07/06/00

NHS waiting list rises by 16,600 - 07/06/00

Pensioners live longer but face worse health - 07/06/00

World of commerce trawled for NHS chief - 09/06/00 On offer is best paid job in government at £200,000 a year

SAS veteran sells medals to pay for heart operation - 10/06/00

More foreign nurses coming to UK - 14/06/00 a 48% increase on the previous year

Rise in NHS complaints - 14/06/00

Private hospitals to help NHS - 15/06/00

MS patients 'denied drug' - 21/06/00

MS patients denied talks - 24/06/00

Blair obsessed by spin, says BMA - 27/06/00 "NHS Direct is the brainchild of Tony Blair and it will be nurtured and protected like baby Leo, aired only when needed for political spin"

Milburn in clash on private health - 28/06/00 Labour and Tories trade blows over future of NHS

Tories 'to match Labour on NHS' - 28/06/00

Officials drew up plans for NHS cuts cover-up - 29/06/00 also SLEAZE

Fiction mirrors fact in delays on cancer treatment - 29/06/00

Officials briefed health ministers 'to cover up cuts' - 29/06/00 Civil servants also rejected idea of writing to MPs to explain decision over key health programme

GPs attack Labour on 'cynical' use of Shipman - 29/06/00 Doctors accuse Government of cynically manipulating scandal over serial killer

GMC loses backing of doctors - 29/06/00

Hospital beds are priority for new panel - 30/06/00 Independent panel to be established to approve unit closures under new health service plans

NHS 'cutting major operations' - 30/06/00 Opposition debate - Priorities in the NHS

Cancer victims hit by treatment delays - 30/06/00

Milburn reveals NHS reform plans - 30/06/00

Breast cancer target fiasco - 02/07/00 leading surgeons blamed the Government target for placing family doctors under impossible strain

Extra 2,600 patients wait over a year for treatment - 04/07/00 Shadow Health Secretary says Government is failing to deal with NHS problems

Patients have say on NHS - 04/07/00 Government's National Plan for future of service to include modernisation board with patients represented

New Lib-Lab pact over NHS reform - 05/07/00 Parties form united front against Conservative plans to allow taxpayer funding of private health insurance schemes

Consultants 'should stop private work' - 07/07/00 Influential Commons committee speaks of 'perverse incentive'

NHS 'fiddles' crisis figures - 07/07/00 Government disguising prospect of winter bed crisis, intensive care expert says

NHS faces worst staffing crisis in 25 years as more nurses quit - 09/07/00 Since 1997, the number has declined by more than 14,000.

Patients asked to 'lie' for treatment - 09/07/00

MPs to have less influence on health posts - 11/07/00 Parliamentary members to be banned from influencing NHS appointments in bid to curb politicisation

Cash reward scheme for 'good' hospitals - 12/07/00

'MOT' for retired patients - 12/07/00

Health - 13/07/00 Waiting for results

80,000 cancer patients denied drugs by NHS - 13/07/00 Cancer specialists report that £207 million required for patient care

NHS Performance guide - National lottery of hospital survival - 14/07/00 Thousands of patients died last year by being unlucky enough to live near a bad health authority, figures show

League tables need treating with care - 14/07/00

Heart attacks - 14/07/00 Cardiologists praised for healthy record

Cancelled operations - 14/07/00 'Organisation is the key'

Breast cancer - 14/07/00 Success rests on screening

How National Health hospital trusts in England measure up - 14/07/00

Huge variations in NHS performance - 13/07/00 Deaths in hospital within a month of a heart attack - in Bromley Health Authority there is a rate of approximately 4,000 deaths per 100,000 people, while in Wigan and Bolton, the rate is 15,000

Health figures - dubious distinctions - 13/07/00

NHS tables expose death rate lottery - 14/07/00 Patients seven times more likely to die in some hospitals than others, say Government health tables

Poor intensive care 'risking lives' - 14/07/00

Doctors cut down patients' drug doses to save on costs - 16/07/00

NHS supplies addicts with £11m of heroin - 16/07/00 Drug being prescribed in increasing amounts in attempt to cut related crime and reduce social damage caused by abuse

Ministers plan to replace GMC - 17/07/00

Hospital tables found to be wrong - 19/07/00 Health authority cited as never having cancelled an operation actually cancelled hundreds

Virgin gives damning verdict on NHS - 22/07/00 Report concludes health service undermined by poor management and abysmal customer care

New era for 'patient-centred' NHS - 23/07/00

Hague puts choice at the heart of NHS policy - 25/07/00

Top security hospitals 'should be closed down' - 25/07/00

Hague sets out NHS revival plan - 25/07/00

Blair's gamble on health reforms - 26/07/00

Pivotal moment for Labour - 26/07/00 On the eve of the last general election, Tony Blair warned voters they had just 24 hours to save the NHS

Government 'to reject' free elderly care - 26/07/00

Blair's NHS revolution - 27/07/00

Major shake-up for the NHS - 27/07/00

Hague: NHS Plan 'admission of failure' - 27/07/00 During the 1997 election campaign, Labour pledged to cut waiting lists by at least 100,000... but now, waiting lists to see consultants are up by 154,000

Hague: NHS is 'top priority' - 27/07/00

Eight year wait for Blair's 'new' NHS - 28/07/00

GPs attack Blair's plans for the NHS - 03/08/00

Nurse 'hotels' to solve staffing crisis - 04/08/00

NHS 'ageism' report inquiry call - 06/08/00

Nurses from China may join NHS by end of year - 07/08/00

Cultural divide is biggest barrier for Chinese nurses - 07/08/00

Use lottery money to fund NHS, says public - 07/08/00

Failing hospitals 'named and shamed' - 07/08/00

NHS helpline 'risking lives' - 07/08/00

Hospital waiting list jumps by 43,000 - 08/08/00

Minister makes waiting list pledge - 08/08/00

NHS Direct: Friend or foe? - 08/08/00

£63m to beat winter NHS beds crisis - 09/08/00

Labour 'enticing NHS to go private' - 11/08/00

GPs urged to send patients abroad - 14/08/00

NHS plan may lead to 2,000-bed shortfall - 14/08/00

NHS equipment 'dangerously old' - 17/08/00

Hospital hygiene 'risks patients' lives' - 21/08/00

Support for £10 GP charge - 21/08/00

Absentee patients cost NHS £187m - 22/08/00

Britain 'trails Europe' in treatment of heart disease - 28/08/00

Tories want tough new English tests for foreign doctors - 28/08/00

Row over foreign doctors' English - 28/08/00

NHS queue lengthens under Labour - 30/08/00 Scotland

Change needed in NHS financing - 31/08/00

NHS failing heart attack patients - 31/08/00

Huge variations in NHS waiting times - 31/08/00

Patients wait seven months for treatment on NHS, survey finds - 01/09/00

NHS to draft in foreign doctors - 09/09/00

Patients to march on Downing Street - 10/09/00

First permanent electric heart saves patient's life - 12/09/00

9,000 waiting for smear test result - 14/09/00

Doctors call for a 14pc pay increase - 18/09/00

Alzheimer's may cost NHS £14bn every year - 19/09/00

Blair's millions for cancer research - 26/09/00

Portillo aims for private health boost - 03/10/00

Tory boost for private health - 03/10/00

Most NHS nurses 'consider quitting' - 04/10/00

Ambulance response times 'failing' - 10/10/00

NHS appoints new chief executive - 11/10/00

Badly-equipped ambulances 'risking lives' - 15/10/00

Red tape 'threatens research' - 15/10/00

Blair faces grilling from top doctors - 17/10/00

Blair admits NHS 'misjudgement' - 17/10/00

We misjudged size of NHS problems, Blair tells doctors - 18/10/00

Alzheimer's patients left to pay for drugs - 19/10/00

Hospitals facing an 'inevitable' crisis in weeks - 20/10/00

NHS agrees deal to use private beds - 31/10/00

Labour MPs uneasy over Bupa care on the NHS - 01/11/00

NHS predicts 'serious pressure' - 01/11/00

Tories promise cheaper health cover for self-employed - 14/11/00

Milburn outlines NHS cash boost - 14/11/00

Hospital bugs kill thousands - 23/11/00

Patients denied heart drugs - 24/11/00

NI health 'among worst in Europe' - 30/11/00

Blair: 'NHS faces tough winter' - 04/12/00

NHS crisis 'here already' - 04/12/0/p>

'Winter could break NHS' - 13/12/00

Nurses 'win 5% pay rise' - 16/12/00

'Inflation-plus' rise for nurses - 18/12/00

'Thousands more GPs needed' - 19/12/00 five times the number that the government has promised

Health watchdog plans attacked - 27/12/00

Hospitals told to clean up their act - 06/01/01

NHS 'needs two new watchdogs to save 20,000 lives' - 09/01/01

'Three months to clean up wards' - 09/01/01

Four year wait for hospital appointment - 11/01/01

Waiting lists cut again - 11/01/01 However, the waiting list to see a consultant for a first appointment - the so-called waiting list for the waiting list - has
increased sharply

Woman dies after [9-hour!!!] trolley wait - 12/01/01 (Evening Standard Story; the BBC have kept quiet about this one)

Postcode lottery in death rates -14/01/01

The patients: 'We have no faith in the NHS here' - 14/01/01 'Mr Blair has let us down'

Labour 'cronies' still being appointed to health trusts - 15/01/01

Hospital boss 'made a scapegoat' - 16/01/01

Managers blamed [by Health Secretary Alan Milburn] for body scandal - 16/01/01 chief executive, Ken Williams resigned... consultants have said Mr Williams was made a scapegoat

£30m to improve 'dirty' hospitals - 17/01/01

Ministers miss drug blunder deadline - 24/01/01 Ministers missed a deadline urged by their own taskforce to eradicate the type of drug blunder which has left a teenager close to deathMinisters missed a deadline urged by their own taskforce to eradicate the type of drug blunder which has left a teenager close to death

GP shortage 'time bomb' - 28/01/01

Frail elderly 'being denied proper care' - 29/01/01

Call for end to 'NHS secret society' - 29/01/01

NHS paternalism must go, says Milburn - 30/01/01

Lithuania puts NHS to shame - 10/02/01

Hospitals 'cannot afford' targets - 20/02/01

Tories unveil NHS plans - 20/02/01 the NHS should concentrate not on how many people it treats, but on ensuring that the sickest are treated first

NHS money 'wasted on euro plan' - 24/02/01

NHS cash boost fails to satisfy expectation - 22/03/01

Move to end NHS 'ageism' - 27/03/01

Patients to be treated by need, not their age - 28/03/01

The old aren't fooled by this NHS numbers game - 28/03/01

Matrons back on the wards - 04/04/01

Dirty hospitals 'named and shamed' - 10/04/01

Hospitals have 'got worse under Blair' - 11/04/01 Two thirds of Londoners think that hospital services have got worse under Labour

NHS staff crisis worsens despite cash injection - 11/04/01

Dirty NHS hospitals given cash to clean up - 11/04/01

NHS cure for waiting lists fails to add up - 12/04/01

Women waiting in pain doubles under Labour - 16/04/01 While there were 8,776 women waiting more than 13 weeks for their first consultant appointment with a gynaecologist in 1997, the number had increased to 16,528 by the end of last year

NHS accused of failing multiple sclerosis patients - 19/04/01

GPs to vote on quitting NHS - 20/04/01

GPs' mass resignation threat - 20/04/01

MS sufferers 'let down' by NHS - 21/04/01

NHS shake-up announced - 25/04/01

Regional offices to be abolished in NHS shake-up - 26/04/01

GPs seek ballot on quitting NHS - 27/04/01

BMA threat over 'half-baked plan' - 27/04/01

Labour 'failing' on health as 2m wait to see consultants - 29/04/01

Overwork is blamed for lowering NHS morale - 30/04/01

NHS claims rise £700m in one year - 03/05/01

Blair's NHS pledge 'to fall billions short' - 06/05/01 "The Government has got itself into a muddle over targets for health care spending"

Doctors 'withdraw support over NHS' - 10/05/01

Voting Labour is a luxury that not everybody can afford - 12/05/01 who should vote Labour...

Row over Labour's new waiting list figures - 12/05/01 doctors have been forced to treat patients on the basis of how long they have been waiting and not on the basis of clinical need

Health 'factories' to rescue NHS - 15/05/01 Criticism of the privatisation of core NHS treatment is likely to come from within Labour's own ranks, especially as the scheme matches Tory plans. Labour's 1992 election campaign was built around accusations that the Tories were planning to privatise the NHS (they weren't)

Pressure on GPs 'is putting patients lives at risk' - 15/05/01

Patients on six-year waiting list for hip operations, claim doctors - 15/05/01

PM gets tongue-lashing on wards - 17/05/01 Sharon Storer upstaged a pre-planned photo call with patients with an onslaught on the lack of resources at the hospital

Elderly patient died on trolley in understaffed hospital - 17/05/01

Hospital could not treat its own worker - 18/05/01

Nurses doubt future of 'free' NHS - 20/05/01

Nursing in need of care - 20/05/01 morale among the workforce is said to be at rock bottom

Nurses condemn 'Third World' health service - 20/05/01

'Dirty' NHS is big issue for floating voters - 20/05/01

16% rise in critical care beds needed - 25/05/01

Intensive care failings 'cost lives' - 25/05/01

Milburn: Tories pose a 'trojan horse' threat to the NHS - 26/05/01 But Labour faced embarrassment when staff shortages forced the closure of a paediatric unit in Rochdale shortly before Cherie Blair was due to visit

Labour 'threat' to free NHS - 29/05/01 The most vulnerable will be badly hit by Labour's plans, warn health care experts

More people 'will pay for healthcare' - 30/05/01

Blair faces angry voters - 30/05/01 A mother whose daughter is waiting for a bone marrow transplant challenged Prime Minister Tony Blair to do more to help.. "No, Mr Blair it's just not good enough"

More decide to pay for treatment themselves - 31/05/01

Let me see patients, not forms and management directives - 31/05/01

Curing NHS ills - 31/05/01 a Soviet system of management is increasingly producing a Soviet level of service

Bone marrow row: Who's right? - 31/05/01

School and health chiefs attack Blair - 01/06/01 As he promised a "crusade" to improve education and health, teachers and doctors' leaders said he had presided over third world standards that brought shame on the country

Blair let us down, say parents of dying child who had tea at No 10 - 01/06/01

What the parties promise on health - 01/06/01 Labour froze health spending for two years when it came to power and is now struggling to tackle the on-going crisis in the NHS

Consultants may split with NHS - 01/06/01 senior doctors are often forced to give below standard care which they would not wish upon their own families

GP vote sparks poll row - 01/06/01 they are threatening to quit the service unless they are given improved contracts

Health cover at risk as GPs threaten to quit NHS - 02/06/01

He said that last time - 02/06/01 The message of this year's Labour campaign is almost exactly the same as last time: schools and hospitals are in a terrible state of neglect; vote Labour to save them

Cut burden or we will quit NHS, warn GPs - 02/06/01

Analysis: You're not safe with Labour - 06/06/01 Except for some improvement at primary level, schools are no better under Labour. The NHS, its pride and joy, is actually worse


'No sale' pledge on health and schools - 12/06/01

Milburn pledges to axe waiting lists - 13/06/01

Hospital breaks waiting list rules - 19/06/01

Queen's Speech: Labour sets sights on public services - 20/06/01 doctors, nurses and other "health professionals" will now control 75% of all health service spending under an NHS Reform Bill

Queen's Speech: More power to frontline NHS staff - 20/06/01

'Labour MPs uneasy on NHS plans' - 24/06/01

Milburn adviser 'is privatisation expert' - 28/06/01

Doctors square up to NHS reforms - 30/06/01

BMA chief calls for NHS funding clarity - 01/07/01

Doctors 'at breaking point' - 02/07/01 echoing Tony Blair's famous 1997 election song 'Things can only get better', Dr Bogle said: "Four years on, things can't get much worse."

Britain 'poor man' of EU health - 17/07/01

Dobson attacks Government over smoking bill - 17/07/01

Surgeon slams "cruel" waiting lists - 25/07/01 the number of people waiting for an outpatient appointment in Wales is almost double the amount waiting when Labour took office in 1997

Patients put at risk to meet targets - 26/07/01 ...fiddled figures, multiple waiting lists, distorted clinical priorities and sicker patients waiting longer

Waiting to be told the truth - 26/07/01 now is not a good time to be seriously ill

Ministers blamed for NHS failings - 26/07/01 patients with serious illnesses have had their operations delayed in favour of less urgent cases so that hospitals can meet government waiting lists

'Bunions put ahead of hip ops' - 26/07/01 National Audit Office confirms what consultants and patients have known for a very long time

Ministers savaged over waiting lists - 26/07/01

Minister's hurry over waiting lists - 26/07/01 clinical priorities were regularly distorted to meet the government's targets

NHS buys private heart hospital - 08/08/01

Anger at Whitehall pay leap - 30/08/01 teachers, nurses and other public workers dismayed over plans to give pay rises of up to 50% to Whitehall's leading civil servants

Trust fiddled waiting lists to hit targets - 30/08/01

Susan Deacon is accused of U-turn on waiting lists - 31/08/01 she has abandoned waiting lists as the main performance measure for the National Health Service, deserting a pledge to reduce waiting lists to 75,000 by 2003 because the government was incapable of keeping the promise

Millions 'wasted' on agency nurses - 05/09/01

Rebellion by Labour MPs forecast on NHS plans - 07/09/01

Blair to clash with unions over private firms in NHS - 09/09/01

'Unsafe' hospitals blasted by inspectors - 17/09/01

Theatre nurse chose to pay rather than wait two years - 23/09/01

20,000 NHS nurses opt for private health cover - 23/09/01

NHS 'medieval' says French minister - 05/10/01

Tories to home in on public services - 10/10/01 Michael Howard is angry that in his Kent constituency there are now 269 heart patients waiting more than 13 weeks to see a cardiologist compared with 40 when the Tories lost power in 1997

Euro tour will provide no easy answers on health and education - 10/10/01 Most experts agree that health care and education are better on the Continent than in Britain

Prince to advise on design of NHS hospitals - 15/10/01

Blair pledges public service reforms - 16/10/01

Blair launches "University" for health workers - 17/10/01

More patients going private for acute care - 17/10/01

Overworked GPs 'want to quit' - 17/10/01

'Burnt out' GPs 'want to quit' - 17/10/01 a quarter of family doctors are planning to leave general practice in the next five years. Two thirds believe their morale is lower than it was five years ago

A day in the life of a GP - 17/10/01 Many GPs say they are over-worked and want to leave the health service

Duncan Smith attacks on health - 17/10/01 Labour "always put favours to its friends" ahead of the interest of patients

NHS university will take funds from problem areas' - 18/10/01 "This grandiose scheme does not address the fundamental problems of low pay and low morale"

'Burnt out' doctors seek early retirement - 18/10/01

Scottish hospitals miss heart targets - 18/10/01

NHS looks for 1,000 foreign doctors - 07/11/01

Milburn aide lobbies for private NHS work - 18/11/01 Paul Corrigan, who earns £73,000 working in the Department of Health, is working as a lobbyist for dozens of firms which have won lucrative NHS contracts. He is married to Hilary Armstrong, Labour's Chief Whip

Waiting list fiddles 'endanger patients' - 18/11/01 lives are being put at risk as waiting lists are massaged to try to conceal the crisis in the National Health Service

NHS launches its own staff agency - 23/11/01

Will money cure NHS ills? - 28/11/01

NHS and pension spree to cost 5p on tax - 29/11/01

An expensive prescription - 29/11/01

How Brown got the answer he wanted on NHS - 29/11/01

Health may prove more explosive than row over euro - 29/11/01

Blair echoes tax rise hints - 29/11/01

Labour rift on NHS tax widens - 30/11/01 Mr Mandelson's remarks reflect growing tension between 10 Downing Street and Numder 11 over the future funding of the health service

Value for money NHS dismissed as 'fantasy' - 30/11/01 Gordon Brown's claims flatly contradicted by Sir Stephen Robson

'Blind panic' jibe on NHS funding - 30/11/01

'Chaotic NHS cannot improve' - 30/11/01

Who is telling the truth about the health service? - 02/12/01

Milburn furious at Brown snub on NHS funding - 02/12/01

The NHS will never recover under Mr Blair - 02/12/01

Unions attack Milburn over Bupa deal - 05/12/01

Iain Duncan Smith: 'Putting money in this NHS is like putting water in a colander' - 05/12/01

Labour doesn't know what its health spending target is, MPs told - 05/12/01

NHS on critical list - 07/12/01

Surgeons' leader says service is in a 'dreadful mess' - 07/12/01

Pressure mounts on Blair to say if Leo had MMR jab - 24/12/01

NHS spending gap revealed - 31/12/01

A&E nursing posts unfilled - 02/01/02

'Shame' of NHS dental provision - 03/01/02 The prime minister promised in 1999 that everyone would be able to see an NHS dentist within two years

Maternity staff shortages highlighted - 03/01/02

Blair 'optimistic' over improvements in NHS - 11/01/02

100,000 patients 'paid cash to beat NHS wait' - 15/01/02

Anger at major NHS overhaul - 15/01/02 health service unions fear backdoor privatisation of the NHS... Mr Milburn's immediate predecessor as health secretary, Labour's Frank Dobson has also expressed concerns

NHS is left trailing by the Americans - 18/01/02

500,000 'denied operations through NHS bed-blocking' - 20/02/01 The equivalent of 6,000 years of hospital time - enough to treat half of all patients on NHS waiting lists - have been lost since May 1997

Labour MPs 'oppose NHS overhaul' - 20/01/02

Blair's bully-boy gag on patients - 25/01/02 Downing Street declared war yesterday on patients who make high-profile complaints about mistreatment in NHS hospitals

Labour's insult to injury - 25/01/02 "Do not complain or else"

Hospital sorry for race slur on Rose - 25/01/02

Three cases that led to a political war - 25/01/02

Father attacks hospital praised by Blair - 26/01/02

Father in 'Jennifer's Ear' case feels used - 26/01/02

It's not just patients. Doctors and nurses deserve better, too - 28/01/02

Labour abandon principle of free NHS - 07/02/02

Blair faces union fury over 'privatising NHS by stealth' - 07/02/02

Labour rethinks free NHS - 07/02/02

Free NHS principle 'abandoned' - 07/02/02

'Unholy war' looming on NHS - 08/02/02

Milburn retreats in 'free NHS' row - 09/02/02

NHS targets proving tough to meet - 15/02/02

UK near bottom of heart op table - 17/02/02 Only Greece and Hungary offer worse provision

Negligent hospital pursues mother for costs - 17/02/02

Donation followed contract with NHS - 18/02/02 A businessman made a £50,000 donation to the Labour Party shortly after his company had been awarded a £17 million contract to supply the NHS with vaccines

'We will put up taxes to pay for NHS' - 21/02/02

Taxes 'must rise' to improve NHS - 21/02/02

Blair accused of failing to release his grip on NHS - 08/03/02 The NHS Reform Bill was supposed to devolve power. Instead, it gave 58 new powers to the secretary of state but gave nothing to doctors

Another rise in hospital waiting lists - 09/03/02

Government targets mean bunions get treated before cancer, says top surgeon - 10/03/02 There is widespread concern among consultants that they are being forced to adopt Labour's political commitments at the expense of medical standards

Britain 'worst in Europe' for superbug cases - 10/03/02 Understaffing, overcrowding and poor hygiene have created a "cauldron" of infection in NHS hospitals

Tax penalties threaten to ruin care homes - 11/03/02 Government plans to prevent hospital "bed-blocking" will be scuppered by its own tax laws, with some care homes' council tax bills increasing by 4,500 per cent in a year

Taxes must rise to pay for NHS, warns Brown - 21/03/02

Cancer cash 'being used to clear NHS debts' - 21/03/02

Labour health plans 'doomed to failure' - 22/03/02 because a centralised NHS is incapable of producing the service patients demand

NHS getting better, insists Blair - 27/03/02

NHS 'is failing to reduce waiting times' - 30/03/02

Another set of depressing figures - 08/04/02 If there are 17,600 more people on the waiting lists..... how many more are waiting to get onto the waiting list?

Extra welfare costs 'outstrip' health cash - 11/04/02

Tax rise only way to meet NHS targets, says Milburn - 11/04/02

Labour's ambitions for the health service are a sick joke - 12/04/02

'Stop interfering' ministers told - 12/04/02

NHS consultant shortages ahead - 12/04/02

Tories will fight £7bn tax boost for NHS - 14/04/02

Ministers prepare for strife over 'NHS taxes' - 15/04/02

Take spectacles and see the answer for the health service - 16/04/02 Lord Howe

NHS report calls for huge cash boost - 17/04/02

Boris Johnson: Would you bet on Gordon making the NHS work? - 18/04/02

Wanless Report: "Double health spending" - 18/04/02

Increase needed if NHS is to recover - 18/04/02

Private sector demand 'ignored' - 18/04/02 The Wanless report was criticised for failing to recognise the growth in demand for private medicine

It's 2022 . . . and going to hospital is virtually pain-free - 18/04/02

Milburn sets out NHS plans - 18/04/02

Anger over bed-blocking proposals - 18/04/02

Doctor accuses Blair of own goal - 19/04/02 after it emerged that the rise in National Insurance contributions would cost the health service and other public sector bodies more than £500 million

Blair confident over NHS pledges - 19/04/02 waiting times will be down to six months by 2005

Goodbye to your family doctor - 20/04/02

Blair 'happy to carry the can' if NHS does not improve - 20/04/02

Nurses call for a 'substantial' pay rise - 20/04/02

Not a complete cure - 20/04/02

Jobs for the boys - 22/04/02

Budget will lead to 'bed-blocking' - 23/04/02

Nurses to press for pay rise - 24/04/02

Nurses pay tied to NHS reforms - 24/04/02

Milburn gets rough ride from nurses over wage demand - 25/04/02 the depth of hostility became clear when he was repeatedly challenged to "come clean" about pay

No blank cheque for public sector's pay - 26/04/02

Ministers defeated over health reforms - 30/04/02

An error of Orwellian proportion - 07/05/02 Doctors may face a fine of up to £5,000 if they refuse to hand over patients' confidential information to Milburn

Brown's EU Budget showdown - 07/05/02 his plan to inject billions of pounds into the health service could fall foul of EU rules

Managers take over 'failing' hospitals - 08/05/02

Medical schools attack 'crazy' staff cuts - 13/05/02 Hundreds of staff are losing their jobs at Britain's medical schools, just as they are being asked to train 15,000 new doctors by 2008

Fears for NHS links to private sector - 15/05/02

Private sector role remains controversial - 15/05/02

Head to head: Private sector NHS role - 15/05/02

Patients' hospital hygiene complaints - 15/05/02 40% of patients have seen poor hygiene

Inefficient hospitals 'could do 300,000 extra operations' - 16/05/02

One in ten infected after being treated - 16/05/02

Managers blamed for cancelled operations - 16/05/02

&A: NHS waiting lists - 16/05/02

What an insulting way to spend 'Milburn's millions' - 16/05/02 Public money spent on nauseating and condescending book "The Gift" by Labour luvvies, to be given free to NHS workers

NHS 'failing epilepsy patients' - 20/05/02

More deceit from Milburn - 21/05/02

NHS flies in foreign surgical teams to tackle backlog of operations - 23/05/02

'Super hospitals' start fears of two-tier NHS - 23/05/02

Three-month delay in breast cancer diagnosis - 24/05/02

Surgeons 'treating fewer patients' - 24/05/02

90-year-old waited in casualty 95 hours - 28/05/02

Keep politicians out of NHS, says Duncan Smith - 30/05/02

You must lose sight in one eye before NHS will treat you - 13/06/02

Outrage over blindness guidelines - 13/06/02

£100,000 for NHS consultants who accept 'golden handcuffs' - 13/06/02

Critics determined to oust nurses' American leader - 15/06/02

Hospices forced to close beds as £50m Government aid is delayed - 17/06/02 Extra money promised by the Government to help hard-up hospices care for dying people will not be fully available until 2004, the Department of Health has admitted

Cot shortage 'risking lives' - 17/06/02

Government under fire over NHS - 17/06/02 fewer GP practices are meeting a Government target of offering patients an appointment within 48 hours

Hospital 'near-miss' cover-up denied - 18/06/02

NHS staff make a million errors a year, says study - 19/06/02

Take the mentally ill out of prisons, say Tories - 24/06/02

Labour 'diverting mental health cash' - 25/06/02

Tories' sane initiative - 25/06/02

Foreign surgeries plan for NHS - 25/06/02

Tough new mental health laws proposed - 26/06/02

Patients at risk in isolated hospitals - 27/06/02 Too many isolated hospitals are admitting acutely ill patients without the back-up facilities to treat them

Milburn's pay pledge to recruit nurses - 28/06/02

Blair aide warns of two-tier NHS care - 29/06/02

Doctors attack 'training shortages' - 30/06/02

Public prepared to give up on NHS and travel abroad - 01/07/02

51% back NHS care in private hospitals - 01/07/02

Alice, 108, starves herself to death in protest at the closure of her nursing home - 02/07/02 nearly 800 residential and nursing homes have closed in the past year alone

Downing St accused of ignoring plight of Alice, 108 - 03/07/02 who starved herself to death after new government regulations forced the closure of the nursing home where she lived - her granddaughter wrote to Mr Blair in May about her grandmother's situation but did not receive a reply

Patient died as TV football blared - 06/07/02 A widow had to share her husband's dying moments in hospital with a ward of cheering patients watching the World Cup on television

Margaret Cook blames Blair as she quits NHS - 08/07/02 Dr Cook, a consultant haematologist, said Mr Blair and his ministers were too concerned with remaining in power to look after patients properly

Survey shows cancer 'gap' - 08/07/02 The speed of NHS treatment for cancer depends greatly on what sort of cancer you have

Government 'will not meet GP targets' - 09/07/02

Patients 'wait too long' for NHS advice - 10/07/02

Care of the elderly is in crisis, say Tories - 11/07/02

12% have health cover - 12/07/02

Penalties for poor hospitals and schools in Brown review - 15/07/02

Milburn wants to end pay beds - 15/07/02 Pay beds raise more than £300 million for the NHS. So let's get rid of them!

Hospital admits man, 86, died from lack of food - 08/08/02

X-ray and scanner delays are jamming up the NHS - 08/08/02

Scan delays 'put patients at risk' - 08/08/02

Labour waiting list claims denounced - 10/08/02 in-patient waiting list up by 17,000; more than 20,000 have been waiting more than a year

Private GP boom as millions shun NHS - 15/08/02

Consultant contracts will lead to abuse, say junior doctors - 16/08/02

Private GPs catch on - 16/08/02

Doctors bar new patients as crisis deepens - 20/08/02 Thousands of GPs are refusing to take on new patients because of the shortage of family doctors and a growing workload

Milburn would take health the right way if Brown let him - 20/08/02 Remember "24 hours to save the NHS"? If Labour can't be trusted on health, what can we trust them on?

Doctors on the critical list - 21/08/02

One in five GPs 'plans to quit' - 11/09/02

NHS "waiting list fiddling" - 18/09/02

Deepening crisis in general practice - 25/09/02

Euro ruling 'puts safety of patients at risk' - 02/10/02

NHS surgeons to open private hospital - 15/10/02

Government are misleading public on A&E waiting times - 29/10/02

Milburn entrusts care of elderly plan to US company fined for cheating - 11/11/02

Lack of intensive care beds cause hundreds of deaths each year - 12/11/02

'Half a million' lose NHS footcare - 06/12/02

Woman to sue for immediate treatment - 11/12/02

Milburn backs down on two tier hospitals - 11/12/02

More care Homes set to close - 02/01/03

Tories attack Labour's NHS statistics - 06/01/03

Adviser warns over NHS funding - 08/01/03 the health service will fail to achieve key targets such as reducing hospital waiting lists because the money is not being spent properly

10,000 more swell NHS waiting lists - 11/01/03 The figures came a day after reports that a Yorkshire NHS trust deliberately misreported waiting list figures

Duncan Smith targets Blair record - 13/01/03 accusing him of being responsible for failing the nation on crime, health and education

Liver patients' care 'under threat' - 15/01/03

NHS hygiene 'not up to scratch' - 15/01/03

Shortage of GPs approaching meltdown - 29/01/03

Blair warned that new NHS funds are being squandered - 08/02/03

Salaries of NHS bosses soar - 11/02/03

Waiting lists at NHS hospitals fiddled - 05/03/03

Hospitals 'fiddled' waiting list figures - 05/03/03 A spot check of hospitals has found over half have wrongly reported how many people are waiting for treatment - some deliberately

Blair faces fresh hospital revolt - 04/04/03

Residents lose care home closure battle - 11/04/03

Patient surveys to be buried - 24/04/03

Student nurses 'left to cope alone' - 27/04/03

Nurses urge action over shortages - 27/04/03

Nurse shortage threatens NHS - 28/04/03

NHS 'fails to attract foreign doctors' - 30/04/03

Trust accused over waiting lists - 30/04/03

Rebel hospital vote fails - 07/05/03

GPs ponder contract options - 13/05/03

Waiting lists breach million mark - 16/05/03

Ministers 'risking future of the NHS' - 21/05/03

Some waiting lists 'getting longer' - 27/05/03

Tories urge entitlement cards to cut NHS abuse - 02/06/03

Anger over health contract plan - 03/06/03

Hospitals 'stacking up problems' - 05/06/03

Tories push health vouchers scheme - 05/06/03

NHS 'missing key targets' - 05/06/03

Milburn quits as health secretary - 12/06/03 no-one predicted such a key moderniser would leave the government

Teenagers 'failed' by the NHS - 12/06/03

Tories call for curbs on 'NHS tourism' - 16/06/03

Allergy services 'totally inadequate' - 24/06/03

Hospital brain drain warning - 27/06/03

NHS hires 4,900 more managers - 28/06/03 Red tape is expanding in the health service at three times the rate of the numbers of doctors and nurses

Journeys 'killed kidney patients' - 10/07/03

Row over NHS star ratings - 16/07/03 "They measure little more than hospitals' ability to meet political targets"

Hospitals facing cash strain - 18/07/03 the number of routine operations cancelled has risen by 22% since Labour came to power

Targets blamed for blindness - 22/07/03 Twenty five people went blind or lost some sight as an eye hospital focused on government-imposed targets instead of follow-up appointments

Waiting lists still going up - 30/07/03

Scrap the English test for foreign doctors, says GMC - 03/08/03 raising fears that it will lead to an increase in medical accidents

Drugs denied to sick - against the rules of new NHS watchdog - 03/08/03

Nurses may be told to boycott troubled NHS staff agency - 04/08/03

US surgery safer than under NHS - 07/09/03 Patients who have major operations on the National Health Service are four times more likely to die than Americans undergoing such surgery

Unions attack 'twisted ideology' - 10/09/03 Unison boss Dave Prentis suggested that the government's foundation hospitals should be renamed "private hospitals"

Thousands of operations cancelled - 11/09/03

Chronic lack of midwives 'regularly puts lives at risk' - 12/09/03

Babies at risk in midwife shortage - 12/09/03

Private firms sign NHS contracts - 12/09/03 Labour Ministers are set to name the private overseas companies that will run 11 fast-track surgery centres in England. Their 1992 election campaign centered around scare stories that the Tories would do exactly the same thing

Blair defeated over health plans - 01/10/03

NHS faces foreign op payouts - 01/10/03

NHS nurses 'bullied by managers' - 11/10/03

Cancer patients 'denied key drug' - 15/10/03 "postcode lottery"

GP vacancies 'at record levels' - 16/10/03

NHS 'is failing cancer patients' - 23/10/03

Cancer millions 'going to waste' - 04/11/03

NHS 'is failing stroke patients' - 13/11/03

UK drops down world health league - 14/11/03

Mental health services 'failing' - 18/11/03

NHS 'facing winter beds crisis' - 26/11/03

Milburn accused over Blair hospital trust - 18/12/03 An email sent by Mr Milburn's private office to the official responsible for allocating ratings is said to have triggered a sudden promotion for the trust that overlaps Mr Blair's and Mr Milburn's constituencies

MP accused over hospital tables - 18/12/03 Former health secretary Alan Milburn has been accused of manipulating NHS performance tables to give a higher star rating to the hospital which serves his constituency and that of the prime minister

Outrage at hospital 'fiddle' - 19/12/03 Tony Blair faced the threat last night of a Commons inquiry into claims that the Government fiddled health figures to give a hospital in his constituency a top rating and a £1 million grant

Healthy rewards in being a top-ranked hospital - 19/12/03 According to the Health Service Journal the South Durham Health Care NHS Trust had a two-star rating in a draft document but a three-star rating in the final report

Blair's quack medicine - 19/12/03 Giles Wilmore, the head of the NHS Performance Development Unit, duly replied to Mr Milburn that changes had been made in the ratings of individual trusts as "requested"

Cancer patients wait so targets are met - 23/01/04

An unhealthy obsession with political targets - 24/01/04

Surgeons angry at operation 'factory line' - 24/01/04 Hospital consultants complain increasingly that they are being asked to work as if they were on factory production lines, pushing patients through the system in the drive to meet Government waiting list targets

Aspiring doctors 'face £64,000 debt' - 24/01/04

NHS 'needs 25,000 more nurses' - 09/02/04

Millions miss out on NHS dentists - 18/02/04

NHS to offer one free IVF cycle - 25/02/04 - and not the three as clinical experts have recommended

IVF couple spent £9000 - 25/02/04

'Dumbed down' consultants warning - 06/03/04

EU rules 'will cost the NHS equivalent of 3,700 doctors' - 22/03/04

Blair's statistics can make you very sick - 01/04/04 how the fiddling of waiting list figures impacts sick people

EU law 'threatens NHS care' - 06/04/04

NHS 'facing new staffing crisis' - 08/04/04

NHS 'not ready' for doctor hours - 21/04/04

Big deficits threaten NHS books - 28/04/04

Health watchdog guidance 'ignored' - 07/05/04

NHS 'needs 5,000 extra dentists' - 10/05/04

NHS running costs increase by 30% - 25/05/04

Cancer patients waiting longer than six years ago - 07/06/04

Blair and Howard clash on health - 23/06/04

Government plan for NHS revealed - 24/06/04

Watchdog attacks NHS inequalities - 07/07/04

Row over medical student cash aid - 04/08/04

Foundation trust records deficit - 20/10/04

Surgical training 'cut by half' - 28/10/04

EU plans 'risk patients' safety' - 30/10/04

Nursing shortage claims dismissed - 31/10/04

'Despair' at NHS waiting - claim - 24/11/04

NHS fights '£500m budget deficit' - 06/01/05

Rural healthcare need 'neglected' - 21/01/05

Consultants attack cuts in beds - 02/02/05

Patients 'are dying needlessly' - 03/02/05

Vital NHS reforms 'in deep trouble' - 05/02/05

Targets 'causing surgery delays' - 17/02/05

Hospitals dirtier, say patients - 21/02/05

Waiting lists rise to new record - 24/02/05

NHS superbug death rate doubles - 24/02/05

More ops cancelled at last minute - 25/02/05

Spin-doctoring and the waiting game - 25/02/05

Six more mixed wards - six more 'official' lies - 27/02/05

Howard and Blair clash over NHS - 02/03/05

£340m deficit predicted for NHS - 03/03/05

The shaming of New Labour - 04/03/05 last year, there were 67,000 cancelled operations, 10,000 more than in 1999

NHS 'not dealing with complaints' - 10/03/05

Stroke patients 'still miss out' - 14/03/05

Many GPs 'snubbing NHS changes' - 21/03/05

Revealed: the memos that prove No 10 puts NHS targets before the safety of patients - 10/04/05 Accident & Emergency patients are pushed aside and placed in danger so that hospitals can meet No 10's diktats on waiting times

Targets can kill - 10/04/05 Deaths from MRSA have doubled over the past four years, in part because Government targets have prevented medical staff from closing wards infected with the killer bug

'I am terrified by the current political targets. The situation is dangerous and intolerable' - 10/04/05 emails and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act display how, under Labour, political interference has reached unprecedented and unacceptable levels

Chaos lays bare Downing Street claims about NHS - 10/04/05

Real concerns within the NHS - 11/04/05

One in eight patients 'moved' to avoid missing waiting-time targets - 21/04/05 Claims that clinical staff at accident and emergency departments are abusing waiting-time targets have been backed by new research

NHS debts soar to over £1bn - 24/04/05

Cancer sufferer re-mortgages to buy drug NHS refused her - 24/04/05

Recruits to nursing 'must double' - 25/04/05

Rich-poor health gap 'as bad as Victorians' - 29/04/05 Inequality in health is increasing

800 queue for NHS dentists - 03/05/05

Restrict NHS aid 'on age grounds' - 05/05/05

Welsh Assembly Members call NHS waits 'unacceptable' - 12/05/05

Hewitt to carry on reform of NHS - 13/05/05 Professor Vincent Marks: "This is really the destruction of the NHS"

Budget cuts mean delays for new cancer treatments - 26/05/05

Last minute op cancellations rise - 27/05/05

NHS 24 savaged by official review - 02/06/05

Arthritis patients denied drugs - 06/06/05

NHS bosses 'worried over targets' - 14/06/05

NHS staff 'reject own hospitals' - 15/06/05

Brain scan woman told wait months - 18/06/05

Nurses 'quitting to afford homes' - 19/06/05

NHS bodies warned over finances - 24/06/05

'Disparities' in UK's healthcare - 07/07/05

Claim over 'hidden' waiting lists - 11/07/05

Neonatal units 'are overwhelmed' - 13/07/05

The undercover hospital cleaner - 13/07/05

Millions still without NHS dentists - 14/07/05

Dirty hospitals to escape charges - 15/07/05 Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt had originally said in May that failing hospitals could face prosecution

NHS 'not putting patients first' - 18/07/05

'I spent £1,400 on travel and parking' - 19/07/05

NHS refuses couples IVF treatment - 19/07/05

Hospitals failing on safety targets, says chief officer - 20/07/05

190,000 patients harmed by hospital safety lapses - 22/07/05

Fewer hospitals get three stars - 26/07/05

Junior doctors face unemployment - 27/07/05

Cash-strapped hospitals plan to close another thousand beds - 31/07/05

NHS officials refuse to pay for 'breakthrough' cancer drug - 31/07/05

Has the prescription worked? - 31/07/05 Five years ago the government launched its NHS Plan

Health inequality gap 'widening' - 11/08/05

Top surgeon calls for NHS rethink - 13/08/05

Patient target 'could harm NHS' - 15/08/05

Cuts keep patients waiting for drugs - 20/08/05

Lethal hospital bug cases rocket - 26/08/05

Large nursing debts 'increasing' - 12/09/05

NHS devolution lessons 'missed' - 21/10/05

Over 2,000 'die from NHS errors' - 03/11/05

Mother refused breast cancer drug - 08/11/05

Record £1bn NHS deficit equals huge rise in cost of bureaucrats - 15/11/05

Cash crisis at first NHS hospital - 16/11/05

Howard attacks flu jab 'bungle' - 23/11/05

Record numbers of NHS trusts in crisis - 26/11/05

Many dentists 'set to quit NHS' - 28/11/05

'Few jobs' for physio graduates - 28/11/05

NHS workers face 2% pay increase - 05/12/05

Balancing the books the hard way - 07/12/05

Reforms 'will raise NHS deficits' - 07/12/05

NHS warned to 'reform or go bust' - 12/12/05

Hospitals fail cleanliness checks - 14/12/05

Hospitals fail cleanliness checks - 15/12/05

Student medics 'owe over £20,000' - 18/12/05

NHS 'failing' on lethal infection - 21/12/05

Trust boss resigns over £18m hole - 23/12/05

'A lifetime of feeling breathless' - 02/01/06 patient denied the simple heart treatment which fixed Tony Blair

Flu plans 'hit by NHS shake-up' - 06/01/06

Debt 'may force NHS service cuts' - 25/01/06

Health trust debts more than £1bn - 27/01/06

NHS in London 'is £240m in debt' - 27/01/06

How England's NHS debt shapes up - 27/01/06

Key dialysis target being missed - 31/01/06

Why are there mounting NHS debts? - 13/02/06

Millions lost as one student nurse in four quits before the end of training - 15/02/06

NHS 'target effect' fears raised - 18/02/06

NHS boss 'not being forced out' - 07/03/06

NHS '£750m in the red' this year - 11/03/06

Social care funds face shortfall - 16/03/06

Staffing crisis closes hospital - 17/03/06

300 jobs to go at two hospitals - 20/03/06

Problem of NHS deficits far worse than admitted, with real debt at £900m - 21/03/06

Hospital to lose staff and beds - 22/03/06

NHS crisis 'threatening patient care' - 23/03/06

Brown 'silence' on NHS criticised - 23/03/06

Health system 'neglects elderly' - 27/03/06

Job losses increase as NHS trusts cut spending - 29/03/06

Trust cuts 150 jobs at hospitals - 29/03/06 Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust needs to save £10m

Hospitals trust to axe 325 jobs - 29/03/06 Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust nees to save £10m

NHS advisers 'cost £200m' as key jobs go - 30/03/06

Medics slam 'vindictive' pay rise - 30/03/06 1% pay rise in April and 1.2% in November

Consultant's dismay over NHS cash - 31/03/06

Hospital trust to lose 160 jobs - 03/04/06 Medway NHS Trust

Hundreds face axe at NHS direct - 03/04/06

Doctors urge NHS funding rethink - 03/04/06

Hundreds of health jobs to be cut - 04/04/06 Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, announced the cuts as part of a two-year plan aimed at eliminating its £41.2m debt

Blair is accused of wrecking NHS with confused policies - 05/04/06

Two-year warning by BMA chairman - 05/04/06 "the health service is in a bit of a mess"

Round up some patients and reopen the operating theatre. The Health Secretary is paying us a visit - 05/04/06 As Miss Hewitt arrived she was heckled by protesters angry at the job cuts, which include up to 350 nurses

Hewitt forced into making hospital rounds - 06/04/06 Miss Hewitt had visited only 11 hospitals in 11 months since becoming Health Secretary. It's good to know she's got her finger on the NHS's pulse!

Debt-hit NHS trust axes 720 jobs - 06/04/06 Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust needs to save £30m

Thousands of dentists ditch NHS - 07/04/06

Patients angry over hospital cuts - 08/04/06

NHS job cuts 'set to quadruple' - 10/04/06 More than 6,000 job losses have been announced in recent weeks as trusts battle financial difficulties

NHS trust cuts 500 jobs as it fails to resolve debt - 12/04/06 It brings the nationwide total of job losses announced in recent weeks to more than 7,600


'Come clean' on deficit, NHS told - 12/04/06

Hundreds more hospital jobs to go - 13/04/06 Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust is to shed up to 800 jobs. Its budget will be cut by £5m next year and a £3m debt has to be repaid

Timeline of health service jobs cuts - 13/04/06

NHS 'enjoying best year' - Hewitt - 22/04/06 But in reality the service faces a financial deficit of up to £800m and some 7,000 job losses have already been confirmed

Hewitt seeks to calm NHS 'unrest' - 23/04/06

Nurse cuts 'hit 50% of hospitals' - 23/04/06

'Best ever' NHS claim condemned - 23/04/06

Hewitt has my confidence - Blair - 24/04/06

Managers swell NHS staff increase - 24/04/06

Hewitt heckled by health workers - 24/04/06

Wards face closure to save £11m Weston Area NHS Trust

Hospital looking to axe 105 posts - 26/04/06 Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust

Hewitt heckled by furious nurses - 26/04/06 for the second time in three days! Nurses were angered by her suggestion they had had big pay rises and debts were confined to a minority of trusts. Her speech ended in confusion as the audience erupted in jeers

NHS trust plans to axe 85 posts - 27/04/06 two NHS trusts in Wiltshire need to save £20m

£24m debt NHS trust cuts 650 jobs - 28/04/06 Barking, Redbridge and Havering Hospitals NHS Trust

NHS deficits 'hit mental health' - 28/04/06

Rally to fight hospital jobs cuts - 29/04/06 The University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust has debts of £15m

Medics slam 'short-sighted' cuts - 05/05/06

NHS staff pile pressure on Hewitt - 07/05/06

Plan to cut county's A&E services - 08/05/06 Managers in Lincolnshire need to reduce debts of £17.5m

Health trust debts spark debate - 09/05/06 Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is losing 325 jobs and East Sussex NHS up to 250 jobs

Big cuts to county's NHS services - 10/05/06 Gloucestershire's trusts face a deficit of £38m

Outrage at NHS waiting list party - 10/05/06

NHS chief 'blase about job cuts' - 11/05/06

1,000 NHS workers protest at cuts - 11/05/06

PFI hospitals face huge overspend - 19/05/06

NHS trust to axe up to 150 posts - 19/05/06

Hospital cutting