I have grave concerns about the NHS app and the fact that many, especially those of us with dementia, will struggle to use it. I have written about this before. But in a week which featured the Government launching their ten-year plan for the health service, and repeating their aspiration to make us more and more dependent on this faulty piece of technology, I feel it’s worth outlining my views again.
It is complicated to access, and requires your email address, password and date of birth in a very specific format. If you get any of it wrong, you can’t get on the app.
If you forget your password and seek to change it, it is equally complex. You cannot talk to the app hub, and they ignore emails. If my well-being and treatment are dependent on this app, I fear for my future!
I’ve messaged the Health and Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, about it, but to no avail. I also wrote to and emailed our MP, Danny Chambers, and he has said he will take the issue up when parliamentary time and workload permit.
I trust and believe him.GB News invited me on to talk to Nigel Farage about it, which was great. When I put a tweet up about my concerns, many observed it isn’t just Dementia sufferers, but the elderly generally and those who don’t have good broadband or just aren’t very tech savvy, including many of the most vulnerable in society. Ministers must think again.
The week also saw, for me, another first: a Chancellor of the Exchequer reduced to tears during Prime Minister’s questions! Starmer was being hammered over his failed attempt to reform welfare spending, which saw his own side rebel, and they had to make many humiliating concessions.
Alastair Stewart: Living with dementia can be challenging at the best of times but I fear for my future
GB NEWSPolitically, it was catastrophic for Starmer and Reeves, and it demonstrates an obvious truth: Labour back-benchers can’t and won’t cut welfare spending.
The Leader is not in control of his parliamentary party, with its huge majority. It reminded me of a comment made by the former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont, when observing Thatcher in the dying days of office.
He spoke of her giving the impression of ‘being in Office but not in Power……It also means Reeves' Budget numbers no longer add up and make tax rises in her Autumn Budget inevitable - despite their pledge not to raise taxes.
The concessions also added to public spending rather than reducing it, with billions more to help people back into work. The attacks on Starmer were also an attack on Reeves and her stewardship of the Treasury and the UK economy.
Her reduction to tears was understandable, but what is more, her subsequent explanation that it was all due to a personal matter didn’t add up any more than her fiscal sums. Starmer didn’t help when he admitted he hadn’t even noticed: he was either insensitive, inattentive or uncaring.
It was a real fail, and one that cost both of them much political capital from a rapidly diminishing supply. Possibly the worst week on record for any new Government. Starmer lacks lieutenants of the calibre of Charles Clarke and John Reid to put him back on track, and it is, in my view, a turning point.
Labour had another stumble after the attack on RAF aircraft at Brize Norton. The government rightly sought to ban the group allegedly responsible, Palestine Action Group.
The courts will decide the guilt or innocence of those alleged to be involved. But a clutch of Labour backbenchers voted against the ban. Many have large numbers of Muslims in their constituencies, so anything anti-Palestinian could cost them votes.
The demography of politics is an uncomfortable reality. One of their number, Zarah Sultana, announced she was leaving Labour to join a new left-wing party led by former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Many had to Google Ms Sultana, not a household name nor a figure of much stature..The last time Labour had a split, those leaving to form a new party (the SDP) were defecting men and women of real stature and calibre: Cabinet ministers like Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers. I
In its early days, the SDP was a significant feature of politics and rocketed in the polls, not unlike Reform UK. When they ultimately merged with the liberals and fought the 1992 General Election as the Alliance, they were a force to reckon with; the issues were membership of the EU and trade union reform. They struck real chords with left and right and opened the door to Blair’s New Labour and his decade of dominance.
Corbyn and Sultana aren’t in the same league… One of our favourite charities is our local young person’s hospice, Naomi House for babies and toddlers, and Jack's Place for teenagers and young adults. Their superb head of fundraising, Paul Morgan, dropped by for an update chat. This is a brilliant charity.
The work is vital, dealing with an issue we all pray we never have to deal with - early death. We do what we can, and they are so good at keeping in touch.
Efficiency is as important to a charity as it is business. Not all charities are as good at either, and certainly not in the way Naomi/Jack’s place is.
Our daughter and her husband flew in from Saudi Arabia, where they both work, which is always a joy. Their love and support put everything in perspective.
I told Clem, a highly qualified teacher executive head, and a senior education manager with a Saudi-British group rolling out international schools across the Gulf states, how I wished she was Education Secretary here. “Me too!” she said. If only she could find a political party she supported.
I fear many of our best and brightest young people feel the same. If politics gives up on the young, elderly and mentally ill, millions will turn their backs on politics.
This would be a disaster for our country and society. I pray for a shift in the febrile times. As I once wrote, maybe our children and grandchildren will eventually do a better job of it than we. I do hope so.
Most Read
