Cystic fibrosis is a life limiting condition affecting the respiratory and digestive system of sufferers. There is no cure at present only medical treatments to alleviate symptoms, fight infections and digest food. These medications need to be taken several times a day. Prescriptions now cost over £7 per item. CF patients should not have to pay for medications that keep them well and alive.

The LCP is under scrutiny because there are claims that the withdrawal of food and water and the administration of strong painkillers is speeding up the dying process. This can all happen without the consent or even the knowledge of the patient or their family. Each year nearly 130,000 patients are put on to the Liverpool Care Pathway. That’s around 356 deaths per day. A national audit by the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool and the Royal College of Physicians into the Liverpool Care Pathway found that last year, in 44 per cent of cases when conscious patients were placed on the pathway, there was no record that the decision had been discussed with them. That means that around 57,000 patients weren't informed that they had been put on the pathway last year. Our Story My mother Elise Devine was put on the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital, after recovering from a kidney infection. There was no justification for this - which a Jury concluded 7 years later at her inquest. A visiting doctor, who had spoken to Elsie just before she was administered unjustified Morphine, noted in the medical file that she was “happy with no complaints and waiting for her daughter”. Her son Harry sat in the lounge area and chatted quite happily with his Mother, not knowing the LCP regime had already commenced by means of a Fentanyl patch (135 mcg morphine), which had been hidden under her clothes. He kissed his Mother goodnight and said I will see you tomorrow. The next morning she was comatose with more drugs that had been administered by a portable syringe driver which was put into her back and placed under her pillow out of sight. The LCP commenced without Elsie or her family's knowledge or consent, no one has justified why our Mother was placed on the LCP which subsequently ended her life in 2 days, and neither Harry nor I ever spoke to our dear Mother again. What we need to do Currently, there is no legal requirement to get consent from a patient or family member before a patient is placed on the LCP. The NHS website states that “while legal consent is not required to place a patient on the LCP, the fact that the plan is being considered should always be discussed with a relative or carer and, if possible, the patient themselves”. This needs to change. Please sign the petition to ensure that a law is enforced to protect us and our loved ones. A document is needed to sign to show that we agree and understand why we, or our family members, are being put on the terminal pathway and that we have given consent. We shouldn't have to fight for justice after death; the law should be there to protect us when we are alive. This affects all of us at some point. We all have the right to say goodbye to our loved ones. Please make this happen for all our sakes.

THE RIGHT TO LIVE saving lives not lining the pockets of the big pharma companies

Approximately 1,000 young people (aged between 1 year and 30 years) die suddenly and without medical explanation every year in the U.K alone, leaving families with one burning question-WHY? A new test known as Genetic Autopsy can provide answers for up to a third of these families (up to fifth of S.I.D.S (cot death) cases) and,in some cases, can highlight the potential for death in siblings/family members. We want ALL families affected by Sudden Unexplained Death to be offered this test to provide answers and reassurance.

On September 1st, the Grainger Medical Group GP Practices in Benwell, Newcastle were handed over to the private healthcare company Care UK. This followed a tendering process that was obscured from public view, with patients at the practice only finding out that their GP was being tendered out after the contract had been awarded to Care UK. Care UK have a poor track record of providing GP style health care services. In the past they have lost 6,000 X-ray records, and turned away a patient from an urgent care centre, who in fact had meningitis, because of the terms of their contract. Staff at the practice have resigned in protest at the decision. The Council has the power to scrutinise the tendering process, yet did not look at the bidding process. This is a serious error of judgement and does not bode well for the ability of supposed scrutinising bodies to play their role in an increasingly privatised NHS. With the passing of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, private providers will become increasingly common place in our NHS. It is important our elected representatives hold them to account.

The Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) is the only one in Pembrokeshire. By closing it, newborn babies will have to be sent to Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, a round trip of around 80 miles in a rural area. Many babies will not survive this trip and parents will not be able to visit their babies due to the long distance and difficulties with transport in this area. This will have a long-term knock-on effect with the parents not being able to bond with their babies. My daughter was born six weeks premature and without the care she received immediately after birth in SCBU she would not have survived. She is now a healthy 25 year old with two sons and a daughter of her own, my gorgeous grandchildren who are the light of my life. My youngest granddaughter also needed special care when she was born prematurely, she was several months early and tiny. She is now, thanks to the care and dedication of the staff on SCBU, a healthy and happy 3 year old. My son and his wife would have been unable to spend any time with her if they had been forced to travel to Carmarthen. Giving birth to a baby that needs special care is stressful enough without adding extra problems for the parents. They need to be able to visit their baby often, especially if Mum is breastfeeding and forcing them to travel to Carmarthen will make an already hard time even harder. Most young families don't have their own transport and public transport in this area is almost non-existent.

People die of lung cancer . All to often the person with lung cancer cannot be helped at it is too late to cure it

Its Important that this test is done as symptoms can be relieved by supplementing with B12 which cost as little as 50Pence per Ampule , saving NHS Billions Pounds, and saving Billions on welfare assistance , saving millions of people in UK from suffering from this deficiency and getting diagnosed with more serious conditions . Dr. Chandey as done so much research into this condition and as helped Thousands of people back to Health , many have been in Wheelchairs. Also Martin Hooper as just published a book on The Forgotton Illness . This as long been neglected by NHS not testing for B12 deficiency .!!

Community Interest Companies, CIC, are being formed from various parts of our NHS, for example District Nurses, school nurses, cottage hospitals and as such are not required and will not answer any questions under the Freedom of Information Act. We cannot find out about such things as MRSA rates, staffing rates, number of lost records, bullying, pay rates for senior executives, etc. CIC are funded by us out of the NHS budget but we have no rights to ask what the money is being spent on and how successful the spend has been. They say they are "Not for profit" companies but that does not mean they are not a "Not for loss". The Huddersfield Examiner ran an article on the situation http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2012/05/18/holme-valley-hospital-s-privacy-over-public-information-86081-30994333/ These are your services, you family members, children that depend and use these services so do we not have the right to ask uncomfortable questions and find out where our money is being spent and how efficiently it is being used.

A several million pound publicly funded contract has been agreed but not yet signed by NHS Lambeth. The money is not being spent on employing qualified and experienced counsellors by The Awareness Centre who has been subcontracted to provide counselling. There has not been any transparent discussion on the role of trainee counsellors in Lambeth and nobody in Lambeth has been properly consulted about the change to services. The current counselling service that provides experienced and qualified therapists for patients registered with GP's in Lambeth is being replaced by a private organisation that uses trainees and volunteers only. This means that they don't get paid (and even have to pay for their internal training) and that they will be working alongside no qualified staff. This is both unethical for patients and for trainees. I have been working for the NHS since 1984 and the complexity of cases has got harder and harder and I dread to imagine the impact this will have on patients and staff.

The consortium – which includes Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust – aims to cut pay for nurses, doctors and other healthcare staff by up to 15 per cent at a time of unprecedented change and financial pressures in the health service A total of 20 trusts across the south west are ploughing £200,000 into the cartel in an attempt to introduce radical changes to pay and conditions through a regional pay system. The proposals – which could include making staff work longer hours with less annual leave and smaller pay packets – would undermine the national pay system that provides a fair and transparent system and ensures health managers anywhere in the country can recruit staff with the right skills and experience to give patients the right care. The proposals will be bad for staff morale and have an adverse knock-on effect for patient care. It will damage recruitment at the hospital and cause staff instability as fewer people are attracted to work in a low pay zone. With a workforce of 4,000 at Salisbury, lower local pay will also hit the local economy.

Patients will face longer journeys to A&E at other hospitals in Manchester and longer delays for treatment because these hospitals are already working well above their planned capacity. Patients lives in Trafford will be put at risk if they are stuck in traffic jams when they need emergency care. And loved ones face longer, more expensive journeys to visit patients in hospitals outside the borough. See www.savetraffordgeneral.com