...the great legal aid scam.

Here in Northern Ireland we are currently being treated to, of all things, a lawyer's strike. It is all over something called 'Legal Aid,' a taxpayer funded scheme which pays legal costs for people of low incomes. The Justice Ministry in Northern Ireland is trying to reform the scheme because it costs enormously more than the equivalent scheme in the rest of the United Kingdom. Barristers and Solicitors have been withdrawing services in protest.

Here's a couple of stories I've heard recently. One concerns one of the biggest solicitors offices in Belfast. They charge for every letter they send in relation to a case, like all solicitors. They will routinely send 3 letters on the same day requesting information from the courts, which means that they can charge 3 times. Their client doesn't care because Legal Aid are picking up the bill. Legal Aid can't protest because they will be accused of denying the poor access to justice.

I've also read that Northern Ireland trials average 6 adjournments each - a much higher number than in England and Wales. One of the things that Barristers are protesting about is that they will now be paid per case instead of being paid by appearance. Payment by appearance could't possibly be connected with the high number of adjournments, could it?

The legal profession have been scamming the taxpayer for years. We shouldn't stand for it.

....missing the point.

I've read two articles in the past few days, one in the Times and one in Private Eye, noting that all the media coverage around the government's planned reforms of the NHS in England have focused on structures, powerbases, accountability, splits in the coalition, budgets, privatization and so on and yet there has been no mention at all of actual clinical care.

Alice Thompson notes in the Times that the most important aspect of care in any hospital from the patient's point of view is simple nursing. M.D. in Private Eye notes the shockingly poor standard of diabetes treatment in hospitals as revealed by the National Diabetes Inpatient Audit, despite the fact that diabetes is our most common chronic illness.

Some of the highlights;

1) 31.0% of sites had no inpatient diabetes specialist nurses

2)69.4% of inpatients with diabetes had not been seen by a member of the diabetes team

3)37.1% of inpatients with diabetes experienced at least one medication error

Maybe highlights is the wrong word. Perhaps if GPs had control of the system they would be able to force a change in culture - I imagine that GPs know a good deal more about chronic illness than hospital staff who deal primarily with acute illness. Or maybe not. It would certainly be nice if this kind of stuff was the focus of the debate rather than party politics.

...the scheduling of the FA Cup semi-final

The best day's football I can remember involved two F.A. Cup semi-finals of 1990 which were played back-to-back on a Sunday afternoon in April 1990. Chrystal Palace came from behind to beat the still mighty Liverpool 4 - 3 at Villa Park and then Oldham and Manchester United drew 3 - 3 at Maine Road. Two fabulous games which held the attention of the nation.

This year's semi-finals are being played at Wembley, which is a problem in itself as it dilutes the importance of the final - they were interviewing the victorious Manchester City players on the pitch at the end of the game as if they had won the trophy - but today's semi-final between Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers has been scheduled to kick off at the same time as the Premier League game between Liverpool and Arsenal, one of the most important games of the season.

The F.A. cup has had to suffer a great deal over the past 20 years and is no longer the great competition it once was. All the same, it shouldn't be beyond the ability of the authorities to ensure that it is the main event. Does it really have to be overshadowed by the Premier League, even on semi-final day?