We won't be silenced over threats to Oxon's cancer care

 PUBLIC MEETING: 

7.00pm Thursday June 20th, Oxford Town Hall

Lawyers for NHS England have issued a warning that publicly raising concerns about the impact on patients of their proposal to contract out Oxford's PET-CT scanning service could result in a defamation claim.

We say we have the right and the duty to speak out and to report well-founded concerns.

The Oxford NUJ has invited three speakers from the worlds of cancer care, defamation law and journalism to address the urgent issues raised by NHS England's warning.

How can we work together to prevent threats and intimidation from closing down informed debate about the future of vital public services? Is a change in the law required?

Speakers:
Tamsin Allen @tamsinallen1, a Partner at Bindmans solicitors who specialises in defamation and representing whistleblowers. She has recently acted for Christopher Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower.

Professor Adrian Harris, A consultant medical oncologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust who continues to raise concerns over the impact that contracting out the PET-CT services will have on the quality and safety of patient care

Seamus Dooley @Seamusdo, the Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists , who has spent his career as a journalist and NUJ official defending the independence of the press and public service journalism

Join the discussion; Register to attend at Eventbrite

Does your employer understand?

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The Great Pension Robbery Explained. Part 1: RPI to CPI

In the June 2010 Budget the Chancellor announced without consultation that the Government will “switch to a system where we up-rate public service pensions in line with consumer prices rather than retail prices”. That is a switch from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Price Index.CPI and RPI are calculated from the same underlying price data but there are significant differences, notably the following:

1. Various housing elements included in RPI are excluded from CPI including mortgage interest payments and council tax.


2. CPI is generally calculated using a geometric mean whereas RPI in contrast is calculated using an arithmetic mean.


3. In classifying goods and services, CPI follows an international classification system whereas RPI follows its own system.

As a result of these differences, since 1997 (when the 12 month rate of change for CPI was first available), RPI has been on average 0.8% a year higher than CPI. The repercussions for pension scheme members are therefore somewhat obvious, thousands cut from the value of individual public sector pensions at a stroke, without consultation or negotiation.