RECENT BRIEFINGS

  NB Silver Voices Members can obtain back copies of specific briefings by e-mailing info@silvervoices.co.uk

BREAKING THE IMPASSE ON FREE TV LICENCES

Briefing 31/21 dated 3 June 2021 included a Silver Voices letter to the Director General of the BBC calling for a joint approach to the Department of Culture to break the impasse over free TV licences for the over-75s.

FACE TO FACE MEETINGS WITH GPs

Briefing 30/21 dated 30 May 2021 proposes a campaign to enforce the right of patients to have a timely face to face appointment with their GP. The pressures of the pandemic are being used to alter the ways in which the NHS is delivered locally. Remote consultations only are inherently unsafe and discriminate against older patients.

UK STATE PENSION SHAME

Briefing 29/21, dated 24 May 2021, reported on  damning research by the House of Commons, showing how poor the UK state pension is in comparison to other developed countries and why pensioner poverty is so high in the UK. 

THE CHANGING FACE OF THE NHS

Briefing 26/21, dated 5 May 2021, outlined the insidious service transformations taking place in the NHS under cover of the pandemic, including increased charging for previously free services and refusal of face-to-face appointments with doctors.

VACCINATION SURVEY

Our Briefing 21/21 outlines the results of a major survey on the Covid-19 vaccination programme. There was strong support for a vaccine passport/certification scheme for both foreign and domestic use. And nine in ten members agreed that health and social care staff in direct contact with vulnerable people should be vaccinated.

RETIREMENT HOUSING

Our Briefing 14/21 proposed a new model of retirement homes, advanced community villages, which are self-sufficient in terms of funding and retain close links with the surrounding communities.  The Advanced Communities Prospectus can be accessed here:

Advanced Communities Newsletter

 COST OF DYING

Briefing 06/21 highlights the staggering rises in the costs of funerals over the last decade and the need for independent regulation and inspection of the funerals industry as recommended by the Competition and Markets Authority.

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