Furious doctor interrupts British Prime Minister Cameron's visit to Guys Hospital

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• published: 22 Jun 2011
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The Prime Minister and his deputy probably thought it was good photo opportunity. But they hadn't counted on the actions of a surgeon who was sticking to the rules about hygiene despite the special visitors. Bursting into a room during a photocall at St Guy's Hospital in London, David Nunn firmly showed them and gathered journalists who was boss. The incident came on the day that David Cameron announced a U-turn on NHS reforms as he accepted health experts' demands for changes to Government proposals. Mr Nunn entered the ward where Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg were chatting with a patient, exclaiming he was a 'senior orthopaedic surgeon'. Clearly angered by the journalists' and aides' disregard for the hygiene rules he put them in their place. Talking directly to them he seemed to object to them having not rolled their sleeves up or removing their ties. Mr Nunn said: 'Excuse me, I'm the senior orthopaedic surgeon in this department. Why is it that we're all told to walk around like this and these people...' He then flashed his arms in the direction of the journalists. Mr Cameron looked clearly perplexed by the orthopaedic surgeon's sudden entrance and aides quickly tried to smooth things over. They swiftly ushered Mr Nunn out into the corridor before Mr Cameron took over saying: 'Why don't you disappear,' and gesticulating with his arm. In the background Mr Nunn can be heard shouting: 'I still mean it,' which the Prime Minister swiftly agrees with as they leave. A cameraman can be overheard saying: 'We'll come back.' And as they leave the small ward Mr Nunn shouts: I'm not having it.' The bizarre scene unfolded when the politicians were visiting the London hospital to unveil changes to reforms to the NHS. Changes, revealed by the Prime Minister in an article for the Daily Mail yesterday, include hospital doctors and nurses, as well as GPs, taking charge of commissioning from bureaucrats. A 2013 deadline for reform has been abandoned, with only those GP-led groups who are 'ready and willing' to take charge of the NHS budget having to do so. And crucially, there will be more controls on the extension in competition between private, voluntary and state providers in the NHS. The Health and Social Care Bill is also being sent back to committee stage in the Commons, meaning months more delays as Parliamentary wrangling starts again. Mr Cameron insisted retreating in the face of controversy was a 'sign of strength' last night as he accepted health experts' demands for changes to his flagship NHS reforms. The Prime Minister said the Coalition had 'listened and learned' as he agreed to rewrite plans to put GPs in charge of buying NHS care for patients. He sought to make a virtue of the about-turn, the latest in a series by the Government, insisting voters had 'respect' for leaders who were ready to concede they had made mistakes. 'Politicians hate admitting that we ever got anything wrong... I think it's a sign of strength, actually,' he said. 'I think people respect a government that feels it is strong enough to say "hold on, we haven't got every element right, we're not taking enough people with us, let's stop, let's get this right". 'That is what you do in any other walk of life, so it seems perfectly good common sense to do it in government. I think it is a sign of strength to pause, to change, to improve and to recognise you'll have a pretty uncomfortable couple of months and people will throw a few bricks at you. But so what? The NHS is too precious, this is too important not to get it right. dailymail.co.uk

Furious doctor interrupts British Prime Minister Cameron's visit to Guys Hospital

• Report rights infringement
• published: 22 Jun 2011
• views: 29088

The Prime Minister and his deputy probably thought it was good photo opportunity. But they hadn't counted on the actions of a surgeon who was sticking to the rules about hygiene despite the special visitors. Bursting into a room during a photocall at St Guy's Hospital in London, David Nunn firmly showed them and gathered journalists who was boss. The incident came on the day that David Cameron announced a U-turn on NHS reforms as he accepted health experts' demands for changes to Government proposals. Mr Nunn entered the ward where Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg were chatting with a patient, exclaiming he was a 'senior orthopaedic surgeon'. Clearly angered by the journalists' and aides' disregard for the hygiene rules he put them in their place. Talking directly to them he seemed to object to them having not rolled their sleeves up or removing their ties. Mr Nunn said: 'Excuse me, I'm the senior orthopaedic surgeon in this department. Why is it that we're all told to walk around like this and these people...' He then flashed his arms in the direction of the journalists. Mr Cameron looked clearly perplexed by the orthopaedic surgeon's sudden entrance and aides quickly tried to smooth things over. They swiftly ushered Mr Nunn out into the corridor before Mr Cameron took over saying: 'Why don't you disappear,' and gesticulating with his arm. In the background Mr Nunn can be heard shouting: 'I still mean it,' which the Prime Minister swiftly agrees with as they leave. A cameraman can be overheard saying: 'We'll come back.' And as they leave the small ward Mr Nunn shouts: I'm not having it.' The bizarre scene unfolded when the politicians were visiting the London hospital to unveil changes to reforms to the NHS. Changes, revealed by the Prime Minister in an article for the Daily Mail yesterday, include hospital doctors and nurses, as well as GPs, taking charge of commissioning from bureaucrats. A 2013 deadline for reform has been abandoned, with only those GP-led groups who are 'ready and willing' to take charge of the NHS budget having to do so. And crucially, there will be more controls on the extension in competition between private, voluntary and state providers in the NHS. The Health and Social Care Bill is also being sent back to committee stage in the Commons, meaning months more delays as Parliamentary wrangling starts again. Mr Cameron insisted retreating in the face of controversy was a 'sign of strength' last night as he accepted health experts' demands for changes to his flagship NHS reforms. The Prime Minister said the Coalition had 'listened and learned' as he agreed to rewrite plans to put GPs in charge of buying NHS care for patients. He sought to make a virtue of the about-turn, the latest in a series by the Government, insisting voters had 'respect' for leaders who were ready to concede they had made mistakes. 'Politicians hate admitting that we ever got anything wrong... I think it's a sign of strength, actually,' he said. 'I think people respect a government that feels it is strong enough to say "hold on, we haven't got every element right, we're not taking enough people with us, let's stop, let's get this right". 'That is what you do in any other walk of life, so it seems perfectly good common sense to do it in government. I think it is a sign of strength to pause, to change, to improve and to recognise you'll have a pretty uncomfortable couple of months and people will throw a few bricks at you. But so what? The NHS is too precious, this is too important not to get it right. dailymail.co.uk