Brexit dividend

Jonathan Blake

Wonder if Lord Adonis and Alastair Campbell will be retweeting Guido Fawkes today?  The latter writes, "Have to say the Number 10 press team have played a blinder this morning. First they got Marr to agree to an easy pre-record interview rather than a live. Then they got the BBC to lead all morning on the Brexit dividend rather than the fact that the money is actually coming from tax rises".

Is it fair to say that the BBC has acted as Mrs May's lapdog over this? Well, here's an example of how they've been reporting it - a BBC-on-BBC interview on Breakfast: 

Sally Nugent: We're joined now by our political correspondent Jonathan Blake. Jonathan, so we're hearing about this kind of...it's being framed as money as a result of Brexit, but it's really not as straightforward as that, is it?
Jonathan Blake: No. Things in politics are rarely as simple as the politicians might like to point out. And when the Prime Minister talks about the Brexit dividend, that is something which a lot of people argue doesn't really exist. The UK will stop paying into the EU budget after we leave the EU, but that money may well be accounted for elsewhere if the government wants to keep funding sectors such as agriculture which get funding back from the EU as a result. There is also the rebate that the UK gets back every year as well from its contributions. And the government's own spending watchdog, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility, has said that tax revenues will fall overall as a result of Brexit. The government has accepted that so we'll have less money to spend in general. Nevertheless, that's the detail. It's the message that matters for the government and for the Prime Minister to come out and clearly link the money she apparently thinks the UK will save as a result of leaving the EU to NHS funding is a very powerful thing for her to be able to do. It will please a lot of Brexiteers within her own party and beyond. It's not quite as much as many NHS leaders and campaigners had wanted.  And, as you heard just there, Labour are saying that the government has left the NHS in crisis and it will cost billions to recoup the amount they will have to borrow as a result of spending cuts. And even if we take into account the so-called Brexit dividend, the Prime Minister writing in the Mail on Sunday this morning, saying that alone will not be enough and we as a country will have to contribute a bit more. To translate that Prime Ministerial-speak for you: Taxes will have to go up to pay for this. 

Even Lord Adonis and Alastair Campbell would surely struggle to pretend that that was pro-government, pro-Brexit BBC reporting!

Incidentally, more than one person hereabouts said that the BBC News website completely ignored the the PM's "Brexit dividend" claim last night. Checking Newsniffer, the first version of the BBC's main online report on the story was published at 22:40 and, indeed, didn't mention the "Brexit dividend". It was only at 23:55 that the phrase began appearing in the online report. (Thereafter it's been all over the BBC of course). Checking TV Eyes to see if the TV coverage was any quicker it turns out that Hugh Pym did use it at 22:18 on BBC One's main news bulletin. Make of that what you will!

Hugh Pym and the BBC's NHS coverage

For anyone who's interested, here's a transcript of the main part of this week's Newswatch: 

Hugh Pym

Samira Ahmed: Now, not for the first time, we are in the middle of a winter of difficulties and challenges for the National Health Service. BBC News has been reporting them with considerable attention. 

BBC Newsreader: Tonight at 6:00pm, an apology from Theresa May after new figures reveal pressure on the NHS this winter. From ambulance transfer delays, unprecedented calls to the helpline and operations postponed. BBC Newsreader: A stark claim by doctors: Winter pressures have left patients dying prematurely in hospital corridors. They say safety in A&E units in England and Wales has been compromised at a sometimes intolerable level. 

Doctor: There is a clear emergency and what a number of other observers have clearly described as a crisis. 

BBC Newsreader: One in ten nurses is leaving the NHS in England every year, as the gap between those leaving and joining the profession widens. BBC Newsreader: Hospital consultants in Wales say patient safety is being compromised and that the NHS and social care are chronically under resourced. 

Consultant: We've got patients that are in the department where we don't have space to see them and then we are coming back the next day and some of the patients are still here. It's getting worse every winter, but this is the worst we have seen it. 

Samira Ahmed: Viewer Mike Hill reacted to the coverage he'd seen by writing, "Every year the BBC in January encourages public hysteria by sensationalist reporting - an open door is offered to every medical group, trade union, charity and politician with the same crisis message." And Robert Glassborow put it like this: "I am tired of hearing the scurrilous comments on BBC News programmes running down the NHS, and the annual pressures they are coping with admirably. The nursing staff are demoralised as a result". Meanwhile, Brian Megson declared himself a fan of BBC News, but he echoed those reservations. 

Brian: What I don't enjoy is your constant commentary about the NHS. You start off in December and then you really let rip in January. Every day there's a report about how bad it is, people dying in corridors, not enough nurses, not enough doctors. There's always something wrong with the NHS every day for you guys and you really should stop it. It's a wonderful organisation, why can't you let it be? It's a very big, tough organisation to run for those who are running it and I wish he would stop this obsession and fixation with it. 

Samira Ahmed: Well, Hugh Pym, the health editor for BBC News is with me now. Thank you for coming on Newswatch. There is a sense that the 'NHS in crisis' story comes around each winter. Are you too negative in how you focus on it? 

Hugh Pym: Well, Samira, there's always a balance to be struck, we are very aware of that. The balance between recognising that the NHS does a fantastic job throughout the year and that it's a very popular and well-regarded institution, the staff work extremely hard, but also recognising that if it's under great pressure and staff are feeling the pressure, and that's often what we're being told, then we need to report that. We need to hold the government to account on the performance of the NHS and the management of the NHS in different parts of the UK. Now, this winter, it's been made abundantly clear to us by many people on the front line that the pressure is greater than they've known before, even worse than last year. Many of them think the NHS is underfunded. We've had stories from patients, as well, about very, very long waits in ambulances outside hospitals, and we have a duty to report that. 

Samira Ahmed: You've absolutely made the journalistic case for why this is news. It's about what's abnormal. But is there enough consideration of the cumulative effect of all the stories, that they might actually be hurting people's confidence, and undermining staff morale, which is what some viewers are concerned about? 

Hugh Pym: Well, a couple of the stories that we did, just to highlight, as we've seen just a few minutes ago, the letter from 68 leading A&E consultants, again, on the front line of the NHS, writing to the Prime Minister, saying they have very serious safety concerns, that people could be dying prematurely because of waits in corridors - that letter echoed by consultants in Wales, writing to the First Minister - If that's how they feel in the NHS, then I think we have to report that. And, when it went out on social media, there were a lot of tweets from people in different parts of the NHS, welcoming the fact that senior clinicians were speaking out like that. So, in terms of the negative impact, it's hard to tell with morale, but we have done positive stories about the role of nurses, for example, a whole day of coverage on the very valuable role they play, and also positive stories about how some hospitals, in the face of great pressure, are coping and are having to devise ways of streaming people through A&E. I highlighted a scheme in Ipswich. We've looked at the performance of Luton's A&E, hitting all the targets. A video on our website on that. So I think we do always try to highlight the steps which have been taken to mitigate this pressure. 

Samira Ahmed: It is interesting you mentioned there the day focused on nursing, because it was Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, tweeted that while the BBC's focus was good, he accused the BBC of underplaying the increase in nurse training places. Does he have a point? 

Hugh Pym: Well, we were highlighting the story, which was that last year, the year to September 2017, more nurses had left the NHS than joined it in England. And there was a 3,000 gap, and that hadn't been seen at all in recent years. There was a small gap in the previous year, but it had been positive a few years before that, highlighting the real recruitment and retention challenges the NHS has. Now, the Government's line is, new training places have been set up for a future flow of nurses and we did report that. But they're, in a way, different stories. Yes, planning for the future is one thing, which the Government is trying to do. What was the situation last year? That was illustrated by the facts we quoted from NHS Digital. 

Samira Ahmed: Well, it is very clear from our conversation so far that there is a real political issue in how the NHS is being reported, given the Government and the Opposition say very different things about the funding going into the NHS, and how it is being spent. How much of a challenge is that for you reporting it? 

Hugh Pym: It's a great challenge, because the flow of funding is very complicated. Yes, the Government can say that they've put more money into the NHS, and others can say, including Labour, that it's not enough, and that's of course, in some sense, is a value judgment, but there's an increasing view across different parts of the NHS and royal colleges, trade unions and think tanks, saying that, in England and also the UK, spending is lagging behind what it might be as a share of national income. So getting that balance right and also highlighting the need for the NHS to be efficient, and how it can save money, is always quite a difficult thing to get right. But there is now an increasing debate about the need for a cross-party view on this, involving everyone across society -How do they want the NHS to be funded and social care? Where's the money going to come from, does it need more tax?- on this, of course, the 70th year of the NHS. 

Samira Ahmed: What's interesting is we started off talking about viewers' concern that the BBC is being too negative. But it has also been striking that the BBC's logo for this story is 'NHS Winter', whereas in the past it has been 'NHS Crisis' which the BBC also got criticised for. Some might say, is the BBC being too shy of being as hard as it needs to be on this story? 

Hugh Pym: Well, we've been very careful in our reporting not to use the word 'crisis', and not to brand it as 'a crisis'. It's for others to make that assertion. Many are. Many clinicians as well as politicians are saying it is an NHS crisis. I think the best we can do is state the facts, state what is really going on in hospitals, GPs' surgeries, community health, mental health, right around the UK, state it as it is, make the debate about funding as clear as possible and then leave others to judge how serious it is. But I think no-one can be in any doubt, we have laid out there for viewers and listeners that there is a very serious state of affairs in some parts of the NHS, currently in January, with flu being a major problem. But we need to judge things in the months ahead as to where things go from here. 

Samira Ahmed: Hugh Pym, thank you so much. 

Mustn't forget

In amidst all their 'Paradise Papers' stuff,/ their race-obsessed arts guff,/ and their self-promoting puff/ (over their new George Orwell statue), tonight's BBC News at Six did manage to find space for a bit of full-on negativity about Brexit. 

Now, from reading other (non-BBC) reports about the claims from NHS Providers today it's clear that the BBC was reflecting their negativity about Brexit too. But still, this felt like pretty unremitting stuff from Hugh Pym here:

Newsreader: Staff shortfalls are now the biggest single risk facing NHS hospitals in England. The group representing health trusts says recruitment and retention of NHS staff is lagging behind patient demand and is leaving existing workers on what it calls "the edge of safety." The Government insists it's launched the biggest ever training programme for doctors and nurses. Our health editor, Hugh Pym, reports. Hugh Pym: Intolerable pressures on front-line NHS staff and severe workforce shortages, that's life on the front-line, according to the group representing hospitals and other Trusts in England. Saffron Cordery, NHS Providers: I think they are now working on the edge of safe services. We are seeing so much pressure on the front-line. So what we've got to do is make sure that we can really manage that demand, but also increase the workforce. Hugh Pym: And here at Kingston Hospital, in south-west London, they say uncertainty over what Brexit means for EU staff has added to the workforce problem. Kelvin Cheatle, Director of Workforce, Kingston Hospital: So the worry is the turnover of staff, the loss of the skilled, experienced people we have, but also the supply lines for the future of making sure we can recruit people, therapists, nurses, doctors from the EU. Can we attract them in, in this very unstable environment? Hugh Pym: Including nurses, doctors and support staff, Kingston Hospital employs 3,000 people. Last year, 460 staff were EU nationals. This year, that's fallen to 384, though the Trust says it's managed to fill the gap from elsewhere. I met some members of staff at the hospital affected in different ways by Brexit. Female hospital staff member: I've had colleagues in tears... Hugh Pym: They believe they haven't so far had strong enough assurances to make them feel secure about their status. Giuseppe Pichierri, Consultant, Kingston Hospital: I'm concerned about how things are going to develop, how things are going to be decided in the future, what the deadline is going to be in order to apply for settled status. So, yes, there are lots of questions still hanging around at the moment. And, yes, I am concerned. I'm concerned for the rest of my family. Hugh Pym: The Department of Health said nurse and doctor training was being increased and the future of EU nationals was a top priority in the Brexit talks, so their valued contribution to the NHS could continue. Hugh Pym, BBC News. 

Whatever, I don't think Lord Adonis will be complaining about that one!

Hugh Pym says the BBC got it about right

For fans of transcripts everywhere and an interesting, bias-related discussion on this week's Newswatch....

SAMIRA AHMED: Hello, and welcome to Newswatch with me, Samira Ahmed. Vital insight or just demoralising coverage? The BBC's special NHS reporting is in the spotlight....Reports about the National Health Service have been especially frequent on television news bulletins over the last few weeks of winter, but this week more so than ever. The BBC was running a week of special programmes and reports, which they branded as Health Check, about the state of the NHS, including Monday's Panorama and lengthy items on the 6pm and 10pm bulletins on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 

ALISON HOLT, BBC: Seven years ago this council spent about a third of its budget providing care and support to people who are older and disabled. 888 But now the cost of adult social care is heading towards half of its budget, with demand still increasing and that is at the heart of the problems they are wrestling with today. ED THOMAS, BBC: Inside the Royal Blackburn Hospital. The BBC was given unrestricted access to witness the pressures facing the NHS. SURGEON: We have had patients here for 6-9 hours and we cannot find a bed for them. PATIENT: We were in the corridor for five hours. It isn't what you expect from a country like ours. HUGH PYM, BBC: Hospitals like this one are running at 95% capacity which means they are nearly full so with more emergency cases coming in and difficulty discharging some patients back into the community some of those needing surgery are having to wait longer. 

SAMIRA AHMED: The BBC;s health editor and special correspondent and social affairs correspondent there. No question about the comprehensive nature of the coverage but some viewers told us by telephone and webcam that they were concerned about the effect of that coverage and that the BBC had an axe to grind.

VIEWER 1 (Dave Cocks): Every night this week we have seen the BBC 6pm and 10pm news leading with the story on the current state of the NHS. We all know there are many problems in the NHS, and there are many reasons for this including bed blocking, immigration, lifestyles, health tourism, waste, bad procurement, trivial A&Es visits, etc, etc. And yet BBC news would rather have us believe the problems are all due to so-called Tory cuts and that throwing more money at the problem will solve everything. Please, BBC, get your house in order and start reporting the news and not making it. This biased campaign should have been reserved for a Panorama programme, not the main news. 

VIEWER 2 (Grace): Hi. My name is Grace. I understand there are serious strains in the NHS and I understand that things have got worse by some measures, however, BBC News seems to be trying to make us feel angry. We have better NHS care than most people on the planet. Please try and help us to feel grateful for what we have and try to help make things better rather than constantly telling us it is a disaster. 

VIEWER 3 (John Carson): Dear NewsWatch, I am not newsworthy because I am one of the thousands of people who have received treatment from the NHS over the last few months who have nothing to complain about but only have praise for the dedicated, professional staff who have carried out treatment on their behalf. This week we have been bombarded by the news on all channels telling us what is wrong with our National Health Service. It is broken. What you have as the BBC is a responsibility in terms of making sure we do not demoralise the staff any more than they are. I asked a nurse if she was impacted by the adverse publicity seen on the news this week. She looked at me as if it was a silly question. 

VIEWER 4 (Andrew Millar): The BBC has spent the last week with intensive wall-to-wall coverage of pretty bad news about the NHS and some important things that needed saying, about waiting times, and waiting on trolleys is a real issue for a lot of people. However, the effect of that is to produce a downwards spiral of gloom and despondency for staff and patients alike. So, come on BBC! It's not that we don't need to know about these bad things and they do need addressing, but I think that the benefit of the NHS and our appreciation of it we should hear some of the good news too. 

SAMIRA AHMED: Well, the health editor for BBC News, Hugh Pym, has been on the news for much of this week and joins me now. Hugh, viewers, as you've sensed from looking at those clips, have felt there's been so much coverage focused on all the negative things - the A&E waiting times, the cancellations - they wonder whether the BBC is hyping up a sense of crisis? 

HUGH PYM: Well, first of all there have been several strong newslines which we would want to cover as part of our BBC News output. We did some research on waiting times, patients who were waiting longer than 18 weeks in England to get surgery. That is the target. They should be seen for a routine surgery, within 18 weeks, and the number is up 163%. We discovered from our data that nine out of ten hospitals are running at levels that are deemed to be above what is normally safe. We've had the Institute for Fiscal Studies has saying that health spending in England has gone up but per person will start falling. And on Thursday, extremely bleak figures from NHS England on how A&E performance in December was the worst since records began and looked likely to get worse in January after documents that were leaked to us. I think it is our job to report on facts and figures about the performance of the NHS. In terms of staff morale, I take on board what people were saying there about staff feeling a bit downtrodden because of this. Equally we have had contact, e-mails and calls, from quite a few staff who said it's really good the BBC is focusing on what is really going on, from senior consultants to more junior doctors, to nurses, saying this is precisely what the BBC should be doing and it hasn't done enough often the past. 

SAMIRA AHMED: I suppose it's finding that balance. There was one viewer there saying they felt the coverage ended up being like a downward spiral of gloom and despondency and that that's so overwhelming that perhaps it needs to be balanced with some coverage that shows what is being...more positive.

HUGH PYM: Yes, I think there has been quite a lot of positive coverage as it happens. On the Victoria Derbyshire programme there was a big debate on health involving patients and staff and other health experts, including some patient testimony on the positives that they found with the NHS. We've had coverage on The World at One throughout the week on different aspects of how GPs are coming to terms with the different challenges. The News Channel has had reports, including one from Airedale, on innovative schemes to link up care homes with GP practices, using technology and so on. So we have tried to emphasise the positives. In a piece I did we had a Yeovil Hospital scheme that aims to look after older patients in their own bespoke facility away from A&E. So tried hard to talk about the positives and possible solutions, but equally stating the facts. which are pretty straightforward. It's a tricky balance but ultimately we are holding an important institution to account, and that institution really should be about providing the best possible patient care and for government making sure it is funded adequately and, equally, it's making efficient use of taxpayers' money. 

SAMIRA AHMED: Some complaints have been that it's felt the BBC has been politically campaigning and saying this is all about more funding for the NHS. 

HUGH PYM: Well, there is a groundswell of opinion that the NHS should have more funding, that health spending in the UK as a whole as a share of national income is below France and Germany, has fallen. The IFS during the week have made clear that spending will fall in a way it has never done before in terms of spending per head of the population. We have taken those arguments and put them forward. We've been accused in the past of not addressing lack of funding. We haven't been politicising it. We've stated what the facts are, and there is actually a cross-party move now campaigning for more funding. Equally, we have been very clear that there are some who feel the NHS could make more efficient use of its resources and we have reflected that argument, that it's not just about money, it's about better ways of joining up care, better ways of spending money. But it is an important debate and I think it's only right to address the issue of funding throughout the week. 

SAMIRA AHMED: Hugh Pym, thank you.