Unit 1 Government, policies and the public services – Ben Fuller
Assignment 3
Policies which have affected public services:
Budget cuts:
Budgets cuts have affected all the public services, mainly because it impacts on the response time in
emergencies as well as not having enough of the supplies needed this has also lead to a number of
emergency facilities closing down.
The NHS is one of the main public services that have been affected by this policy.
Hospitals can no longer afford the most modern scanners and surgical equipment to treat patients
who have cancer and other diseases because of multibillion-pound cuts to the NHS’s capital budget.
NHS Staff are having to continue using vital diagnostic and treatment technology beyond its natural
life because there are insufficient funds to replace it.
For example, radiographers are using out-of-date scanners that produce images so unclear they
impede correct diagnosis. In one case, 200 patients had to be rescanned because the images of their
lumps, tumours and broken bones were of such poor quality.
Ambulances are breaking down because they have been kept in service for too long, and hospitals
are having to continue using out-dated IT systems because of repeated government raids on NHS
capital funding.
Human Rights Atc:
The act has had a significant impact on the police, prisons and the running of the criminal justice
system.
Among the wide range of circumstances covered by the act are disproportionate use of stop and
search powers against ethnic minorities; excessive surveillance of law-abiding people; refusal to
allow people to attend a demonstration; curfews preventing law-abiding young people from going
out at night; failures by the authorities to protect people from being stalked and harassed; not being
sufficiently protected from domestic violence; and unexplained death in prisons, police stations and
psychiatric hospitals.
But as well as vulnerable individuals, the act also protects police officers in the line of duty. One
senior officer from the Police Service of Northern Ireland said that officers see the Human Rights
Act as a "sword and a shield".
Many human rights cases have involved victims challenging the authorities for failures to protect
them. The act requires the police and criminal justice system to protect people from violence from
others and to protect life when there is a known or foreseeable real and imminent threat to the life of
an individual.
The act has also been used to challenge the powers of the Home Office. For example the courts
have ruled that the act restricts the home secretary's right to have the final say on the length of life
sentences.
Assignment 3
Policies which have affected public services:
Budget cuts:
Budgets cuts have affected all the public services, mainly because it impacts on the response time in
emergencies as well as not having enough of the supplies needed this has also lead to a number of
emergency facilities closing down.
The NHS is one of the main public services that have been affected by this policy.
Hospitals can no longer afford the most modern scanners and surgical equipment to treat patients
who have cancer and other diseases because of multibillion-pound cuts to the NHS’s capital budget.
NHS Staff are having to continue using vital diagnostic and treatment technology beyond its natural
life because there are insufficient funds to replace it.
For example, radiographers are using out-of-date scanners that produce images so unclear they
impede correct diagnosis. In one case, 200 patients had to be rescanned because the images of their
lumps, tumours and broken bones were of such poor quality.
Ambulances are breaking down because they have been kept in service for too long, and hospitals
are having to continue using out-dated IT systems because of repeated government raids on NHS
capital funding.
Human Rights Atc:
The act has had a significant impact on the police, prisons and the running of the criminal justice
system.
Among the wide range of circumstances covered by the act are disproportionate use of stop and
search powers against ethnic minorities; excessive surveillance of law-abiding people; refusal to
allow people to attend a demonstration; curfews preventing law-abiding young people from going
out at night; failures by the authorities to protect people from being stalked and harassed; not being
sufficiently protected from domestic violence; and unexplained death in prisons, police stations and
psychiatric hospitals.
But as well as vulnerable individuals, the act also protects police officers in the line of duty. One
senior officer from the Police Service of Northern Ireland said that officers see the Human Rights
Act as a "sword and a shield".
Many human rights cases have involved victims challenging the authorities for failures to protect
them. The act requires the police and criminal justice system to protect people from violence from
others and to protect life when there is a known or foreseeable real and imminent threat to the life of
an individual.
The act has also been used to challenge the powers of the Home Office. For example the courts
have ruled that the act restricts the home secretary's right to have the final say on the length of life
sentences.
