Saturday, February 18, 2012

Fast Track Capitalist Olympics

The Games lanes comprise 30 miles of road in central London, introduced to ensure that VIPs can travel quickly to events.on which only the "Olympic family" will be allowed to travel – athletes, officials and sponsors, including Coca-Cola and McDonald's. BMW has donated 4,000 3 and 5 series cars to be used during the Games.

Sick and vulnerable NHS patients will be left stranded in ambulances in traffic jams while dignitaries and sponsors race past in a fleet of expensive cars. . Medical Services, an independent business that transports patients for the health service, and whose clients include the hospitals closest to the Olympic stadium, says it fears that the ill, including those on dialysis, will be trapped in vehicles as London suffers unprecedented congestion, with traffic on key routes expected to slow to a crawl.

Leah Bevington, head of communication at Medical Services said: "This means that sick people, often elderly and frail, urgent blood supplies, oxygen, will all be made to wait in traffic with the rest of us. Congestion can be bad enough around London on a regular day so you can imagine that we are concerned that patients will be on a vehicle for much longer periods of time." She added: "As much as the NHS and everyone else is trying to run business as usual, without some help it won't happen. But I really, really can't see how elderly sick people who live here aren't as important. They should be at the top of the list. From a healthcare side of things I think it is crazy that they are not offering an exemption."

A report from NHS Blood and Transport warns of an impact on its ability to transport potential organ donors to hospitals.

Sara Gorton, senior national officer for health at the medical union Unison, said: "The Olympic organisers need to get their priorities straight. That means making sure that patients needing care, whether that's kidney dialysis or cancer treatment, do not get stuck in long traffic queues, especially in the heat of summer. Now is the time to sit down and plan the best way to ensure the Olympics are a benefit to all Londoners, not just a few."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/feb/18/olympic-seize-roads-patients-suffer

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