Stop the Saatchi Bill

Driven by an extraordinary two-year PR campaign on social media and a supportive newspaper partner, this all started as Lord Saatchi’s Medical Innovation Bill, metamorphosed through several versions, and was resurrected under a new name by Chris Heaton-Harris, before finally clearing its last hurdle in the Lords this week to become the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act. Pretty much the only thing they share is the word 'Innovation' in the title.

One day, it may be possible for politicians to ask the people who actually work in the medical field: what are the problems you face, and how can we help you overcome them?

One day, politicians may actually listen to the answers they receive, and thus try to tackle genuine problems rather than imagined ones.

One day, politicians, medics, researchers, lawyers, patient groups, charities, and the public, may work together to overcome the barriers to the development and provision of new treatments.

But it is not this day.

Read more: Not this day

Monthly Archives: January 2015

The Government’s bewildering position on the Medical Innovation Bill

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Out of concern for the Government’s declared support for the Medical Innovation Bill (MIB), a member of the Stop the Saatchi Bill Alliance wrote to Earl Howe, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Quality in the House of Lords, seeking an explanation for this support in the face of overwhelming opposition from the medical profession. Earl Howe responded, but his…

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Muddy Waters

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I salute the PR industry for finding new and elaborate ways to muddy the waters. (Ben Goldacre — Guardian, 20 November 2010) When Ben Goldacre wrote those words, he was talking about the use (or misuse) of PR to guide people into answering survey questions the way the PR company wanted them answered instead of how they would naturally be answered.…

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