Much-loved NHS does need reform
Former Conservative Chancellor Nigel Lawson once called the NHS "the closest thing the English have to a religion." Those words must seem painfully accurate to David Cameron and his Health Secretary Andrew Lansley at the moment.
They already faced massed opposition to their controversial reforms. Yesterday, there were signs of mounting concern within Tory ranks.
A Conservative-supporting grassroots website urged Mr Cameron to kill the NHS Bill amidst reports that three Tory Cabinet ministers had concerns about the situation.
Mr Lansley insisted the Government remained committed to the reforms, but there is surely no area of policy which is under such pressure.
The irony is that there is a very strong case for reform. Health service costs rise at a rate far in excess of inflation and require ever greater sums of money just to stand still.
The NHS will become increasingly unaffordable unless it can be run more efficiently.
Whether the NHS Bill achieves that objective is debatable – and we certainly have our doubts.
We are not convinced that handing over more power to GPs to commission health services will end up being any less bureaucratic than the existing system.
We also share the concerns expressed by many people over the increased involvement of private sector firms in providing health services.
However, we do recognise that it is pretty much impossible to propose any changes to the health service whatsoever without creating a huge controversy. And while it is easy to oppose reforms it is much harder to come up with a coherent alternative plan.
The big problem for the Government is that it has a much more immediate issue to confront in dealing with the dire economic situation affecting the UK. It could really do without the additional hassle – and unpopularity – of trying to reform the NHS at the same time.
So, it might not be a total surprise, even at this late stage, if it abandoned the NHS Bill and suffered some short-term embarrassment to avoid some long-term pain. However, even if it does so, the problem of rising health costs is an issue which will not go away and at some point this nettle will have to be grasped.
7 Comments
by ecatflap
Sunday, February 12 2012, 2:11PM
“The firm that hijacked the NHS: MoS investigation reveals extraordinary extent of international management consultant's role in Lansley's health reforms
* McKinsey & Company paid for NHS regulator staff to go to lavish events
* Many Health and Social Care Bill proposals drawn up by the company
* Document shows it has used access to share information with other clients
* McKinsey also worked closely with previous government and on disastrous Railtrack privatisation under John Major
This headline is not from one of the left newspapers but the Government most loyal friends the Daily Mail
Like Sorengadfly said follow the money”
by nonoti
Saturday, February 11 2012, 10:03PM
“Well if you were in the state i am in you would have a comppletely different outlook as far as i am concerned the sooner we start clearing England out the better .
I am sick of seeing people that should not be here jumping the que when i can hardly walk thanks to one of them so no i have never been more right and large numbers of people agree with me , it is coming to the time when we have got to start standing up for our country and our rights”
by Graham_LE8
Saturday, February 11 2012, 7:59PM
“@ nonoti; It's difficult to know where to begin to explain how wrong you are, except to say that despite there being examples to support your theories, the actual scale of harm done to the resources of this country by the immigration you describe pales into insignificance when compared to that of the two main real culprits - the 'fat cats' at the top, syphoning off wealth at an ever increasing efficiency, and those draining it from the bottom, an underclass committed to take as much as they can, whilst never contributing whatsoever.
The immigrant as a blameworthy cause celebre is small beer, but is an easy smokescreen used to disguise other more consequential participants who would rather it remain that way...”
by martin_le3
Saturday, February 11 2012, 7:53PM
“@nonoti - those foreign doctors, coming over here, working in our NHS making: like you say screwing us into the ground they are!”
by nonoti
Saturday, February 11 2012, 6:43PM
“It's not the NHS that needs reform it is the Controls (or lack of) on Immigration that need sorting out we are over run by people that have no interest in anything other than screw us into the ground then doing a runner ..
Our housing problems are also an effect of the same failed immigration controls in fact almost every modern day problem can be traced right back to a gross failure of controls on unwanted un needed immigration , And it is about time something was done about it whilst we still have a bit of England and English left.”
by Sorengadfly
Saturday, February 11 2012, 9:58AM
“When asking "why reform?" also ask "who benefits?" The NHS 'reforms' are not about health care: they are about profit. Lansley is reported to have taken £21K from John Nash, who chairs Care UK,a private healthcare provider. (http://tinyurl.com/73q3n6o). Plus, 66 members of the House of Lords with various connection/interests in Private Health Companies. There have been numerous ocassions when named Tories have 'let the cat out of the bag' revealing their true intentions to open the NHS to American Helath company Giants – Carpetbaggers.
Simply follow the Money!
This and other conflicts of interest (e.g. in changes to legal aid) should be reported often; Lansley et al should be questioned explicitly about it.”
by Graham_LE8
Saturday, February 11 2012, 9:56AM
“Quote: "The irony is that there is a very strong case for reform. Health service costs rise at a rate far in excess of inflation and require ever greater sums of money just to stand still.
The NHS will become increasingly unaffordable unless it can be run more efficiently"...
I disagree as that all depends on your point of reference; the costs rise not because of increasing inefficiency or wasteful practice, but are down to an expanding understanding of the causes of physiological conditions, and the enhanced sophistication that this knowledge brings.
As I've written before, stop trying to run it like a business, get rid of the bureaucratic beancounters and middle-management, ditch the stats/league tables and forget the expectation that it can be operated like a supermarket. This would realise more funding to improve healthcare and facilities for all.
Overall it might even cost a little more to operate, but if Mr Cameron really wants to leave a 'legacy' of his premiership, it would be a far more worthy asset than HS2...”