The Coalition is trying to hide its big idea for health - the privitisation of commissioning and further use of private sector providers in the NHS. Why not be honest?
The coalition’s big idea for health is that while the government would still pay for NHS treatment, all commissioning will be carried out by private GP consortiums and service provision will be further opened up to private companies, with the odd sprinkling of not-for-profits. Market competition will drive up standards and lower costs, bringing value for money for taxpayers.
So why not say so? In health secretary Andrew Lansley’s consultation on the reforms, due to close tomorrow, there is no use of the words ‘private’, ‘market’ or ‘commercial’. The issue is clouded over with the words “any willing provider” and “independent providers”. Is the coalition trying to sneak the reform past a public, less than a third of whom support private companies in the NHS, as surveyed in the 2009 British Social Attitudes survey?
Martin Rathfelder of the Socialist Health Association, said:
“These are weasel words, not bureaucrats forgetting to use plain English but an attempt to stop people saying what they think about NHS privatisation. Companies owned by shareholders and hedge funds are not independent. They are accountable to owners who want to see profits.
“It is sad when a public consultation document that claims to be ‘about giving people the information they need to exercise control’ is doing the opposite, for fear of the public saying what the Conservative-led government already knows they think.
“A lot of people think that services owned by shareholders and hedge funds won’t have their long-term interests at heart. They will try to introduce top-up charges. These reforms undermine the comprehensive service which the NHS provides. To make more money, the private sector’s long-term plan will be to increase charges to those who can pay. That is the logic of a market in health care.”
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16 Responses to “Lansley’s “weasel words” hide coalition’s true intentions for NHS”
Watching You
Very True RT @leftfootfwd: Lansley's 'weasel words' hide Coalition's true intentions for NHS: http://bit.ly/hXoIeJ reports @DanielElton
Donna Pret
Lansley's "weasel words" hide Coalition's true intentions for NHS …: These reforms undermine the comprehensive… http://bit.ly/gSI0WK
sge
Lansley's “weasel words” hide coalition's true intentions for NHS: That is the logic of a market in health care…. http://bit.ly/er9Nyi
Wendy Maddox
RT @leftfootfwd: Lansley's "weasel words" hide coalition's true intentions for NHS http://bit.ly/gL152s
william
If the NHS is very cost effective,it seems rather odd that the breaking up of other state monopolies in electricity, gas ,telecom and privatised water companies has proved so beneficial to the consumer.Free at the point of delivery is fine,but why should the state be involved in running an organisation 3 times larger than the largest multinational corporation?Does the NHS have a monopoly of clinical excellence? Does the state limit us to one supermarket group?Is what was right in 1947 set in stone in 2010?’Free healthcare’ is nothing of the sort,the GROSSLY inefficient NHS and its outdated management practices gets away with it because you think it is free.YOU pay through your taxes for all those GPs on £130k for 35 hours a week, for example.