Nurses for Reform Blog

This facinating article from the Daily Mail reveals that GPs are threatening to leave the NHS in droves because the Government is expecting them to work longer hours.  Apparently, this could cost the patient up to £25 per visit to see their family doctors.

A number of issues are raised by this.  Firstly, if this situation does occur will the goverment reduce taxes accordingly?  More and more these days the tax payer is paying twice for healthcare, education, policing and many other so called public services but their tax bills continue to rise.

Secondly, why would anyone assume that the private sector would impose a uniform cost.  The best thing about this story is that it could lead to some real competition between GPs.  Food does not cost the same in every shop, neither do mobile phones, carpets, sofas etc.  I don’t know how GPs will work or what services they might offer once in the private sector.

One thing I do know though is that some of them will certainly be offering out of ours and weekend services if it means that they can make more money than their rivals!

There are going to be some very interesting times ahead for British healthcare as we approach the next general election.  With the arrival of Nick Clegg as leader of the Liberal Democrats there is going to be a battle with the Conservatives for the middle and centre right of British politics and it looks like healthcare may well be the opening gambit.

In this  article in the Sunday Telegraph, Clegg begins to set out his party’s plans for healthcare provision.  Gone are the days when there are calls for increased taxation to pay for the full blown state provision and funding of healthcare for all.  As Mr Clegg knows this is unworkable, unsustainable and unaffordable.  Instead he calls for the use of the private sector to back up the NHS when it cannot achieve certain targets.

This does not go far enough for NFR, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.

The think tank Civitas yesterday issued a press release following the government announcement on waiting list targets.

While the government are heralding their success, Civitas points out that, infact, 387,152 patients are being failed by the system.

As the press release says:

But this [Government figures] conceals the very serious problems that remain:

• 713,513 (or 18.1 per cent) of elective patients still waiting for treatment in October 2007 have been waiting longer than 36 weeks, with 387,152 (9.8 per cent) of these having waited over a year.

• There is a massive postcode lottery. Just 33 per cent of patients treated in October 2007 in Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trust (PCT) were treated within 18 weeks, compared with 82 per cent in Blackpool PCT and Telford & Wrekin PCT.

For more detailed information on the state of NHS waiting lists James Gubb’s excellent report can be read here.

This is the lastest edition of the Stockholm Network’s Health and Welfare newsletter, Gesungheit!

It is a great publication that I strongly recommend that you read. It is also worth having a look at the first edition, in which I wrote on “Should Government’s have a role to play in patient care?”

Leading pan-European think tank, the Stockholm Network, welcomes the European Commission’s draft directive on patient mobility.

The Network’s CEO and healthcare specialist, Helen Disney said:

“This plan from Brussels will help to save the NHS from itself. It is only when British patients are empowered to choose from the widest possible range of healthcare providers that value for money and patient satisfaction will be met. All too often our state hospitals are filthy, our patients neglected and our waiting lists dangerously slow. However sceptical of Brussels voters may be, British people will sign up to this opportunity in their millions.”

Stockholm Network research, based on public attitudes to healthcare reform published in Impatient for Change and Poles Apart, argues strongly in favour of an integrated health service market. Such a development will benefit patients by revealing weaknesses in national systems, as health consumers begin travelling abroad to get the treatment their home country denies them or can only offer them after long waiting times and at an inferior standard.

Research carried out by Populus for the Stockholm Network, asked Europeans whether they would be willing to travel abroad for treatment if their healthcare system paid for it. The poll was carried out in eight different European countries, including the UK, and from a variety of different age ranges.

The findings showed unequivocally that waiting for treatment is now a key political concern in Europe with 83% of Europeans regarding waiting times as important to good quality healthcare, but only 26% rating their respective health services as good in this regard.

Younger generations displayed a markedly higher willingness to travel abroad for treatment, as long as treatment was paid for by their health system. In Spain 80% of people from the 15 – 24 age group, would be prepared to travel, versus 35% from the 55 – 64 year age range.

Only older people and citizens in France and Germany are hesitant about the concept of going abroad for treatment, perhaps because their systems have previously not suffered the long waiting lists common to other countries such as the UK.