Nurses for Reform Blog

This story from the BBC shows that NHS dental services in the UK are in free fall.  Even with all of the government’s healthcare reforms it shows that nearly 1 million people less are able to get an NHS dentist than before the reforms started!

This story is great news.  It shows that the government is prepared to move yet further away from the old fashioned view that the NHS can do it all i.e. has to fund and provide health care in the UK.

In announcing its willingness to allow the private sector to run NHS hospitals this government is really showing that it has the courage to face the fact that the market can deliver services, treatment and care in a better, more efficient and cost effective way than the state.

I have already heard on the news this morning the BMA and the NHS confederation complaining that the provision of health care is not about profit and that that is all that the private firms are interested in.  However, it is important to remember that many of the so-called private providers of healthcare in the UK are not-for-profit organisations.  BUPA is a mutual and Nuffield is a charity.  Also, everyone is interested in profit.  No Doctor or Nurse goes to work every day out of sheer altruism, they all have to earn a living (make a profit) from their labour and human capital to live.

It is difficult at the moment to pick up a daily newspaper without reading yet another story of the NHS neglecting its customers.  This story today tells of an elderly lady left in agonizing pain for many hours before being seen by any medical or nursing staff.

This article demonstrates how the NHS is prepared to treat you, or not, if you dare to try to help yourself rather than dutifully adhere to its sometimes substandard regimes.