Nurses for Reform Blog

Today I have made my first contribution to the Institute of Economic Affairs Blog.  

The piece details my view that, with the inevitable public spending cuts that will be happening in the UK, there is an historic opportunity for reform of healthcare provision by removing all NHS healthcare facilities from the NHS and putting them in to private ownership.  The NHS can then re-cast itself as a funding and standard-setting institution. 

I hope that this will be the first of many pieces that can generate some lively discussion as I have been asked by the IEA to become a regular contributor.

I am so fed up with reading negative headlines about  drug companies making profits from swine flu in the UKs National Press.  The Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph seem to have the biggest hang ups about this.

So let’s get a couple of things clear.  First, scientists and drug companies invest vast amounts of money in the development of drugs, it costs them a fortune.  If they don’t make a profit they will not have the incentive or funding to go on to make more scientific discoveries and new products in the future.  The media have to accept this and get over it!

Second, and in my opinion, far more importantly, almost everyone involved professionally in the flu pandemic (or in fact any aspect of health care) will make a profit from it.  Every Doctor, Nurse, Physiotherapist, Social Worker, Porter, Cleaner, Occupational Therapist, Pharmacist and Hospital Manager will earn money from carrying out their jobs, i.e. they will make a profit.  As too will every journalist who has one of these ridiculous stories published, as I doubt very much that they are submitting their copy out of pure altruism!

More than sixty years on from the establishment of the NHS, members of the medical profession yet again are demanding that their ‘mouths are stuffed with gold’.

This time it is the General Practitioners who, during the ‘flu pandemic, want to make sure that they have their cake and eat it.  Not only are they refusing to give the UK population ‘flu vaccinations unless there are extra payments made by Government, they also want guarantees  that they will not lose their performance related payments if they have to cancel routine health checks and clinics due to the pandemic.

I could not put it any better than Matthew Elliott from the Tax Payers Alliance who has said;

Most ordinary taxpayers who are concerned for their health in the midst of the swine ‘flu epidemic will see this behaviour as greedy and inappropriate.  

GPs are trying to have it both ways: if they are cutting other work to treat swine flu, they can’t expect to be paid more.

Vaccinating patients against illness is a core part of GPs’ duties, and they should be getting their heads down and tackling the epidemic, instead of obsessing about their pay packets.