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The House of Lords voted against the motion to annul the NHS competition regulations.

17 replies

CrispyHedgeHog · 24/04/2013 23:36

Does that mean the NHS will be privatised? Will we have to have medical insurance?

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Snazzynewyear · 24/04/2013 23:39

Andy Burnham has said he will repeal this if Labour win in 2015. That's what I am pinning my hopes on now.

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CrispyHedgeHog · 25/04/2013 00:00

I hope so Snazzy
What about people with chronic health conditions who won't be able to get insurance unless it's very expensive? Screwed I'm guessing.

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 25/04/2013 17:58

The NHS is not being privatised. Private companies already provide a lot of health services and your GP, for example, can already refer you to a private physio if they think it's appropriate. NHS money pays the phyiso and you, the patient, get the treatment free of charge.

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CrispyHedgeHog · 25/04/2013 18:09

So what does this motion actually mean?
I'm genuinely confused

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 25/04/2013 18:17

The competition regulations are (as I understand it) to make sure the allocation of funds and provision of services is done fairly and transparently. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22268417 article. In short, that GPs don't just give all the plum jobs to their mates. :) The peers have approved the motion.

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 25/04/2013 18:17
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Chipstick10 · 25/04/2013 19:51

Labour won't repeal it especially if it works well. They didn't repeal much of what maggie did if in not mistaken.

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telsa · 25/04/2013 23:00

Works well for whom? like privatisation of railways, for shareholdrs not 'customers'?

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Fargo86 · 26/04/2013 00:15

Healthcare isn't remotely like railways.

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 26/04/2013 07:36

Works well for the public telsa. The NHS is a massive procurement operation spending billions of GBP and there are better ways to assign the cash than to insist everyone is part of the NHS body corporate. Take the measles epidemic and having to vaccinate a million kids in a one-off operation for example. Rather than choking up regular surgeries and disrupting normal GP service, private companies could tender to do the job (paid for by the NHS) and have targets to reach all the unvaccinated people within a particular time-frame. The patients get a good service, the taxpayer gets a good price... everyone happy.

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edam · 28/04/2013 00:20

It's a massive waste of public money in the cause of privatising the NHS. The admin costs of tendering everything the NHS does - every single service, every single contract, for a population of 60m people - are huge. And of course it's only big firms - United Health, say - that can afford the cost of putting in professional tenders. All it will do is give us shit privatisation carved up between a few mega-providers - the G4S of the health world (look up Serco, Cornwall and out of hours...).

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Tortington · 28/04/2013 00:40

i wonder which of camerons mates get richer from this

the twat

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 28/04/2013 12:56

Saw the shadow Health Secretary Burnham on TV this morning proposing that, under a new Labour government, councils would be responsible for managing a new tender process procuring NHS services encompassing not just health services but social care and mental health support as well. So, far from repealing the reforms, they're planning to expand them. Interesting.

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pointythings · 28/04/2013 21:13

Well, let me put it this way - my trust has outsourced its support services to SERCO. HR, payroll, IT. Suffice it to say they are having deeply serious regrets. Things weren't perfect before. Now they are SHIT. Nothing is done right and there is no accountability. SERCO's shareholders are probably happy, though.

That's how it will be, because the big corporate players only care about their profits.

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Timeforabiscuit · 28/04/2013 22:08

Cognito - this sort if happens already if you count the pcts being dissolved but functions placed within local councils - it has made for "interesting times" depending on the council

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caroldecker · 28/04/2013 22:28

The NHS uses huge amounts of private provision already - who do you think manufactures all the beds, linen, instruments etc?
You need to split the argument between who pays for things and who runs them.
I do not see why 'public' bodies run things any better than private companies. Imagine the outcry if Staffordshire hospital had been a privately run place, you would all be screaming for all areas to be run by the NHS and conclusive evidence that private provision does not work. Because it was run by the NHS, it was just one of those things and nothing to worry about and no changes are necessary.

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 29/04/2013 10:45

Hear hear caroldecker. When the NHS cocks up it's an 'isolated example' from which 'lessons will be learned'. I've lost one member of my family already to NHS incompetence and several others have been badly let down. Universal healthcare free at the point of need is a terrific principle but personally quite fed up of the sacred cow 'no change required' mentality.

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