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The Government's NHS reforms will do "irreparable harm", a group of top doctors and health specialists have said.

34 replies

ttosca · 04/10/2011 01:12

Warning over 'harm' of NHS reforms

The Government's NHS reforms will do "irreparable harm", a group of top doctors and health specialists have said.

More than 400 experts sent an open letter to the House of Lords urging peers to reject the coalition's controversial Health and Social Care Bill when they vote later this month.

The letter, also sent to the Daily Telegraph, said: "The Bill will do irreparable harm to the NHS, to individual patients and to society as a whole.

"It ushers in a significantly heightened degree of commercialisation and marketisation that will fragment patient care; aggravate risks to individual patient safety; erode medical ethics and trust within the health system; widen health inequalities; waste much money on attempts to regulate and manage competition; and undermine the ability of the health system to respond effectively and efficiently to communicable disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies."

The letter includes signatories from across a wide spectrum of public health practice, including over 40 directors of public health and more than 100 leading public health academics.

Its authors added: "While we welcome the emphasis placed on establishing a closer working relationship between public health and local government, the proposed reforms as a whole will disrupt, fragment and weaken the country's public health capabilities.

"The Government claims that the reforms have the backing of the health professions. They do not. Neither do they have the general support of the public.

"It is our professional judgement that the Health and Social Care Bill will erode the NHS's ethical and co-operative foundations and that it will not deliver efficiency, quality, fairness or choice. We therefore request that you reject passage of the Health and Social Care Bill."

Professor Martin McKee from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a signatory of the open letter, said: "This letter demonstrates the widespread recognition within the public health community that this Bill is bad for the NHS and harmful to the overall health of the population."

Shadow health secretary John Healey said: "David Cameron is in denial, both about the damage his plans are doing to the NHS and the strength of opposition to his Health Bill."

www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5j5lGMLDsK4vOeHqtTubN71kxQ1rw?docId=N0738611317680566807A

OP posts:
Tianc · 04/10/2011 20:04

"Budget management will be handled by staff recruited for the purpose as happens already in larger practices."

No, large scale budget management and other admin will be handed over to private admin firms like KPMG (aka professional services firms), which unlike the Health Authorities or Primary Care Trusts have no public health remit, merely a financial one.

Iggly · 04/10/2011 19:55

I'm not sure where you got that from Cogito, can you back it up with facts?

And Jinx, give me the evidence that the NHS needs billions spent on it to reorganise it during a time of crisis. Give me the evidence that it's shit, as the Tories would have us believe. Yes people are let down by the NHS but I dont think you could argue that the majority of the people are by any stretch of the truth.

Solopower · 04/10/2011 18:59

It's obvious, it's so blatantly obvious that the changes this government want to bring in will seriously damage our health. They are setting up a system that will fail. And when it does, we will have no rights under the Freedom of Information Act to find out what happened in a botched operation (since it will have been a private company that carried it out) and no Legal Aid to fight court cases. So we will have to protect ourselves by taking out (private, natch) insurance. Next thing you know, like in the States, you won't get treated if you're not insured.

Why would we want a system like that?

Solopower · 04/10/2011 18:55

Who is it failing, Jinx? The media might grab hold of all the horror stories - that's their job - but really? I don't know anyone who has had a bad experience with the NHS. All I have ever seen is caring, efficient, professional nursing staff and expert clinicians. What more do you want?

The NHS wasn't broken, and it didn't need fixing, imo. Sad

Jinx1906 · 04/10/2011 16:24

Why are people so against changing the NHS. What would be so wrong with changing to a system operating in many other european countries such as Germany, Holland, France, Belgium etc... There are other alternatives than the US. I think it is normal that some people do not like change but why keep something in place which is clearly failing so many people.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 04/10/2011 16:21

Budget management will be handled by staff recruited for the purpose as happens already in larger practices. It's the clinical ability that I think is the weak link. Poor judgement and attitude. Choosing consultants because they are their mates rather than because they're the best for the job. I think the professional bodies know that the current system covers this up and that doctors will be more exposed in the new system

Iggly · 04/10/2011 15:53

Perhaps Cogito but why ask GPs to do something which they are not trained to do? They are health professionals not budget managers.

If they're rubbish doctors then sort them out by other means. That's no reason to ignore what concerns people have. And as for the listening exercise - it didn't result in changes other than cosmetic ones.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 04/10/2011 06:49

The reason doctors' bodies are so negative is that they know there are a lot of extremely poor GPs practicising at the moment. They are very well aware that the weak link in the reform plans is the GP involvement and are frightened that, once their members are given real responsibility and made more accountable for the wellbeing of their patients, many will fail the test. Then the spotlight will fall on their organisations and awkward questions about competence will be asked.

madhattershouse · 04/10/2011 01:17

What a surprise..NOT! This Govt is hell-bent on stealth reduction of the NHS. It does not matter whichever way they put it, they are privatising OUR health service. Soon we will be like America..no money, no ambulance!

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