Surely this will mean the demise of th NHS?

[atheistmantis]

The plan says local residents will need to take more control of their own health and more responsibility for supporting others in their communities.

From the BBC news site, a quote from the plan to cut hospital services.

How will this work when people simply don't have the time to support others in their own communities? Why should they? I'm all for taking control of your health, though I think in this case it means pay to go private but caring for others ? People barely know their neighbours any more.

It's a way for the Government to absolve themselves of responsibility for providing enough healthcare facilities. They are already giving services over to private companies, our local out of hours care is run by a private company.
The NHS is being dismantled.

This is all part of the plan to get rid of the NHS. You grind it down, restructuring, pointless changes, cut backs, then you can say "it's no longer fit for purpose" and sell it off to your cronies.

Don't know which BBC report this refers to but the main report alleging hospital cuts does not say this. It does talk about people being more likely to benefit from support in the community, which is not about giving local residents responsibility to support others in the community. There are a wide range of services offering support in the community. And it has long been a goal of health policy that people should have a stronger voice in decisions about their health and care.

I get fed up with people saying the Tories want to close the NHS. The Tories have been in power for over half the time the NHS has existed. They have had ample opportunity to close it if they wanted. They haven't.

By the way, only one party has ever cut NHS funding in cash terms. It wasn't the Tories.

The Tories who have been in power for over half the time the NHS has existed were along One Nation lines, though. Since Thatcher, Conservative governments have had little in common with that ideology, and do not share that sense of societal responsibility, whatever Cameron may have claimed towards the end of his leadership.

prh47 what community services??? They have all been cut as part of the austerity measures! Have you not listened to the news or watched the "Hospital" documentary? Hospitals are full of people who desperately need community care packages but are struggling to get them so there are no beds for new admissions. I promise you healthcare workers don't make this stuff up why would they?!

I am not saying there are no problems. Of course there are. The NHS is a free service so demand will always exceed supply. And, with expensive new treatments becoming available all the time, the pressure on the NHS increases. However, the OP is misleading about what is going on. I do not believe this move heralds the end of the NHS.

Since Thatcher, Conservative governments have had little in common with that ideology, and do not share that sense of societal responsibility, whatever Cameron may have claimed towards the end of his leadership

I disagree. And the Conservatives have been in power for most of the time since 1979, even if you don't count the coalition. Again, ample opportunity to close the NHS if they wanted to do so. There are undoubtedly some Conservatives who think the NHS should close but they are well out of the party's mainstream. The mainstream within the party thinks the NHS needs to be reformed to become more efficient but don't want to abolish it.

And one party introduced private providers in to NHS.

That wasn't the Tories either

I don't actually believe the Tories will try to get rid of the NHS in entirety, but I think they will shift towards one of the models operated in other EU nations, and the way they will receive approval for doing that is by first letting it slide into a 'not fit for purpose' situation, so they can say, "look, it's not sustainable - let's do as the French do" or wherever. Other EU countries do have very good healthcare models, which are not necessarily undesirable systems to adopt - what's concerning is the patients who will be impacted while this plays out.