Tory government’s privatisation plans to free ministers from blame for NHS failures
The NHS “reforms” proposed by the new Tory government are not reforms, they are simply a politically expedient way to remove future responsibility from central government by putting private companies in charge. The same principle applies to the schools system started by that self-obsessed idiot Blair and continued by ‘gormless’ Gove and ‘Couldn’t care a less’ Cameron.
All we hear from Cameron is how necessary the reforms are – but never ever any detail. Andrew Lansley’s gone a bit quiet though …
The key reform that you have NOT heard is…
that “The NHS will cease to be an organisation with a central management structure.” Think about that for a minute – then think again. No mention of such radical reforms was made in the manifesto of either the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats at the last general election. This means that the NHS, as you knew it, just disappears.
Here are some reforms that should be made and don’t require any expensive re-organisation at all.
- Firstly – show some grit and cancel ALL the damn PFI schemes started under Thatcher and continued by Blair & Brown – just do it in the name of future generations of British people who are going to be totally screwed for years to come. The saving? At least £50 billion! … and where’s my 10%? (for further details of the PFI disaster – see the section on Alex Salmond below…)
- I’m sure that any businessperson of 20 years experience in starting & running their own company could propose billions of savings after a matter of a few weeks investigation. You don’t need one of the big 5 accountancy firms to tell you how to do it with fees mounting to millions!
- Its the bureaucracy that really is inefficient and largely useless. Just get that same chap(ess) just above to research make some changes – another billion saved! If you remove the NHS management function – who will have the power to investigate and remove duff doctors?
Reduce management and put doctors and nurses back in charge
- Put Senior Nursing Staff back in charge of hospitals and ward sisters in charge of cleaning of their own wards! Remove all private cleaners and private contracts from hospitals.
- For years drug companies have been funding skiing trips and other expensive bribes for GPs who take their drugs – just stop it! GPs should simply select drugs from a “NICE” list of approved drugs – that’s it. Re-organisation & £2bn saved – I’ll take my 10% fee now please!
- Doctors who cannot speak English should be removed from service forthwith.! I have had to see two of them over the last few months, about an eye problem, and I was left feeling completely un-served by their inability to hold a detailed conversation. They knew how to fill out the forms alright, but as to advice etc. it just left me fuming! Both were east European and were woefully short of the the mark.
- Nurses should live up to their name and nurse (verb) rather than oversee medication rotas – perhaps this is a bit strong BUT it is more right than wrong! Put the care back into nursing.
- The NHS is the flower of British political development – don’t mess with the NHS mate – or we will all come and getcha!
You probably agree too – so why the hell can’t our politicians do just that?
Most of my suggested reforms would be supported by most of the public but they require political will to be achieved.
There’s the the problem – our politicians are gutless, clueless and lost in a funny little world of their own.
To quote Alex Salmond recently, and whilst I completely disagree with him on his desire to split Scotland off from the UK, his analysis on the NHS is spot on!
“Don’t let these three parties destroy your NHS”.
It will not be “National” anymore – the reforms mean a locally run postcode lottery.
It will not be a “Service” – private company profitability will supersede service – that’s the nature of the beast!
A recent BBC investigation of PFIs (Private Finance Initiatives) found that the £11bn investment made so far will cost us £66bn over 20 years. That does not include the £600 to change a lightbulb scenario!
(Derek Ruskin says: “600% return to private business – not bad eh? Do you remember voting for that when you voted Blair in? Neither do I!”)
99% of the Royal College of Nursing are against NHS reforms
95% of GPs are against the reforms
Started by new labour forming ‘Foundation’ Hospitals 2003 following on from Thatcher’s “reforms”.
Scotland has it right – SNHS has gone back to original ethos of the NHS. Alex Salmond for President of Great Britain – hurrah!
An interesting history of the NHS and the “improvements” made by our dear leaders over the years is here. Its not a pretty website but the facts are thought provoking.
Haha, when you wrote NICE in your original post I thought you meant ‘nice’ as in ‘pleasant’ 🙂
GPs have already have a BIG say in how money is spent – we just don’t need to change the structure at all. The body looking after quality exists “NICE”(National Institute for Clinical Excellence) but the tories are trying to weaken NICE – it all really stinks!
The main thing here is that the politicians (from Thatcher onwards) are trying to distance themselves from responsibility for cock-ups – the avoidance of blame and responsibility. They are all very and subtly achieving their goals – unless we stop them.
Money has to be saved somehow, and cheaper ways of providing healthcare to a growing number of people need to be found.
It makes sense to me for groups of GPs to decide how the money is spent as they are the ones on the front line who have more idea about what is actually needed by patients, rather than managers so high up that they have lost touch with the realities of the situation. This would lead to less money wasted on the wrong things, and also getting rid of the layers of management with higher and higher salaries as you go up the hierarchy would save so much money!
The thing that worries me, is that if the GP consortia are choosing from competing service/product suppliers, and focusing more on choosing the cheapest rather than the best quality, will we be getting substandard treatment? Is there going to be a ‘body’ that monitors quality and makes sure that standards don’t drop too far? (Maybe there is but I haven’t read about it yet?)