BMJ 2015;350:h1601 doi: 10.1136/bmj.h1601 (Published 23 March 2015)
Page 1 of 1
News
NEWS Politicians set out their stall at health election debate Rebecca Coombes The BMJ
Politicians from two major UK political parties have refused to rule out yet more reorganisation—even of a “radical” nature—of the NHS in England after May’s general election. Speaking on 19 March at a debate about the future of the NHS at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, Andy Burnham, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said that he wanted to “reset” the NHS into a “national health and care service,” including social care. England “will need to embrace radical change in the way it delivers services,” he said, so that hospitals were no longer the “default setting for care.” He floated the idea of local integrated care organisations that would employ GPs directly and an annual care payment to elderly people that would act as an incentive to start care in the home. Charlotte Leslie, a Conservative member of the House of Commons Health Committee, called for an “open debate” about the way the NHS was funded. She told the audience at the “Can anyone save the NHS?” debate, organised by the right leaning Spectator magazine, that the NHS would not survive if demand for services kept rising. And she said that one reason for the increased demand was that, because services were free at the point of use, people did not know the true cost of healthcare. “People need to stop thinking that the NHS is literally free,” she said. Leslie praised the former health minister Norman Warner, who last year floated the idea of an “NHS club” into which people paid a £10 (€14; $15) membership fee. She said that the Labour peer was at least “saying something different,” adding that it was a shame that funding was on the “prayer list” of things politicians were not allowed to raise about the NHS. Leslie claimed that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 had stimulated different models of care and allowed for integrated care similar to the model set out by Burnham. But her fellow
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
panel member, Steve Melton, chief executive of the private firm Circle Health, said, “Some of the new models of care are working, but many have been resisted by the forces of conservatism. Instead we see providers and commissioners passing deficits between each other.” Max Pemberton, a doctor and journalist, urged politicians not to base their reforms on ideology. “At the moment ideology has crept into the NHS, thanks to the politicians. The latest reforms are not evidence based. As a doctor I can’t do something because it will ‘probably’ work—but this is often the case in politics,” he said.
Christina McAnea, head of health at the trade union Unison, told the debate that Unison was “up for a debate” about how to run the NHS for it to survive. But she bemoaned the lack of consultation with staff and patients. She said, “Manchester has just handed over £6bn to a new [health and social care] organisation; it has not got off to a good start. There has been no consultation with the workforce or the public in Greater Manchester, who now face a potentially huge reorganisation. You have the local authority very badly affected by government cuts, and the health trust in deficit. By bringing the two bodies together you are not magically going to get a surplus.” On funding, she urged politicians to increase taxation and to “tax wealth, not income . . . our members want [a] tax system that is progressive and doesn’t just continually benefit higher paid or corporate members.”
Pemberton summed up the general mood of the panel with his response to the debate’s question: “We don’t have a choice other than to save the NHS, because there is no better option.” Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h1601 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2015
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
Page 1 of 1
News
NEWS Politicians set out their stall at health election debate Rebecca Coombes The BMJ
Politicians from two major UK political parties have refused to rule out yet more reorganisation—even of a “radical” nature—of the NHS in England after May’s general election. Speaking on 19 March at a debate about the future of the NHS at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, Andy Burnham, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said that he wanted to “reset” the NHS into a “national health and care service,” including social care. England “will need to embrace radical change in the way it delivers services,” he said, so that hospitals were no longer the “default setting for care.” He floated the idea of local integrated care organisations that would employ GPs directly and an annual care payment to elderly people that would act as an incentive to start care in the home. Charlotte Leslie, a Conservative member of the House of Commons Health Committee, called for an “open debate” about the way the NHS was funded. She told the audience at the “Can anyone save the NHS?” debate, organised by the right leaning Spectator magazine, that the NHS would not survive if demand for services kept rising. And she said that one reason for the increased demand was that, because services were free at the point of use, people did not know the true cost of healthcare. “People need to stop thinking that the NHS is literally free,” she said. Leslie praised the former health minister Norman Warner, who last year floated the idea of an “NHS club” into which people paid a £10 (€14; $15) membership fee. She said that the Labour peer was at least “saying something different,” adding that it was a shame that funding was on the “prayer list” of things politicians were not allowed to raise about the NHS. Leslie claimed that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 had stimulated different models of care and allowed for integrated care similar to the model set out by Burnham. But her fellow
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
panel member, Steve Melton, chief executive of the private firm Circle Health, said, “Some of the new models of care are working, but many have been resisted by the forces of conservatism. Instead we see providers and commissioners passing deficits between each other.” Max Pemberton, a doctor and journalist, urged politicians not to base their reforms on ideology. “At the moment ideology has crept into the NHS, thanks to the politicians. The latest reforms are not evidence based. As a doctor I can’t do something because it will ‘probably’ work—but this is often the case in politics,” he said.
Christina McAnea, head of health at the trade union Unison, told the debate that Unison was “up for a debate” about how to run the NHS for it to survive. But she bemoaned the lack of consultation with staff and patients. She said, “Manchester has just handed over £6bn to a new [health and social care] organisation; it has not got off to a good start. There has been no consultation with the workforce or the public in Greater Manchester, who now face a potentially huge reorganisation. You have the local authority very badly affected by government cuts, and the health trust in deficit. By bringing the two bodies together you are not magically going to get a surplus.” On funding, she urged politicians to increase taxation and to “tax wealth, not income . . . our members want [a] tax system that is progressive and doesn’t just continually benefit higher paid or corporate members.”
Pemberton summed up the general mood of the panel with his response to the debate’s question: “We don’t have a choice other than to save the NHS, because there is no better option.” Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h1601 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2015
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
