Is NHS reform for the benefit of fat cats?

[hitch_1980]

Yes, it probably could have been spent better. However, that is no reason to make excuses for the present government implementing a policy which which will be financially beneficial to a few at the cost of poorer health care for millions.

 

Can you explain how you have come to the conclusion of the last sentence?

[donkey]

Can you explain how you have come to the conclusion of the last sentence?

 

It's in the links in the OP.

[Loubbe]

The latest reforms are designed to facilitate the privatisation of the most profitable services leaving the NHS to continue providing the 'loss making' services in-house.

Come audit day some hospitals will be found to be trading at a loss and will therefore be closed.

 

LibLabCon Banksters funnelling our money into private corporations (that the politicos will obtain directorships in when they leave office) while leaving us with diminished services.

 

If hospital services are closed, and the operations done by the "efficient" private sector, what is to stop them then putting up their prices? Once the competion is closed down (ie the NHS), they can and will charge what they chuffing like. To those of you that think competition will keep prices down I say: http://www.uk-insurance-index.co.uk/articles/OFT-cracks-down-on-potential-price-fixing-car-insurance-tool.html

 

I just can't agree that its a good thing at all. Whats worse is Cameron, during the election campaign, couldn't praise the NHS enough because of the services they provided for his son. As soon as he's in it's a different story.

[donkey]

The link below demonstrates the privatised healthcare system of the USA is the most expensive in the world on a per capita basis, yet still lags behind other developed countries, in terms of results in certain areas.

 

http://www.visualeconomics.com/healthcare-costs-around-the-world_2010-03-01/

 

It is interesting to note that UK healthcare spending as a share of GDP is significantly lower than in France, Germany, Scandinavia and several other EU countries.

[Loubbe]

The link below demonstrates the privatised healthcare system of the USA is the most expensive in the world on a per capita basis, yet still lags behind other developed countries, in terms of results in certain areas.

 

http://www.visualeconomics.com/healthcare-costs-around-the-world_2010-03-01/

 

It is interesting to note that UK healthcare spending as a share of GDP is significantly lower than in France, Germany, Scandinavia and several other EU countries.

 

France is pretty much the best in the world, I think. We spent £90 bn bailing out the banks. £90bn a year for the NHS, in my opinion, is a bargain.

[Badlittlepup]

Commissioning is now run by organistions within the NHS which are public servant jobs.

 

GP consortias are going to commission in the future and most GPs are privately run small to medium enterprises. So commissioning is being privatised, and as commissioning will be privitased they are far more likely to give contracts to public companies.

 

So effectively the NHS is on the road to privatisation.

[donkey]

Commissioning is now run by organistions within the NHS which are public servant jobs.

 

GP consortias are going to commission in the future and most GPs are privately run small to medium enterprises. So commissioning is being privatised, and as commissioning will be privitased they are far more likely to give contracts to public companies.

 

So effectively the NHS is on the road to privatisation.

 

 

The sleight of hand in all this is the pretence by the governmnet that the GPs - who already have a full work load - will take on the managerial roles themselves. They won't because they don't have the time and anyway, they are not qualified or trained for such work.

 

I was told by a guy who works in a PCT that many of the workers who are about to loose their PCT jobs are planning to set themselves up as consultants, and corner the work - given that they already have the contacts with the GPs and the GPs know they are the only people ready and able to do the job. So you will have the same people doing the same jobs, but private consultants earn a lot more than waged NHS workers, so it's actually going to cost more.

Edited January 22, 2011 by donkey

[I1L2T3]

Tories said in the election campaign that the pot of money for the NHS would be ringfenced. It seemed a reasonable pledge at the time but now we know the real reasoning behind it. They wouldn't want to be cutting that funding if they were planning to divert it to their mates would they?

 

They should have been up front about it but then like Portillo said they would not have got elected. They've badly miscalculated this one. They will not get away with it.

[Loubbe]

Tories said in the election campaign that the pot of money for the NHS would be ringfenced. It seemed a reasonable pledge at the time but now we know the real reasoning behind it. They wouldn't want to be cutting that funding if they were planning to divert it to their mates would they?

 

They should have been up front about it but then like Portillo said they would not have got elected. They've badly miscalculated this one. They will not get away with it.

.

 

I think they will. The significant lack of public outrage indicates by the time people realise what's happening, it will be too late. I seriously worry about the lack of awareness of this.

[Badlittlepup]

The sleight of hand in all this is the pretence by the governmnet that the GPs - who already have a full work load - will take on the managerial roles themselves. They won't because they don't have the time and anyway, they are not qualified or trained for such work.

 

I was told by a guy who works in a PCT that many of the workers who are about to loose their PCT jobs are planning to set themselves up as consultants, and corner the work - given that they already have the contacts with the GPs and the GPs know they are the only people ready and able to do the job. So you will have the same people doing the same jobs, but private consultants earn a lot more than waged NHS workers, so it's actually going to cost more.

 

Erm, the point you're misssing is that they will be paid extremely handsomely for this. PCTs and Commissioning bodies with thousands of staff are going to be replaced with a handful of people and the funding those people wil receive will reflect that.

 

Some people may get jobs as consultants but the vast majority won't. Partly because a lot of people still employed within PCTs are now gearing their jobs to assist the handover because that way they will keep their jobs for longer. I know this because I was one until Friday.

 

Plus the funding will be allocated by the GP consortia, and they're not going to give hundreds of thousands of pounds away to other people if they can pocket it themselves.

 

The NHS spending on management DOES need to be controlled. I resented the fact that my boss holidayed in Barbados and drove a sports car grated on me. I grew up in a household where my father was a senior public servant, we were comfortable and middle class but not ostentatiously so. My Dad drove a citroen and we went on camping holidays in France and I think that type of wages are correct for someone who is working in the public sector - not wages that are a huge scratchcard win for most people per annum.

 

But this way is the wrong way to go about it. I worked in frontline services which I loved, but then wen to a paper shuffling department where I couldn't believe the amount of money spent for little benefit for patients, basically hundreds of thousands of pounds being spent on quibbles about contracts.

 

Yes they should cut the amount of staff PCTs have, especially when you bear in mind that a lot of people are just ticking boxes and doing pointless training.

 

But is this the right way to go about it? No. Especially because GPs have a reputation within the NHS of doing anything for money, they view patients as and inconvenience they have to put up with and are notorius for misrefering or referring too late. I think if GPs start commissioning a lot of services will disappear because you're too fat, too gay or too working class. If you don't go the gym or run marathons GPs will say you're too lazy and feckless for treatment. But that won't matter to them. They'll go private with all the cash they're getting.