LONDON January 17, 2011 (AP)
Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday waded into
terrain where past British governments have
foundered, promising fundamental changes to the
country's expensive and over-stressed public health
care system.
Cameron said the reforms would cut red tape and
improve treatment, but critics claim they will cause
chaos and could lead to backdoor privatization of the
much-criticized but widely popular National Health
Service.
The British leader, whose Conservative Party heads
the country's coalition government, said he would
save money and cut red tape by giving control over
management to family practitioners rather than
bureaucrats, and allow private companies, charities
and social enterprises to bid for contracts within the
public health service.
Making health care more efficient has proved an
elusive goal for successive British governments. The
previous Labour administration vowed to reduce
waiting times for treatment, and succeeded — but at
the cost, say critics, of wasteful bureaucracy.
In a speech outlining the government's plans to
overhaul public services, Cameron promised to get
rid of "topdown, command-and-control bureaucracy
and targets." He said that with an aging population
and growing demand for new medical treatments,
"pretending that there is some easy option of sticking
with the status quo and hoping that a little bit of extra
money will smooth over the challenges is a complete
fiction."
The government is due to publish details of its
reforms in a Health and Social Care Bill on
Wednesday.
Socialized medicine is as much an article of faith in
Britain as it is a divisive flashpoint in the United
States.
The health service is Britain's biggest employer, costs
Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday waded into
terrain where past British governments have
foundered, promising fundamental changes to the
country's expensive and over-stressed public health
care system.
Cameron said the reforms would cut red tape and
improve treatment, but critics claim they will cause
chaos and could lead to backdoor privatization of the
much-criticized but widely popular National Health
Service.
The British leader, whose Conservative Party heads
the country's coalition government, said he would
save money and cut red tape by giving control over
management to family practitioners rather than
bureaucrats, and allow private companies, charities
and social enterprises to bid for contracts within the
public health service.
Making health care more efficient has proved an
elusive goal for successive British governments. The
previous Labour administration vowed to reduce
waiting times for treatment, and succeeded — but at
the cost, say critics, of wasteful bureaucracy.
In a speech outlining the government's plans to
overhaul public services, Cameron promised to get
rid of "topdown, command-and-control bureaucracy
and targets." He said that with an aging population
and growing demand for new medical treatments,
"pretending that there is some easy option of sticking
with the status quo and hoping that a little bit of extra
money will smooth over the challenges is a complete
fiction."
The government is due to publish details of its
reforms in a Health and Social Care Bill on
Wednesday.
Socialized medicine is as much an article of faith in
Britain as it is a divisive flashpoint in the United
States.
The health service is Britain's biggest employer, costs
more than 100 billion pounds ($158 billion) a year —
and is a political football, reformed and criticized by
governments since it was established in 1948.
Despite the constant tinkering, no major political
party proposes privatizing the health service, and
even free-market politicians like Cameron go out of
their way to praise it.
Cameron's Conservative-led coalition government has
said health care will be spared the cuts imposed on
other departments as part of a 80 billion pound
($128 billion) reduction in public spending through
2015 designed to reduce Britain's huge budget deficit
— and bring the biggest overhaul in decades to
public services.
On Monday Cameron said "a free NHS at the point of
use, for everybody" was "part of Britain, part of
Britishness."
He spoke of the care received by his son Ivan, who
died in 2009 from cerebral palsy and a rare and
severe epileptic condition, and the medical staff who
delivered his baby daughter Florence last year.
"All of them have touched my life and my family's life
in an extraordinary way, and I want to do right by
them," he said.
and is a political football, reformed and criticized by
governments since it was established in 1948.
Despite the constant tinkering, no major political
party proposes privatizing the health service, and
even free-market politicians like Cameron go out of
their way to praise it.
Cameron's Conservative-led coalition government has
said health care will be spared the cuts imposed on
other departments as part of a 80 billion pound
($128 billion) reduction in public spending through
2015 designed to reduce Britain's huge budget deficit
— and bring the biggest overhaul in decades to
public services.
On Monday Cameron said "a free NHS at the point of
use, for everybody" was "part of Britain, part of
Britishness."
He spoke of the care received by his son Ivan, who
died in 2009 from cerebral palsy and a rare and
severe epileptic condition, and the medical staff who
delivered his baby daughter Florence last year.
"All of them have touched my life and my family's life
in an extraordinary way, and I want to do right by
them," he said.
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By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press
UK Government Plans Major Health Care Reform
British government plans major health care overhaul, but critics say changes could cause chaos
British government plans major health care overhaul, but critics say changes could cause chaos
But while some doctors welcome the government's
changes, others claim the scale of the reforms —
which will see consortia of doctors take over
management from local health care trusts — could
cause chaos.
In a letter published Monday in The Times of London
newspaper, groups including doctors' body the
British Medical Association, the Royal College of
Nursing and trade unions — which together represent
many of the more than 1 million NHS employees —
warned that the scale and pace of reform made the
changes "extremely risky and potentially disastrous."
The letter said increasing internal competition meant
that "with scarce resources there is a serious danger
that the focus will be on cost, not quality."
changes, others claim the scale of the reforms —
which will see consortia of doctors take over
management from local health care trusts — could
cause chaos.
In a letter published Monday in The Times of London
newspaper, groups including doctors' body the
British Medical Association, the Royal College of
Nursing and trade unions — which together represent
many of the more than 1 million NHS employees —
warned that the scale and pace of reform made the
changes "extremely risky and potentially disastrous."
The letter said increasing internal competition meant
that "with scarce resources there is a serious danger
that the focus will be on cost, not quality."
