Skip to main content

3 NHS policies that should be included in Labour's 2015 Manifesto

On 24 separate occasions since the NHS Bill became law, Andy Burnham and Ed Miliband have said that they will repeal the NHS Bill. Upon closer examination of their detailed comments about what form this will take, we can say that they include:

1. Awarding the NHS Preferred Bidder Status in the tendering process. 
2. Repealing the 49% Cap of Private Sector Involvement in the NHS.
3. Preventing CCGs commissioning to themselves.
4. Reforming MONITOR but in a way that is unclear.

None of this goes far enough and to me it is no wonder that an NHS party has been formed with a view to contesting seats at the next election. Below, I outline the policies Labour should be embracing on the NHS if we are to present ourselves as a radical alternative to the Tories on Health.

1. We need to support François Hollande's attempts to enshrine in EU Law the right of all EU citizens to have access to a publicly funded healthcare system. This important principle, if agreed, would have the added benefit of reducing health tourism as well as extending the rights we have enjoyed since 1948 to other EU citizens including those in our neighbouring Irish Republic.

2. We need to seek opt outs of EU regulations 103 & 104 that open up the NHS to EU Competition Law. This can be done by legislation in the sovereign parliament exempting our healthcare from these elements of EU. It could also be further secured by coordinating Hollande's planned EU law to include protection from public health systems from competition law.

3. A De-Marketisation Act: We need to commit to de-marketising our health service. The crude image of a la carte menus of operations offered, and their prices, runs alien to the ethos of our healthcare. I should not know that £107 will get my partner a pregnancy scan. I should not know that £199 gets me an MRI scan. I should not receive brochures and pamphlets inviting me to book special rooms at a NHS Hospital or NHS Hospital Hotel for the duration of my operation. A complete an utter de-marketisation of our public healthcare is required, perhaps through a de-marketisation bill. NHS Hospitals should be cashless societies. 

It might also be necessary to explore all of the structures that Lansley's bill has created. If the CCGs were to remain then the Senate should be given teeth. Monitor could be dramatically downgraded and its powers dispersed to regional NHS Senates. Healthwatch pending its effective functioning should also potentially be retained and given powers to refer matters to the judiciary if need be.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

clip on magnetic sunglasses visit here

Save with prescription glasses and sunglasses. Prescription eyeglasses with magnetic clip on sunglasses. A wide selection of colors and styles for every budget! -GlassesPoint. Prescription eyeglasses with magnetic clip on sunglasses. A wide selection of colors and styles for every budget! Free magnetic clip on with every pair of glasses.  The operator should contact lens Plano glasses a few days of Sun and Rx on the other person. Many people choose single vision lenses, designed for a specific use, such as prescription sunglasses. Clip-ons magnetic magnetic clip ons often come with their prescription glasses frames. Prescription glasses Goggles4u dollars from 29.99 with free shipping. Takumi neodium magnet glass features recipes that are light, strong and in. The combination of some normal prescription glasses and a pair of polarized glasses that glare-resistant to outdoor activities. clip on magnetic sunglasses visit here
Post a Comment
Read more

The Tragedy of Underfunded Mental Health Care

Today’s Managing Health Care Costs Indicator is   19,900 The NY Times  on Friday had a deeply disturbing article on a murder that stunned the mental health community here in Massachusetts.    A long-term schizophrenic man, off his medicine and spiraling into incoherence, killed a young female counselor who was the sole worker at a group home in a Boston suburb.   His mother, who works at a Boston teaching hospital, was frantic with worry as her adult son, who had been arrested for assault multiple times, was becoming more psychotic.    It was hard for her to get anyone’s attention. The counselor was the first in her family to get a college degree, and had just decided to go to nursing school.    Now she’s dead – and her family had trouble scraping together the resources for a burial.   The schizophrenic will be imprisoned for the rest of his life – which ironically could be the best chance for him to get appropriate medical care. Both...
Post a Comment
Read more

How a Well-Intended FDA Policy on Colchicine is Harming Patients

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The FDA has reaffirmed the truth of this aphorism with its policy about Colchicine. Here's the story: I recently spoke with a friend who has a family member suffering from Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF), an auto-inflammatory disorder, most commonly seen in eastern Mediterranean populations. The condition is characterized by recurrent painful inflammation of the abdomen, chest and joints, accompanied by fever. FMF is associated with mutation of a gene on chromosome 16 involved with regulating Pyrin, a protein that is part of the inflammatory response. There is no specific test for the disease. Diagnosis is made on the basis of symptoms, family history, and ruling out other conditions. Since the 1960s, Colchicine, a plant extract first used for treatment of gout two thousand years ago, has been used for treating FMF. As an ancient treatment widely used prior to formation of the FDA, Colchicine did not require FDA approval as a new ...
Post a Comment
Read more