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Tories Plan To Privatise NHS And Introduce Charging For Drugs And Treatment

Lansley's NHS plans intend to destroy the NHS and change it into a US-style health system based on the NHS being an insurance provider only, with healthcare being delivered by private consortiums, mostly from the USA.

That can't be more evidenced than by the fact that one of the biggest healthcare companies in the UK is now headed by a former director of commissioning for the NHS, Mark Britnell. He is advising the prime minister on the reforming of the NHS, and has been reported to have told a conference of executives from the private sector that future reforms would show "no mercy" to the NHS and offer a "big opportunity" to the for-profit sector. He also puts fortward the view that charging 'at the point of delviery' for drugs and treatment is the best option for the NHS.

According to a report in The Guardian newspaper on 14th May:

"Britnell, a former director of commissioning for the NHS, who is now head of health at the accountancy giant KPMG, was invited to join a group of senior health policy experts, described by the respected Health Service Journal as a "kitchen cabinet", in Downing Street earlier this month. The group, which includes former NHS executives and the former Department of Health permanent secretary Lord Crisp, was assembled by Cameron's new special adviser on health, Paul Bate."

The news article goes on:

"In unguarded comments at a conference in New York organised by the private equity company Apax, Britnell claimed that the next two years in the UK would provide a "big opportunity" for the for-profit sector, and that the NHS would ultimately end up as a financier of care similar to an insurance company rather than a provider of hospitals and staff.

According to a glossy brochure summarising the conference held last October, Britnell told his audience: "GPs will have to aggregate purchasing power and there will be a big opportunity for those companies that can facilitate this process … In future, the NHS will be a state insurance provider, not a state deliverer." He added: "The NHS will be shown no mercy and the best time to take advantage of this will be in the next couple of years."

Writing in the Health Service Journal, Britnell also suggested that the NHS would be better served by breaking with the mantra that all services should be free at the point of delivery by allowing co-payment, where patients share the costs of care and drugs."

The shadow health secretary, John Healey, is quoted as responding by saying:

"This revelation comes direct from Cameron's inner circle and gives the game away on the government's NHS plans. It confirms the Tories' true purpose is to set up a free-market NHS and open up all parts of the health service to private companies."

Whilst the move to charge toward the cost of drugs and treatment is not widely beign debated, many fear this will be the natural course of events as the NHS changes from a provider of healthcare services to that of a buyer and private profit forces up the cost of drugs and treatment to the point at which national insurance contributions and Government money will not cover the full cost of healthcare in the UK.

Meanwhile at Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament today (Wednesday 18th May), Cameron denied even knowing Britnell claiming that he was appointed by the previous Labour Government as their advisor. However, he made no attempt to deny the policy detail raised by a Labour MP who was quoting from the Guardian newspaper article.

Read the full article here

See also Minutes Show Cameron Met NHS Advisor Britnell Despite Denials

Source: The Guardian

 


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