The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

Does the general public realise what is happening with the NHS currently under Lansley's revamp? What is your perception of the reorganisation? Just another mix around and a few more managers axed?

I don't think that Joe Public realises how far these reforms are going. This is effectively the privatisation of the NHS. The end of the NHS being publically owned. It will be run by social enterprises and heavily influenced by private businesses. Does that shock you or please you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNiru...layer_embedded

This explains it succinctly...

Any comments?

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

I couldn't care less who runs it ,as long as we aren't forced to pay at the door or take out private medical insurance on top of paying through taxes which we aren't so it's a good thing .The NHS as it stands is a bloated,overstaffed(in areas) tax burden that needs trimming down drastically .
GP's will get control of their budget ,can't see how they can complain really ,they will form consortium's ,hire a few accountants to manage the budget and they will be able to focus the budget where it is needed .Who knows maybe i will be able to see a doctor at my surgery when i need to instead of 7 days later when i'm no longer ill .Maybe my wife will be able get the scan on her back in 2 months instead of 18 months .At this time i think anything could be an improvement .
The NHS cannot survive in it's present form ,we need a new model for it

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

So long as it is efficient and free at point of need I don't care who runs it. The implication that having the whole thing under State ownership must necessarily be better is an ideological one and not a position I agree with.

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

It isn't going to be "run" by social enterprises. It's going to be run by GPs (whom, by most accounts don't want the hassle). The definition of run is "who signs the cheques" :)

I work for the NHS, and, I don't care if its privately owned, so long as has previously been noted, its still free at point of use, and I don't need private medical insurance a la USA.

It might be a good thing for services (and I might get paid private sector salary *cough* yeah right *cough*). More competition etc, driving the costs down and efficiency up. I agree that most of the NHS is full of Management bloat that needs trimming down.

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

Fully agree.

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

This may help.....

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*Hat-tip to dizzythinks.

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

Arthur will never understand that.

You need to start with a box that says " are you Arthur" if yes "blame the Tories" if no then continue to other boxes. :)

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

Privatisation is the answer.

Water, Gas, Electricity, Buses and Trains prove the point, all are relatively much cheaper for the consumer now.

---takes off my blinkers and climbs back into my straight jacket. :erm:

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

Aha, the Oldham Labour Club has arrived :wavey: :D

I don't know what your blinkers are for, but costs and efficiencies at all of the formerly state-controlled utilities and services you mentioned are rather healthier than they were in the 1970s.

Hands up who wants to be told they have to wait three months to get a phone line installed and then be asked to choose from a range of about three 'approved' handsets'?

Or travel by coach at a time of day when the National company tells you you can, and charges you a king's ransom for the privilege?

Thought not.

As for gas and electricity - well I shudder to think how much more we would be paying now, with global energy prices as high as they now are, yet without any competition to restrain prices in the domestic market.

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

Not sure think we can call it the NHS though in it's new format..

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

Why? It will provide health services to the whole nation, free at point of need and paid for out of taxation. Nobody is going to have to make their own private arrangements as a result of this. The health service will be paid for by the nation and provided to the nation. It is, and will remain, a National Health Service.

Bandying the word 'privatisation' about the place is a nonsense. It is political mischief designed to drum up opposition to the reforms based on scare-tactics rather than any sort of engagement with the facts.

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

Or travel by train at a time of day when the Virgin rail company tells you you can, and charges you a king's ransom for the privilege? Oh wait... They do..

Assuming they aren't operating as a cartel, and are actually competing.

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

I just looked up & I'm sure I saw the first few cracks in the sky. Its going to come crashing down around our ears ;) Mark my words!

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

I think the only way that the NHS could survive in it's present form is to raise taxes by a couple of pence .Such a huge organisation can only be efficient up to a point ,and then it has to change .The problem in my opinion has been that over the past few decades governments have simply tinkered with an existing system instead of trying to change it to a workable organisation within a budget .Private companies do it all the time ,they change business models to suit available markets and trends or they go bust ,if the NHS doesn't change to suit modern times it will go bust (metaphorically speaking)

Re: The end of the NHS - Privatisation
 

Not even remotely similar. And, talking of Virgin, they managed to do something BR never did - run 125mph tilting trains on the west coast main line, on a radically different pricing model that allows you to go from the centre of Glasgow to the centre of London in under 4 hours, for less than £30 return.

The National Bus Company faced no competition in its pricing or timetabling. The inevitable consequences of this were timetabling that was at the convenience of the company, and pricing used as a fig leaf for its operating inefficiencies rather than dealing with them.

In the absence of evidence of that sort of criminality, that is a reasonable assumption. ;)