The great irony is that the Labour government - the political descendants of Nye Bevan who nationalised the vast majority of hospitals in this country to make the system more efficient - is trying to patch over the failure of this NHS model by buying operations wholesale from the private sector.
If you want to know why waiting lists have been reduced, it is by a Labour government going, in desperation, to the private sector.
Ms Hewitt said £3bn will be spent on private sector treatment over five years to pay for 1.7m operations.And NHS figures released ahead of her speech have shown waiting lists and times have fallen again.
Hospital choice
The money will pay for the second wave of independent treatment centres, which carry out non-urgent surgery, and more private operations to help create a patient-led NHS, Ms Hewitt told a conference in Birmingham.
It will mean the number of operations carried out by the private sector, but paid for by the NHS, will rise from 5% at the moment to between 10% and 15%.
This coverage is from BBC Online.
Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in Education
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This sounds like a very good, painless way to make a transition from a state run NHS to private provision. I was wondering when reading TWSWI how any Government could possibly disassemble the entrenched current system.
Presumably private operations are a much more efficent, and thus cheaper, alternative to the NHS for the government. Maybe it is ironic, but shouldn't it be encouraged and celebrated regardless?
Posted by: Adam at June 27, 2005 01:16 AM