Guardian UK: David Cameron's NHS chaos won't save money – let alone lives

[marmar]

David Cameron's NHS chaos won't save money – let alone lives
Despite the ideological demand for competition, doctors point to evidence that collaboration is what gets the best results

Polly Toynbee
guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 July 2011


The Tories' great re-disorganisation of the NHS is costing £1m a day, swallowing at least £2bn in all. But waste of money is only one aspect of an unfolding calamity. Cameron's pledge to "cut the deficit, not the NHS" fell apart this week: less is being spent on the NHS, while the deficit rises.

The politics of this is baffling: why is Cameron marching his party into a brick wall he always knew was there? He knew electability rested on oozing love for the NHS so he promised to leave it alone, even using his son to prove his commitment to all the NHS stands for.

Yet the next two years will see the NHS cascade into chaos. The Tories inherited a service that was more efficient, with results improving faster than at any time in its history. Labour's record will shine all the brighter, given the likely state of the NHS by the next election. If the Tories lose, the NHS will be the reason why. How odd that yet again Cameron's pragmatic political instinct deserted him: as so often when his party gets control, it can't resist that tribal blood-rush to marketise and privatise.

This week the Co-operation and Competition Panel did what's expected, criticising the NHS for anti-competitive behaviour. It accused primary care trusts of favouring local hospitals ahead of private firms, capping the number of patients referred outside the NHS. Ministers praised the report – as if the PCTs' financial plight has nothing to do with them. PCTs riposted indignantly that they must balance shrunken budgets and stop local hospitals collapsing: most people want to be treated locally and want their hospital to survive. Not good enough, says the panel, threatening PCTs with formal competition challenges. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/29/david-camerons-nhs-competition