Health

NHS plans will mean putting wealthy first, says doctors' leader

by liamssoft | July 21, 2011 at 07:26 am

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2nd September 2011

Hospitals will be forced to treat wealthy foreigners to raise cash rather than treat poor patients as they are hit by cuts to the NHS budget and the government's radical pro-market reforms, the leader of Britain's doctors BMA's Hamish Meldrum has warned.

Those who pay or are insured get a better service than those who do not and rely on state-funded Medicare. Until now our system has been built on social solidarity where patients get appropriate treatment in the appropriate time."

He said the government was forcing all hospitals to become foundation trusts and these would be gearing up to lure private patients from home and abroad as budgets were squeezed. This decision, he argued, would only be possible because the government plans to abolish the cap limiting the proportion of total income hospitals can earn from the paying sick.

guardian.co.uk

29th July 2011

NHS Delays Operations Waiting for Patients to Die or Go Private

NHS managers are deliberately delaying operations as they wait for patients either to die or go private in order to save money, according to an official report.

But managers, who are already rationing surgery for cataracts, hips, knees and tonsils, say they must restrict treatment as the NHS is under orders to make £20 billion of efficiency savings by 2015.

Under government targets, patients should be treated within 18 weeks of referral by a GP. But even when surgeons could see them far sooner, the study found that some trusts made hospitals wait as long as 15 weeks before operating. The tactic forced private hospitals, which were more likely to be able to treat patients quickly, to operate as slowly as overcrowded NHS units in an “unfortunate leveling down”.

Another story of dieing in hospital hit the headlines on 21st July 2011.

The deliberate contamination of saline at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, Greater Manchester northwest England, which culminated in the British police investigating five deaths.

Greater Manchester Police said Thursday that the deaths of an 83-year-old man and an 84-year-old woman were being linked to the "deliberate contamination" of saline with insulin. Three other deaths are already being investigated. Detectives questioned and then charged a 27-year-old nurse on Wednesday on suspicion of murder.

mail.com