Conservatives promise to end waiting lists
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《英国医生杂志》
Performance targets set by the government for NHS hospitals would be abolished under a new Conservative government, according to the party抯 health manifesto, released last week. Britain抯 28 strategic health authorities would also go, while primary care trusts would have their number and functions reduced, in an effort "to restore the primacy of the doctor-patient relationship."
But the manifesto drew criticism from health unions and the Labour party for its proposal to hand NHS money to private patients as a reward for seeking care outside the NHS. Under the plan, patients who sought a private operation would be entitled to 50% of the NHS cost for that procedure as a contribution towards their bill.
Efforts to stamp out hospital acquired infections take centre stage in the party抯 programme, entitled "Action on Health." The party promises that matrons will have the power to overrule hospital managers on ward closures in cases of infection. The matrons would be employed directly by the NHS rather than by the hospital or local trust.
Rates of hospital acquired infections have doubled since Labour came to power, the manifesto charges, telling readers: "You are more likely to die from a disease picked up in an NHS hospital than to be killed on Britain抯 roads." Under a Tory government local inspection teams would be created to "search and destroy" methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Like the proposed new class of matrons the teams would have the power to overrule hospital managers.
The manifesto accuses Labour of breaking the link between doctors and patients by removing general practitioners?right to refer patients for the treatment they think best and handing commissioning to primary care trusts. A Conservative government, the party claims, would "cut the PCT bureaucracy which interferes in GP practices and requires ever-increasing data collection."
These reforms, and the encouragement of private medicine, would eliminate waiting lists under a Tory government, the manifesto claims. "We believe that a combination of freedom for professionals and patients?right to choose care from the public or independent sector will mean no needless waits for hospital treatment by the end of the next Parliament. Waiting lists as we know them will become a thing of the past."
The manifesto抯 launch was immediately countered by a Labour press conference, at which former health secretary and Labour election co-ordinator Alan Milburn said the Conservatives "propose to reverse the founding principle of the NHS: that it is about clinical need, not ability to pay."
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the independent health think tank the King抯 Fund, criticised the plan to subsidise private treatment with NHS money. "We are concerned that the Conservatives have kept their patient passport policy, albeit under a different guise. It represents a large deadweight cost and would not be a good use of public funds. I suspect voters will see this as undermining a basic principle of the NHS, which is about giving free care to all and not about providing a top-up payment for those who can afford more expensive care."
* The Conservative party unveiled plans last week to introduce compulsory health screening of all migrants entering Britain from outside the European Union for stays of more than six months. The tests would identify HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and hepatitis B, among other conditions. People with tuberculosis would not be allowed to enter the country, while other infections would be treated on a "case by case" basis. The Labour government has said it plans to introduce targeted screening for tuberculosis in migrants from high risk areas, with a requirement that infected patients seek treatment before entry.(London Owen Dyer)
But the manifesto drew criticism from health unions and the Labour party for its proposal to hand NHS money to private patients as a reward for seeking care outside the NHS. Under the plan, patients who sought a private operation would be entitled to 50% of the NHS cost for that procedure as a contribution towards their bill.
Efforts to stamp out hospital acquired infections take centre stage in the party抯 programme, entitled "Action on Health." The party promises that matrons will have the power to overrule hospital managers on ward closures in cases of infection. The matrons would be employed directly by the NHS rather than by the hospital or local trust.
Rates of hospital acquired infections have doubled since Labour came to power, the manifesto charges, telling readers: "You are more likely to die from a disease picked up in an NHS hospital than to be killed on Britain抯 roads." Under a Tory government local inspection teams would be created to "search and destroy" methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Like the proposed new class of matrons the teams would have the power to overrule hospital managers.
The manifesto accuses Labour of breaking the link between doctors and patients by removing general practitioners?right to refer patients for the treatment they think best and handing commissioning to primary care trusts. A Conservative government, the party claims, would "cut the PCT bureaucracy which interferes in GP practices and requires ever-increasing data collection."
These reforms, and the encouragement of private medicine, would eliminate waiting lists under a Tory government, the manifesto claims. "We believe that a combination of freedom for professionals and patients?right to choose care from the public or independent sector will mean no needless waits for hospital treatment by the end of the next Parliament. Waiting lists as we know them will become a thing of the past."
The manifesto抯 launch was immediately countered by a Labour press conference, at which former health secretary and Labour election co-ordinator Alan Milburn said the Conservatives "propose to reverse the founding principle of the NHS: that it is about clinical need, not ability to pay."
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the independent health think tank the King抯 Fund, criticised the plan to subsidise private treatment with NHS money. "We are concerned that the Conservatives have kept their patient passport policy, albeit under a different guise. It represents a large deadweight cost and would not be a good use of public funds. I suspect voters will see this as undermining a basic principle of the NHS, which is about giving free care to all and not about providing a top-up payment for those who can afford more expensive care."
* The Conservative party unveiled plans last week to introduce compulsory health screening of all migrants entering Britain from outside the European Union for stays of more than six months. The tests would identify HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and hepatitis B, among other conditions. People with tuberculosis would not be allowed to enter the country, while other infections would be treated on a "case by case" basis. The Labour government has said it plans to introduce targeted screening for tuberculosis in migrants from high risk areas, with a requirement that infected patients seek treatment before entry.(London Owen Dyer)