London think tank warns of backlash over deadlines
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《英国医生杂志》
The government looks set to meet its pledge that within the next three years all NHS patients in England will wait just 18 weeks from initial GP consultation to finished hospital treatment, says an important new study by the King's Fund, an independent health think tank. But the report warns that this could be a Pyrrhic victory, pushing up demand as GPs refer more patients and as affluent people who have previously paid for private treatment switch back to the NHS because of faster access.
The report, The War On Waiting For Hospital Achievement: What Labour Has Achieved and What Challenges Remain, analyses waiting lists from the creation of the NHS, when it came with a ready made waiting list of over half a million patients, to the initiatives under New Labour that have seen the list cut to 823 000.
Authors John Appleby, the chief economist of the King's Fund, and Anthony Harrison, a fellow in health policy, say that if the 18 week target is met the government will need to redefine a new set of objectives, such as tackling the wide variations in quality and access that can occur between neighbouring hospitals and neighbouring doctors. The ultimate priority should be ensuring equal access for patients in equal need.
They argue that existing inequalities could be made worse by government initiatives, such as patient choice, in which patients are expected to be given more choice over how, when, and where they receive treatment.(Mark Gould)
The report, The War On Waiting For Hospital Achievement: What Labour Has Achieved and What Challenges Remain, analyses waiting lists from the creation of the NHS, when it came with a ready made waiting list of over half a million patients, to the initiatives under New Labour that have seen the list cut to 823 000.
Authors John Appleby, the chief economist of the King's Fund, and Anthony Harrison, a fellow in health policy, say that if the 18 week target is met the government will need to redefine a new set of objectives, such as tackling the wide variations in quality and access that can occur between neighbouring hospitals and neighbouring doctors. The ultimate priority should be ensuring equal access for patients in equal need.
They argue that existing inequalities could be made worse by government initiatives, such as patient choice, in which patients are expected to be given more choice over how, when, and where they receive treatment.(Mark Gould)