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Economics - National Health Service

Everyone in Britain will get a “health passport” allowing them to pick and mix private or NHS hospitals under Tory plans. The state will pay the cost of NHS ops and up to 70 per cent of private treatment. Patients would pay the difference out of their own money, or from private “top-up” health insurance. Tories reckon the move would free up hospitals to deliver faster treatment for poorer families. Shadow Health Secretary Liam Fox said, “For the first time, the patient will be given the freedom of choice.” Anyone who needs hospital treatment will be able to select where and when to have it. Charges for all procedures will be set out in a price tariff. This “Health Entitlement Licence” is designed to reduce abuse of the NHS by asylum seekers. Anyone unable to produce one would be investigated by immigration officials. But why go to all this bother? We all have a National Insurance number. If you cannot show proof of it, you get no treatment. Simple.

Patients will have to pay £16 a month for the right to see a general practitioner under plans being drawn up by the British Medical Association. The proposals amount to a wholesale privatisation of the GP service, with thousands of family doctors potentially leaving the NHS. The BMA's General Practitioners Committee is drawing up the plans as a result of grow ing frustration with intransigence from the Department of Health, which is trying to impose a new contract. GPs insist they are having to deal with far too many patients, with the average appointment time now down to seven minutes, and that their pay is too low. Morale among GPs is at rock bottom, with 86 per cent voting last month to leave the NHS if negotiations over the new contract failed.

The proposals, based on the system in Guernsey, are aimed at boosting recruitment, improving pay, increasing the amount of time they have with each patient, cutting paperwork and reducing interference from the Department of Health. Under the new system, adults would have to pay £16 a month in insurance to cover visits to a private GP, who would refer the patients to NHS hospitals or consultants if further treatment was needed. Insurance for children would cost £8 a month, and it would be free for those on low incomes. If they wanted, patients could choose 'pay as you go', paying for each appointment to the GP.

The plans are being developed by a new BMA committee, the Special Advisory Group, which is looking at alternatives to the NHS. A draft report on the plans said: 'There is a radical alternative to the UK method of providing general practitioner services which already exists within the British Isles. The Guernsey option would allow the General Practitioner Service to expand once again. The UK would no longer have the unhappiest GPs in Europe.'

Dr Jonathan Reggler, the member of the General Practitioners Committee who originally proposed the Guernsey option, said: 'I've received very favourable support from colleagues. The majority of the General Practitioners Committee believes it is viable to run an alternative to the NHS system.' The GPC is responsible for negotiating on behalf of GPs with government, and if it formally recommends the Guernsey system, it will be a critical blow to the government.

It is certain that Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, who has promised to keep all healthcare free, will refuse to co-operate with the new system, but doctors believe they may be able to force his hand. 'If a sufficient number of GPs in an area resign from the NHS, it will be impossible for health authorities to reallocate all their patients to other doctors. The Government will have to step in,' said Reggler.

Muslim doctors in Britain are refusing to treat patients for diseases that develop as a result of 'sinful' behaviour. They believe certain conditions, mainly sex diseases and AIDS, are 'punishments from God',and say the Koran forbids them from helping sufferers. Some Muslim students refuse to accept the theory of evolution or to study abortion, euthanasia and fertility procedures. Female students have also insisted on wearing veils to class, which is against strict rules.

The Council of the Heads of Medical Schools said, "As a doctor you must ensure your personal beliefs do not prejudice your patients's care. Students must be aware of their responsibility to treat patients regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity or religious belief." The General Medical Council added, "Doctors must not refuse or delay treatment because they believe patient's actions have contributed to their condition."

If Christian doctors refused to treat AIDS patients on these grounds, or insisted that female students wore veils, there would be an outcry against them and they would be forced to resign. And supporters would be accused of being racist.

 

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