NO SOONER had the cur. ment's ludicrous jamboree of "consultation" on the future of the NHS than ministers began raising the expected two-lingerca health workers and •avour scure surpose First came the conscious leaking proposals increase the use hospitals and nursing home eds by the nurses, doctors and other profes sional staff working in i pripensively trained by i to work in better-resourced and less stressful circumtiny minority - appears to have passed relentless Private hospitals have large numbers or beds vacant at any one time - because primedical insurance still massively and recognised as poor value by all but a handful of the n eight is covered by a priNevertheless, Milburn's watchword, like that of so many of his cabinet colleagues, is Private sector:
public WHat HOsE people want, and restore and develop the NHS, he secks The of draining more cash from the limited budgets of NHS hospitals into the coffers of the parasector is obvious: even more vital staff would be poached from front-line NHS trusts. creating an even sharper crisis on the wards and in hardpressca nore units Widening gaps The lack of qualified staff would widen the gaps NHS provision. And NHS Trusts that fail would face further financial penalties and loss of even more work private vicious cycle would be established.
But the position is also of new hospitals being funded under Milburn's policy, Private Finance Initiative.
This not only funnels tens of millions of NHS cash into the wallets of private sector shareholders, driving through a massive reduction in provision of As PFI hospitals come on stream, the first call on the dwindling stock beds they offer will be to whom private medicine has no facilities to offer, and no wish to get involved. There will be little space available So New large slice Gordon extra cash for the DHSS through to private hospitals - in contracts to treat a growing share of elective (waiting list) cases. other main strand of government policy appears to be to hospital beds as a means of responding to the growing shortages by National Beds Inquiry.
The so-called "closer to home" strategy (more accu rately the "do-it-yourself" strategy, leaving the care of patients in the hands of rela tives at home) was one of the three possible solutions proDETEND THE Birmingham campaigners oppose a PFI scheme which could squeeze too hospitals inso one If the New Labour scheme is carried through, a large slice of Gordon Brown's extra cash for the NHS will pass straight through to private hospitals - in contracts to treat a growing share of elective (waiting list) cases. posed to resolve the shortfall of the private nursing home 4,000 acute beds as chains to expand in areas bE up to BROCH flawed and blinkered the greatest pressure.
Years of experience have But the vast majority of the "intermediate" beds referred builds nursing homes not in to in tac aaquiry toport are to the needs of all of health and social services, them owned and run by the but in response to the presprivate sector them for profit. Whole areas of the country Any increased reliance on where property prices are these nursing home places as higher are already desperway to speed the discharge of older patients from hospi roveston • notably Greater tal beds would run into seri- London, which has less than ous problems. a third of the English averNot only would the govern- DrOVISION nursins ment be obliged to pump home places. even more NHS money into There is no sign that the another part of the private private owners will change sector, but the policy would their policy unless Alan depend upon the willingness mubura is planning to orch even larger share of the into the necessary investBICHE- results of the NHS "census" have not yet been published: but it is a sure bet that few if any of those who dutifully posted back their Department of Health were asking New Labour to pump lions into expanding the grasping private sector, now seems likely to be the case when the called ' for the NHS is unveiled in July.
Instead of contracting out even more crucial services fo the private sector, the NHS should be looking to invest expanded capacity ensure that it can again offer This should include build. ing NHS nursing homes frail elderly, and an end to PFI, with hospitals publicly funded and large enough to sustain both emergency and waiting list services.
PRIVATE HOSPITAL TELLY