Date Published:
20 November 2006 |
BMA comment on hospital advertising (UK)
Commenting on plans to allow NHS hospitals in England to advertise their
services, Dr Jonathan Fielden, chairman of the BMA’s consultants’ committee
said:
“ The Government has created a market-based system to deliver health
care which means the NHS is forced to compete against new private providers
in delivering NHS services.
_ NHS hospitals will have no option but to
invest in marketing tactics, such as advertising, if they are to survive
against private firms who will
already have large marketing budgets and considerable expertise in selling
themselves. This is all the more galling when the independent sector receives
advantageous rates for less complex work on guaranteed contracts when compared
to the NHS.
_ It is a sad indictment of government policy
to consider spending public money on advertising NHS services when hospitals
are having to make cutbacks
in patient care and compulsory redundancies in order to save money.”
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