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Doctors are extremely concerned about the impact of the independent sector
on healthcare, a snapshot BMA News survey has indicated.
More than nine out of ten (94%) of the 124 respondents to a poll for BMA News
– the weekly magazine for BMA members – said they were worried about
the future of their local health services if they were left to market forces.
And 86% of the respondents did not think the provision of NHS services by commercial
companies was a good idea.
Three quarters of doctors back the BMA’s own eight principles for a future
NHS which is publicly funded and publicly provided.
Cornwall GP Dr Mark McCartney said:
“The introduction of choice and competition has increased the
cost of delivering healthcare and destabilised existing providers before the
private sector can become properly established.”
Liverpool consultant in public health medicine Dr Richard Jarvis said:
“The dogma that market forces produce the most efficient use of
money has been shown to be catastrophically wrong by the credit crunch.”
The poll results were published as health minister Lord Darzi suggested the
government could be re-examining its controversial PFI (private finance initiative)
to fund hospitals and healthcare facilities.
He told BMA News:
“That model of funding may have been the right model but I have
no doubt that the Department [of Health] will be appraising whether that it
is still the model for the future or whether there are other, better models.
Quality is a moving target and PFIs have been very successful and might
be in the future but it needs to be looked at.”
The BMA has repeatedly warned that PFI represents poor value for public money
in the long term and more sustainable ways of building NHS capacity should be
explored.
BMA Consultants Committee Chairman Dr Jonathan Fielden said:
“We would urge the Department of Health to look again at PFI. The
evidence is that there needs to be a fundamental review and we need to get
something sustainable in a much harsher financial climate.”
Doctors at the BMA Annual Representative Meeting next week will debate whether
further NHS commercialisation should be abandoned.
News is included on the IvyRose website to inform visitors
about current health issues, but not to endorse any particular view or activity.
Any views expressed in the article above are not necessarily those of IvyRose
Ltd.. Material in this news item was released by the British Medical Assocition
(BMA) on 26 June 2009
and may have been edited (e.g. in style, length, and/or for ease of understanding
by our international readers) for inclusion here. For further information, please
visit their website.
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