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BMA Chairman, Dr Hamish Meldrum, today (29/6/09) called on the government to
stop playing around with the NHS and to admit when policies have not worked.
In his keynote address to the BMA’s annual representative meeting (ARM)
Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of Council at the BMA said:
“Don’t play around with our health service. It’s not
a toy you cast aside and replace with the latest product off the shelf when
you’ve tired of it. It needs looking after. It’s our NHS, make
it yours too.”
Dr Meldrum urged the new Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, to cut out waste and
unnecessary expense in the NHS. He said there had never been a better time to
abandon the market reforms in England, calling on Mr Burnham to “end this
ludicrous, divisive and expensive experiment of the market in healthcare in
England.” He urged doctors to sign up to the BMA’s “Look
After Our NHS” campaign which is gathering examples of how
the market is impacting on the NHS.
He challenged the Government to face up to where policies had failed and not
to fear losing face. He said:
“Don’t cling to failed policies just because you think you
might lose face if you are seen to have changed your mind. It’s a sign
of strength not weakness to admit that new circumstances need new policies.”
Dr Meldrum told the audience of around 500 doctors that pressures on NHS funding
would intensify in the months ahead. He said:
“The NHS is facing some of the biggest and most serious challenges
ever, as we move from a period of sustained growth in resources to one of,
at best, stagnation in funding, and at worst, stringency, hardship and even
cuts, in our health service.
We need to do everything possible to protect the healthcare budget and
not concede that swingeing cuts are either inevitable or necessary.
He warned those calling for a move to an insurance-based system of funding
that this was not the answer: “There is little evidence that such systems
reduce demand; they are certainly more expensive to operate and it cannot
be argued that they are fairer than raising money from general taxation.”
Remarking on a recent visit to Australia, where there is a mix of state provision
and private insurance, he said:
“I passed several people begging in the prosperous streets of Melbourne
and Sydney with placards stating that they could not afford their medical
bills. I never want to see that on the streets of the UK.”
In a message to all political parties he urged:
“Be honest with the public and the profession. Stop trying to
outbid each other about who’s going to spend more or cut less. It’s
not a very edifying spectacle and the public and the profession have seen
through the charade that seems to happen every time an election is looming.”
He added:
“The profession is ready to work with whichever governments are
in power, to look at the hard choices, to make the tough decisions but on
the basis of evidence, fairness, equity and trust, not just as apologists
for another round of failed policies."
A whole-systems approach is needed to improve health care and protect services.
Dr Meldrum said:
“We need a whole-system and across-government approach to improve
the health of the public, with every citizen involved from the prime minister,
downwards. Only that way will we slow the inexorable rise in pressure on our
National Illness Service and cope with the financial and clinical challenges
that lie ahead."
Dr Meldrum also criticised the pressures NHS staff can face when they try to
speak out about poor practice. Referring to the recent case of nurse Margaret
Haywood who was disciplined for her actions, he said:
“Such cases send out completely the wrong message to those health
professionals who might want to speak out about unacceptable conditions in
their workplace.
They also say a lot about the target-driven culture that has infested
the NHS in recent years and that seems to put financial outcomes for trusts
above clinical outcomes for patients.
We will not tolerate a substandard service for our patients and we will
not tolerate a culture of muzzling or bullying of our staff.”
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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 29 June 2009
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