Maybe I should not listen to R4 in the morning, but old habits die
hard. In case this sounds pesonal, there is a hard message:
"Why should health care professionals put time and effort into
developing evidence-based practice, if those who really control the
purse strings will manipulate the end product for political
expediency?"
Today's health stories
1. NHS ranked 18th in world health care (how? by what
parmameters: best colour scheme in out patient waiting rooms?
Reliability and validity of methods please).
2. NICE has decided agianst beta-interferon (Okay, I'm no expert
on MS, but the evidence for widespread use seems shaky).
Immediate knee-jerk response from Tory Health spokesman "We
will review this decision when re-elected." (I admit that the first time
I heard this I mis-heard it as "We will revoke this....") Presume he
is unlikely to have sifted NICE's report and appraised its conclusion.
So why on earth do we spend resources on things like NICE if the
next administartion will simply "review" any decisions it makes?
Surely there is absolutely no point in having such bodies if the
powers that be cannot accept their findings impartially?
I assume we are now dealing with those who believe that if the
"evidence" is examined closely enough, it can be made to support
ANY politically expedient policy (just as bigots can selectively
extract passages form the Bible to support just about any bias).
How can we achieve any progress in health care, as long as
politicians simultaneously demand that anything the professions
want to do has to be backed by "good qauality evidence" while
reserving the right to say anything that may grub up a few votes for
their party? Politicians control bigger budgets than PCT s ever will:
shouldn't they be subject to more accountability and a bit of "
professional re-validation" would do most MPs no harrm.
We seem back in the game of political football: party A
nationalises, so party B automatically privatises (having cooked a
report to show this will save money and improve the service).
Regards Alan O'Rourke
Alan O'Rourke
Information Officer
Wisdom Centre for Network Learning
http://www.wisdom.org.uk/
Institute of General Practice
Community Sciences Centre
Northern General Hospital Sheffield S5 7AU
Tel: 0114 271 5095 Fax: 0114 243 3762
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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