This was my response to Patricia Hewitt's article in
Saturday's Guardian, which was entitled 'Even Nye Bevan's NHS
saw a role for the private sector'. The Guardian chose not
to print it. You can read the Hewitt article at
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/comment/0,11032,1519669,00.html
Best, Alex
Privatising the NHS
Patricia Hewitt’s attempt to bracket herself with Nye Bevan
(Even Nye Bevan's NHS saw a role for the private sector,
July 2) cannot pass unchallenged. While Bevan reluctantly
accepted political realities regarding independent
contractor status for NHS GPs, Hewitt - like her
predecessors Millburn and Reid - is actively imposing a
private sector marketplace on the previously public NHS
surgical service. While Bevan bemoaned his need to 'stuff
consultants’ mouths with silver', New Labour have actively
offered financial inducements to bring the private sector
into their healthcare market.
Hewitt’s claims of innovation and improved standards are
frankly laughable, as I and many others made clear at the
BMA conference last week. The Association of Surgeons has
recently documented evidence of falling standards in the
Guardian. And as with Railtrack, we are currently seeing the
long-term results of Thatcher's privatisation of hospital
cleaning services.
In a flash of clarity, Ms Hewitt states that '…people want
their own local hospital to be able to offer good, safe
care'. If only New Labour had stuck to this kind of vision,
they would be very much more popular - and we would still
have a welfare state to be proud of.
Yours sincerely,
Alex Scott-Samuel
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