Podcast #17: The coalition’s despised NHS reforms
I emerged from parliament on Wednesday evening, crossed over Parliament Square and wandered over to Central Hall. Outside, health workers of every kind were gathering to make their views on the coalition's NHS reforms clear. You might have guessed by now that they weren't especially keen.
That the coalition's health and social care bill is hated was very quickly clear. What most surprised me, though, was not the visceral nature of this despisal, but its basis. There is a genuine fear that the NHS will cease to become free at the point of use. Opposition to this basic principle is clear, yet the coalition claims it is not planning anything of the sort.
Sarah Wollaston, the Tory backbencher, makes that clear in this week's podcast. Yet since then I've come across this BMJ article arguing that, in fact, the changes "will enable charging for health services that are currently free". These legislative changes are complicated, that's for sure. The fact it takes three experts to explain its implications just shows how mired in detail this debate has become.
Yet, as Hamish Meldrum explains, that's part of the problem. His concern is that because so much of the bill is 'general' and 'enabling', its potential implications are far greater than the coalition had suggested.
This is not the first time I've emerged from a brush with NHS matters more confused than I was at the start. Let me know your thoughts! If you have any insight that could help improve my understanding of the situation, please let me know here.
