Govt ‘tossing a grenade’ under the NHS
By Ian Dunt
Government reforms to the NHS feel as if “someone had tossed a grenade” into the health service, according to a committee of MPs.
The comment, from committee member Dr Sarah Wollaston, herself a GP, is indicative of the level of concern and irritation at the government plans, which would hand power from primary care trusts to GPs.
MPs noted that the government had not revealed the reforms to the electorate before the election, and that Mr Cameron had in fact promised no more top-down reorganisations of the health service.
There was also no mention of the reforms in the May coalition manifesto, but a detailed policy white paper in June revealed that the government had substantive plans for reorganising the health service.
The rapid change in policy had caught the NHS by surprise and threatened its ability to make savings, because workers had not been able to plan for the reforms, MPs found.
The report is the latest in a series of attacks on the reforms ahead of tomorrow’s publication of the health and social care bill.
The programme would strip the NHS of two levels of organisation, with primary care trusts and health authorities being replaced by GPs’ consortia which would effectively commission operations and services from hospitals, creating an artificial market in the NHS.
Six health unions warned of the effects of the reforms on Monday. The NHS Confederation suggested the plans would lead to the closure of hospitals.
