Most of us in the UK care deeply about the future of the NHS. We know there are all kinds of problems — and some of them are inevitable, with medical possibilities ever-expanding, an ageing population, and finite resources. But many voices I trust say, very loudly, that the current Lansley health bill is not the way to tackle them. So I’ve signed the Drop the Health Bill petition (along with over 100K other people): I hope you will too if you are a British citizen or UK resident. Here’s a persuasive BMJ blogpost by the petition’s originator.
Spread the word, for indeed numbers here can matter.
MPs reject GP’s bid to force health bill debate
http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/newsarticle-content/-/article_display_list/13529407/mps-reject-gp-s-bid-to-force-health-bill-debate
MPs on the Backbench Business Committee have refused to allow time for a parliamentary debate after a leading GP’s e-petition calling on the Government to drop the health bill collected more than 162,000 signatures.
Unfortunately (and somehow I still find this shocking) the Lib Dems are willing to help force this legislation through, and that includes Baroness Shirley Williams, if her comments on a recent Question Time are any guide. It seems they feel enough concessions have been made, so that (for example) the Health Secretary will still have a duty to provide a universal healthcare system free at the point of use. However, it’s not clear that the duty actually will remain, or how much the “free” system will have to do; and so far as I know the deadly “any willing provider” clause remains, although I’ve also heard that it’s now disguised as “any qualified provider”.
My feeling is that there is now such a smokescreen of weasel words and ambiguous concessions that the bill will be voted through.
It’s been weasel words from the start. There was to be no “top-down” reorganisation of the NHS, but it was claimed the reform was bottom-up rather than top-down. Nothing these people say can be trusted.