Comments on: Happy 60th birthday, NHS http://liberalconspiracy.org/2008/07/01/happy-60th-birthday-nhs/ Left-wing news, opinion and activism Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:53:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: thomas http://liberalconspiracy.org/2008/07/01/happy-60th-birthday-nhs/#comment-14862 thomas Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:15:22 +0000 http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/?p=932#comment-14862 I agree that polyclinics could be introduced in a limited way to some benefit of the system, but that any benefit is lost when they start being seens as a general means to economise by replacing existing facilities, rather than being brought in to improve the service by increasing availablility. Labour's centralising tendency spreads its dogmatic tentacles into unnecessary areas - for example a range of smaller surgeries are set to lose their dispensing facilities in a bid to encourage private investment in dispensing chemists (and thereby removing them from smaller and more isolated communities). This is perverse because the very people who use the facilities are those who use them out of necessity, not convenience, so the reality is that such a change is not only unnecessary, but inconvenient and uneconomic in the long-term. I agree that polyclinics could be introduced in a limited way to some benefit of the system, but that any benefit is lost when they start being seens as a general means to economise by replacing existing facilities, rather than being brought in to improve the service by increasing availablility.

Labour’s centralising tendency spreads its dogmatic tentacles into unnecessary areas – for example a range of smaller surgeries are set to lose their dispensing facilities in a bid to encourage private investment in dispensing chemists (and thereby removing them from smaller and more isolated communities). This is perverse because the very people who use the facilities are those who use them out of necessity, not convenience, so the reality is that such a change is not only unnecessary, but inconvenient and uneconomic in the long-term.

]]> By: john b http://liberalconspiracy.org/2008/07/01/happy-60th-birthday-nhs/#comment-14820 john b Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:42:00 +0000 http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/?p=932#comment-14820 Deeply sceptical of the strong assertions / complete lack of links combo. Also, presumably you're aware that a) as Chris says, GPs have always been private; b) in the French system, most providers from GPs to hospitals are publicly funded and privately delivered. The US system is wasteful because of its provision mechanism, not its delivery. [overall, the piece sounds like a Private Eye "in the back" rant. Note that Phil Hammond, the PE journalist who actually understands medicine, isn't a massive PFI demolitionist - rather, that goes to whichever ignorant Trots wrte the excrable "ooh, it's a private company doing business with the government, let's slate it" In The Back section these days...] Also, bring polyclinics on. The idea of being able to go to a surgery at a time that suits me, not Monday-Friday 10AM-midday, might actually mean I go and see a doctor from time to time; if they've got my medical notes, it doesn't matter in the slightest whether it's the same chap who saw me last time or not... Deeply sceptical of the strong assertions / complete lack of links combo. Also, presumably you’re aware that a) as Chris says, GPs have always been private; b) in the French system, most providers from GPs to hospitals are publicly funded and privately delivered. The US system is wasteful because of its provision mechanism, not its delivery.

[overall, the piece sounds like a Private Eye "in the back" rant. Note that Phil Hammond, the PE journalist who actually understands medicine, isn't a massive PFI demolitionist - rather, that goes to whichever ignorant Trots wrte the excrable "ooh, it's a private company doing business with the government, let's slate it" In The Back section these days...]

Also, bring polyclinics on. The idea of being able to go to a surgery at a time that suits me, not Monday-Friday 10AM-midday, might actually mean I go and see a doctor from time to time; if they’ve got my medical notes, it doesn’t matter in the slightest whether it’s the same chap who saw me last time or not…

]]> By: chris strange http://liberalconspiracy.org/2008/07/01/happy-60th-birthday-nhs/#comment-14772 chris strange Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:42:30 +0000 http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/?p=932#comment-14772 Forcing GP surgeries into polyclinics is not privatization. GPs surgeries are already private companies contracted to the NHS, normally in the form of partnerships. Forcing GP surgeries into polyclinics is not privatization. GPs surgeries are already private companies contracted to the NHS, normally in the form of partnerships.

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