We must stand by our NHS

In this guest post, Young Fabian member Martin Edobor argues that we might fight the proposed changes to the structure of NHS service provision in the UK, or risk undoing many of the improvements Labour achieved in its time in government.

Upon reading the Coalition Government’s NHS white paper, I was both shocked and dismayed with their plans to restructure the NHS. The proposals are likely reverse the progress that has been made under Labour, where the NHS delivered a new level of health and equality to the people of Britain.

One of the major proposed changes is to give GPs the power to commission the vast majority of health services for patients, which would result in the closure of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) – the bodies currently tasked with commissioning healthcare from NHS providers. At this moment in time a reorganisation would be the wrong direction to take; in this period of financial uncertainty, the NHS requires stability.

Michael Dixon, Chair of the NHS Alliance, has argued that only 5% of GPs are ready to take over commissioning. While the chief executive of the NHS, Sir David Nicholson, has suggested that the quality of current GP practice-based commissioners isn’t at the level which would be required to transfer commissioning to them under the proposed timetable. At this moment in time, most GPs are simply not prepared nor ready to commission services for their communities. By pushing forward with this reform, the Coalition Government are placing the quality of GP services at risk.

Another major announcement is the increase in patient choice of providers, but this is likely to lead to privatisation by the back door. Allowing private firms greater opportunities to win NHS contracts may result in a two tier system, where those with money will be able to receive better care than those without.

Edward Davies, editor of BMJ Career Focus, claims that the white paper was ‘expected and little more than a logical continuation of 13 years work from the previous government’. He couldn’t be more wrong: the British public did not vote for a re-organisation or privatisation of the NHS. For that reason we must do all we can to oppose this white paper, in order to maintain the quality of the service the NHS provides.