The Town Hall debate on NHS reform
On Sunday 12th June I hosted a public meeting on the Coalition Government’s NHS proposals in what was a packed and lively debate at Brent Town Hall.
It is important that residents are fully informed about the Coalition Government’s proposals and the impact they will have on their local health care service. Residents need to be able to raise their concerns and it is striking that despite all the Government’s talk about “pausing to listen” no coalition MP locally held a public meeting and it was left to the official opposition to ensure Brent residents had their say!
The panel of speakers included Dr. Chaand Nagpaul from the BMA, Dr. Ethie Kong, Chair the Brent GP Commissioning Consortium, Navin Shah GLA Member for Brent & Harrow, Monica Hirst from UNISON and Nora Flanegan representing the Royal College of Nursing as well as Shadow Health Minister Emily Thornberry MP.
Dr. Nagpaul from the BMA opened the meeting by stating that historically, the NHS provides treatment to patients based on clinical need, regardless of ability to pay. The Health & Social care Bill, he argued, could pave the ground to change this principle irreversibly.
The major point is that the Health & Social Care Bill introduces into the NHS a market which up until now has only allowed competition on quality, not prices. The fact remains that almost every health care expert agrees that competition on price in the NHS is dangerous and risks patient care.
The meeting was clear about the need to integrate social care and health care and that this must form a part of the Bill.
Residents drew from their own experiences to add to the debate, expressing concern that under the proposed system, private companies would be able to “cherry pick” services while the NHS provider would be forced to provide the remaining unprofitable services. This, it was argued, could undermine the financial viability of NHS local hospitals and their ability to provide complex (and perhaps less profitable) procedures.
The public meeting demonstrated just how passionately residents feel about the quality of NHS care and its accessibility to all regardless of income, background or treatment needed. There were some excellent contributions from residents and members of the panel and I will continue to monitor the progress of the Bill over the coming months to ensure that they are listening to the concerns of patients, NHS staff and the recommendations of the NHS Future Forum.
See all the photos from the event on my Flickr photostream at:
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