'Off with their heads' @ No 10

So - why am I in yet another dither about the NHS? If you take a look at the Daily Telegraph, you will understand.

Max Pemberton has written a piece entitled: The NHS delivers fast patient care, so why privatise an NHS hospital? He makes a clear and cogently argued case against this new Health and Social Care Bill. He writes:

Last week I spotted three news reports about the NHS which, when considered together, provide a damning critique of the Government’s current agenda for the health service.

He then details these reports. The first item shows that "the NHS is a world leader in cancer treatment". He continues:

... this study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, claims that the NHS in England and Wales has achieved the biggest drop in cancer deaths and the most efficient use of resources among 10 leading countries.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/heal-our-hospitals/8884323/The-NHS-delivers-fast-patient-care-so-why-privatise-an-NHS-hospital.html

One of the co-authors of this British Journal of Cancer report, Prof Colin Pritchard, a health academic at Bournemouth University was quoted by Denis Campbell, the Guardian's health correspondent, as saying:

These results challenge the feeble justification of the government's changes, which appear to be based upon overhyped media representation, rather than hard comparable evidence. This paper should be a real boost to cancer patients and their families because the NHS's performance on cancer is much better than the media presents. It challenges the government's assertion that the NHS is inefficient and ineffective at treating cancer – an argument for reforming the NHS. ...
David Cameron and Andrew Lansley are happier with NHS 'bad news' stories rather than, as our research shows, that we should celebrate the NHS which, in monetary terms, is vastly superior to the private healthcare system of the USA.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/07/nhs-cancer-figures-cameron-lansley

The second matter to which Max Pemberton refers is based on, "the result of the Commonwealth Fund survey, which uses a range of measures to analyse health-care systems worldwide."

The Commonwealth Fund survey stated:

Despite having very different health care systems, the U.K. and Switzerland were leaders in having rapid access to primary care, easy access to after-hours care, and comparatively low rates of coordination gaps and patient-reported medical errors.

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Surveys/2011/Nov/2011-International-Survey.aspx

Max Pemberton in his comments on this survey writes:

The success of the NHS comes despite health spending per capita being the third lowest of the 11 countries examined.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/heal-our-hospitals/8884323/The-NHS-delivers-fast-patient-care-so-why-privatise-an-NHS-hospital.html

Finally, Max Pemberton drew attention to the fact that the findings of these surveys are:

... at odds with ... the announcement that the Treasury has given the go-ahead for a private company to take over an NHS hospital. This is despite the Coalition’s assurance that it is not pursuing privatisation of the NHS.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/heal-our-hospitals/8884323/The-NHS-delivers-fast-patient-care-so-why-privatise-an-NHS-hospital.html

The figures that the British Journal of Cancer and the Commonwealth Fund survey present are obviously not the ones that Lansley and Cameron see!

Increasingly their view of the NHS is like the distorted worlds of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Things are never quite what they appear to be. As Alice would say they are "Curiouser and curiouser!"

The case for retaining the NHS free from the taint of privatisation is clear. If I were judging this matter, I should expect a jury to come back with a 'Guilty' verdict against Lansley and Cameron. Guilty of what, do you ask? Guilty of attempting to destroy the much prized NHS, the jewel in the crown of the Welfare State. And the sentence for such wanton destruction? As Lewis Carroll's Queen of Hearts would say: "Off with their heads!"

'Bye'