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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/11/the-guardian-view-on-the-nhs-crisis-private-treatment-is-not-the-answer
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| The Guardian view on the NHS crisis: private treatment is not the answer | |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Waiting has long been the National Health Service’s chronic disease. In 1999, heart surgeons in Middlesbrough used to tell their patients that they had a 5% chance of dying while on the waiting list. Under Labour’s strict targets, waiting times fell. But lately they have risen again. For three years the health service has missed its requirement that patients be seen within 18 weeks for non-urgent surgery and this year ministers quietly relaxed the target. Now, rather than face long queues, growing numbers of patients in England are paying for private treatment instead. These one-off private patients – who do not have health insurance but might chose to have their hip or cararact operation privately – are increasing by up to 25% a year. This is not a good thing. | Waiting has long been the National Health Service’s chronic disease. In 1999, heart surgeons in Middlesbrough used to tell their patients that they had a 5% chance of dying while on the waiting list. Under Labour’s strict targets, waiting times fell. But lately they have risen again. For three years the health service has missed its requirement that patients be seen within 18 weeks for non-urgent surgery and this year ministers quietly relaxed the target. Now, rather than face long queues, growing numbers of patients in England are paying for private treatment instead. These one-off private patients – who do not have health insurance but might chose to have their hip or cararact operation privately – are increasing by up to 25% a year. This is not a good thing. |
| The NHS in England is in a bad way. In January the Red Cross said the service was facing a “humanitarian crisis”: hospitals were so overcrowded they could not guarantee patient safety. Some hospitals admit they are completely full. Exhausted and demoralised by unmanageable caseloads, many medics are retiring early or going part-time: the NHS is short of 40,000 nurses, and GPs are leaving the NHS at the rate of 400 a month. And every month of 2016-17 saw the NHS fail to treat 95% of those coming to hospital emergency rooms within the desired time of four hours. | The NHS in England is in a bad way. In January the Red Cross said the service was facing a “humanitarian crisis”: hospitals were so overcrowded they could not guarantee patient safety. Some hospitals admit they are completely full. Exhausted and demoralised by unmanageable caseloads, many medics are retiring early or going part-time: the NHS is short of 40,000 nurses, and GPs are leaving the NHS at the rate of 400 a month. And every month of 2016-17 saw the NHS fail to treat 95% of those coming to hospital emergency rooms within the desired time of four hours. |
| The problem is money. NHS trusts spent more than their budgets by £770m last year, and these deficits are building up across the whole health service. Demand from an ageing population of the chronically ill continues to rise. And deep cuts to social care and public health have clogged wards with people who should not be there. Failure to deal with the cash shortage in time often means greater sums must be spent later. Last week the health service announced it will pay recruitment agencies up to £100m to find 3,000 GPs from abroad: an expensive last resort it cannot afford. | The problem is money. NHS trusts spent more than their budgets by £770m last year, and these deficits are building up across the whole health service. Demand from an ageing population of the chronically ill continues to rise. And deep cuts to social care and public health have clogged wards with people who should not be there. Failure to deal with the cash shortage in time often means greater sums must be spent later. Last week the health service announced it will pay recruitment agencies up to £100m to find 3,000 GPs from abroad: an expensive last resort it cannot afford. |
| The government must act urgently to give the NHS the money it needs. So far there have been few signs it will do so. Spending on the health service is falling as a share of GDP. By the latest calculations Britain spends less than countries such as France and Sweden – which are either as rich or richer per person than the UK – on healthcare, but a similar amount to Spain and Portugal, both of which are poorer per capita than this country. | The government must act urgently to give the NHS the money it needs. So far there have been few signs it will do so. Spending on the health service is falling as a share of GDP. By the latest calculations Britain spends less than countries such as France and Sweden – which are either as rich or richer per person than the UK – on healthcare, but a similar amount to Spain and Portugal, both of which are poorer per capita than this country. |
| The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, prefers to think that there’s still fat to be trimmed from the health service to pay for it. But the NHS continues to be ranked as the most efficient health system of 11 wealthy countries by the Commonweath Fund, an influential health thinktank. It is unlikely that efficiency savings can deal with the problem. Pushing patients towards private practice is not the answer. A health service free at the point of use is one of the pillars that holds up the country; should it be left only to the poor, the service will degrade. The Tories have moved away from former health secretary Andrew Lansley’s disastrous attempts to introduce competition into the service. But private care in the NHS is growing. There was a 33% increase in Department of Health spending on private providers between 2013-14 and 2015-16. Some senior figures in the NHS even worry the Tories plan to stretch the service until it breaks and can be privatised. To ensure that this does not happen the goverment must pay up. | The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, prefers to think that there’s still fat to be trimmed from the health service to pay for it. But the NHS continues to be ranked as the most efficient health system of 11 wealthy countries by the Commonweath Fund, an influential health thinktank. It is unlikely that efficiency savings can deal with the problem. Pushing patients towards private practice is not the answer. A health service free at the point of use is one of the pillars that holds up the country; should it be left only to the poor, the service will degrade. The Tories have moved away from former health secretary Andrew Lansley’s disastrous attempts to introduce competition into the service. But private care in the NHS is growing. There was a 33% increase in Department of Health spending on private providers between 2013-14 and 2015-16. Some senior figures in the NHS even worry the Tories plan to stretch the service until it breaks and can be privatised. To ensure that this does not happen the goverment must pay up. |
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