Daily Comment / Health

Darzi’s review has finally arrived?
Source: DoH, 30th June 2008

The long-awaited Darzi review has finally arrived (click the title above to be taken to the full report). Read Credo’s take on it in the Credo Comment below.

Labour not trusted to reform the NHS
Source: The Telegraph, 30th June 2008
Labour is no longer the party trusted to bring in the health reforms that are needed to safeguard the NHS for future generations, a poll for The Daily Telegraph shows.

On the day that the Darzi review was issued, a poll by the Daily Telegraph showed that vast majority of the public do not believe Labour can provide a better NHS within the next ten years.

Politics aside, something else caught our eye – 69% of the public now believe that re-organisation the NHS is more important than spending more money.

The sentiment is clear – people believe there is already enough funding in the NHS, and we tend to agree. In hospitals, benchmarking best practices, sharing innovation and increasing utilisation can make funds go further.

Should self-pay care be taxed?
Source: Health Investor, 26th June 2008
The government should charge tax on self-paid private healthcare, a report from the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) argues.

Taxing people on self-pay healthcare could have a significant impact on the attractiveness of self-pay surgery, a market that accounts for c.20% of the total private healthcare market. With the current economic climate potentially threatening the growth of self-pay, this could be a further blow to private hospital providers.

PCTs told to embrace the independent and private sectors
Source: Health Investor, 26th June 2008
The private and voluntary sectors will play a bigger role in the provision of community services and primary care, David Nicholson, the National Health Service chief executive, has told the Financial Times.

Whilst we welcome David Nicholson’s views on this subject, we believe much of the press debate has focussed on the wrong things. The responsibility of the commissioning body is to provide its community with the highest quality care at the best price. The ownership and operating model for provision (public, not-for-profit or private) is not relevant to this debate.

Though interested parties may hold opinions or prejudices on which model provides the best service at the lowest cost, there is little objective evidence to suggest which model is, per se, better than the others.

Credo comment

Darzi’s key themes
Gordon Brown welcomed the Darzi review as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to make the NHS one of the best healthcare organisations in the world. The major changes for patients appear to be:

• The right to “choose”; whether that be the local GP or a nominated surgeon
• A move towards ending the drug “postcode lottery”
• A shift towards delivery in the primary care sector (including the encouragement, though not the obligation, for the development of polyclinics)
• More emphasis on public health schemes

We also point to some key issues for PCTs and trusts to address, read more here.

For the full article please click here.