Surgeons: It’s time to make NHS patients pay
SENIOR doctors say patients could pay for their own healthcare, in a move that might sweep away the founding principles of the NHS. Top surgeons say the NHS funding crisis is so ‘grim’ that a major shake-up of how health costs are met is urgent.
A paper by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), part of the UK-wide Surgical Forum, sets out drastic proposals that include ‘the question that dares to be asked’ – whether or not healthcare can remain free at the point of delivery.
The proposals also include considering ‘rationing’ some procedures and being ‘realistic’ about what the service can afford. The paper calls for more use of private beds and operating theatres to help hospitals cope with winter pressures.
NHS Scotland has a budget of £13billion a year, with 1.5million hosfinancial pital procedures and 17million GP consultations annually.
But demands for services are soaring with more people waiting longer to be seen, while A&E departments are inundated. Boards are under increasing pressure to save money while the cost of drugs and staff rises.
Professor Michael LavelleJones, President of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, said: ‘The college is keen to aid the Government in its endeavours to improve the NHS, ensure its longevity and safeguard patient safety.’
The RCSEd paper states: ‘The NHS is in crisis, lacking manpower, infrastructure and resources, leaving it unable to deliver a comprehensive service. While shortterm expedients have been introduced to cope with winter pressures, a longer term solution is required.
‘UK population demographics have changed beyond recpromises ognition since the introduction of the NHS in 1948.’
The paper adds that raising taxes would not fully solve the problem. It states: ‘No one likes the term rationing when applied to healthcare, but we need to be realistic about the procedures we can provide.
‘A rise in funding, which will allow all that healthcare can provide to be delivered free at the point of delivery, is out of the question.
‘A health tax or raising general taxation or National Insurance would raise public expectation that all healthcare will still be available, but the consequence of unfulfilled would be politically explosive.’
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘Patient care must always be the number one priority.’
Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar added: ‘Labour established the NHS based on the principle of need, not the ability to pay, and we will always defend that principle.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The Scottish Government is committed to the founding principles of the NHS – a health service publicly owned, publicly operated, and free at the point of need.’
Good Health – Page 38