Today (12th July), the coalition's health secretary, Andrew Lansley, will announce a major re-organisation of the NHS in a White Paper.
The NHS Confederation, which represents primary care trusts, has warned that the reforms could lead to the health service looking more like the "gas and telecom market" than the NHS, and that the proposed changes will create "a market dynamic." (1)
Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, said today that:
"Increasing the role of the market in the NHS will not make it more efficient, nor make the NHS more responsive to patients needs.
"Instead, an increased role for the market will fragment care and increase the costs of provision.
"As any economist will tell you, markets need mechanisms to operate. For the NHS, that means increasing the number of managers and accountants, which will result in a cut in front line services, just the opposite of what Andrew Lansley announced he wanted a few weeks ago.
"By expanding the role of the market, handing powers to consortia of GPs, privatising hospitals, and scrapping important targets, Andrew Lansley is creating the perfect conditions for high costs, poor practice, unaccountability and long waiting lists.
"Andrew Lansley's plans will also ensure that there is even less health care to go round with our aging population."
Notes
1) The Guardian, 9th July; Radio 4 Today, 9th July