NHS reforms badly judged, say MPs

John Carvel, social affairs editor
Wednesday January 11, 2006
The Guardian

Patricia Hewitt's plans to save £250m on NHS administration are
ill-judged and a false economy, the Commons' health select
committee says today in a unanimous report, approved by its
usually loyal Labour majority.

It said the health secretary planned to merge primary care
trusts - the lower tier of NHS management in England,
responsible for spending 80% of the health service's £76bn
budget. The upheaval followed a reorganisation, three years ago,
when PCTs were established. It usually took three years for the
benefits of any reform to be realised and the distraction caused
by the latest proposals was "ill-judged in the extreme," the MPs
said.

Article continues
"The cycle of perpetual change is not conducive to the
successful provision and improvement of health services. Major
restructuring should only be undertaken if there is an
overwhelming argument in its favour; in this case there is not."

The MPs' intervention came as Ms Hewitt was preparing a
presentation to the Cabinet tomorrow on the next stage of
reforms, to increase competition among GPs and other providers
of health and social care outside hospitals.

The report may serve as a warning that she cannot rely on
support from Labour backbenchers unless she prepares the ground
more carefully than she did on PCT reform and a partial smoking ban.

The committee said there was little evidence the costs of
reforming the PCTs would be outweighed by the benefits. The plan
was announced in July after parliament broke for the summer
giving the NHS 11 weeks to respond. Such brief consultation was
"insufficient and flawed".

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,11032,1683609,00.html

Note to readers: the key 'reforms' to which this report refers
are not merely about organisational mergers. They include the
introduction of private sector competition into NHS primary care
and the loss of a primary health care system based on planned
provision to meet identified need.

More at  http://tinyurl.com/dxtx9
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