Change, change… please change the record Wes

Dr David Turner laments the stagnant policies of the Labour Government, following comments made by the health secretary

I was pondering what to write for this blog and was toying with the idea of penning something original. All of a sudden, the health secretary came on the radio.

I was instantly whisked back to the era of the last Labour government, and almost considered copying and pasting an article I wrote back then – because it is just as applicable now. Amongst all the blah blah blah and jargon, certain phrases burrowed through the froth and waffle like hungry rats in a rubbish heap:

‘Definitely consider using independent sector spare capacity to reduce NHS waiting lists…’

‘Sympathetic to the argument we should try and leverage private finance…’

‘More patient choice…more patient power… more patient control, where seen, how seen and  nature of their appointment…’

‘A business as usual NHS is not sustainable… got to improve productivity of the NHS…’

So, with a heavy heart and my irony dial set as low as it will go, I will attempt to address Mr Streeting’s aspirations.

PFI, really? Did you not learn your lesson last time? What do you think the private sector’s priorities are? Are they to help improve the public sector or to make a barrow load of the folding stuff for their shareholders? I’ll leave you to think about that one Wes.

As for ‘patient choice’ – nearly 20 years ago I wrote that patients, on the whole, do not want or need choice. They are not buying a new sofa or TV; they just want their hernia repaired, or gallbladder removed as quickly as possible and as near to home as possible. The same applies today. Stop banging on about choice and just focus on getting the local hospitals working properly. The only choice most of my patients currently have is the one between a rejection letter/eternal wait for NHS care, or pay privately.

Increase productivity. What exactly do you mean by this Wes? If you mean ‘slash a load of the clipboard carrying, meeting attending, mouse-clickers in the NHS and use the money to fund more jobs for people who actually do something useful’, then I am right behind you. If, however, you mean asking the clipboard-carriers to crack the whip harder in a vain attempt to flog a wheeze or two more of life out of the dead-on-their-feet NHS workforce, then frankly, do one.

What was noticeable in its absence was any mention of primary care at all. There was no mention of perhaps tweaking our percentage share of the NHS budget up a point or two, so that the people who deal with 90% of patient contacts every day get a bit more. 

I nearly said a bigger slice of the pie then. But honestly? Just a nice, regular sized, friendly portion would be a start.

Dr David Turner is a GP in Hertfordshire