Trade union renews calls
for end to NHS 'privatisation'
Britain's largest trade union has called once again for an end to private companies delivering healthcare on behalf of the NHS.
At its conference in Liverpool, UNISON said that that the current US debate on healthcare has turned the spotlight onto the NHS and how care is funded and delivered in the UK.
Lilian Macer, chair of UNISON's Health Service Group Executive, said the "reality is that the NHS continues to provide excellent care regardless of income or employment, and at a fraction of the cost of the American system".
However, Macer warned that the increasing use of "market testing" will mean NHS patients also face the prospect of having to work their way through an "increasingly fragmented and complex system" in the future.
The element of competition means that healthcare providers have no incentive to work together or to produce a seamless, smooth pathway of patient care, she said.
The NHS Co-operation and Competition Panel - the body designed to ensure private companies can compete to provide public health services fairly - should be scrapped, Macer added, arguing that "efficiency can be improved without resorting to privatisation".
UNISON has also called on health unions and works to "reignite" the NHS Together campaign.
The NHS has seen a number of improvements over recent years due to increased government spending. However, it is widely thought that it will come under increasing pressure as that funding is scaled back.
Health Insurance magazine 16 September 2009
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