Two new Tory health policies
David Blackburn 11:20am
Localism and results-based healthcare are central to the Tories’ NHS reform measures. They plan to arrest the widening gap between the life expectancy of rich and poor by introducing a Health Premium, a new policy, to direct funds to the poorest communities. The second new initiative is the creation of ‘maternity networks’, which will link hospitals, doctors, charities, volunteers and consultants, replacing top-down management with co-operation in a bid to widen expertis, improve services and lower costs.
This reflects the belief that local solutions can have national benefits and concurs with the broader aspects of Tory policy regarding the state and welfare provision. There is still no precise detail about how this will be afforded, and the hostage to fortune ring-fenced spending pledge remains. The catchy slogan is: cut the deficit, not the NHS, but it’s very plausible that the bright ideas, which I think the two new polices are, will never materialise. Should the Tories risk articulating such proposals...?
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Martyn Rowe
January 4th, 2010 11:37am Report this commentI would welcome any new policy that improves maternity care. For a first-world country, far too many babies die during birth or during the latter stages of pregnancy in the UK. It's tragic.
Don't quote me on this, but I think the UK is the only country in the EU that allows a pregnant woman to exceed her due date by more that two weeks, causing unnecessary dangers and loss of life to both baby and mother.
AndyinBrum
January 4th, 2010 12:01pm Report this commentnope if you get to two weeks late, they induce you.
Rhoda Klapp
January 4th, 2010 12:01pm Report this commentAny chance that the health gap for the poor is behaviour-related? I'm not sure what difference money directed in this way will make. Are there any studies, or is this just kneejerk politics, coupled with a belief that whatever the problem, more money is the solution?
david
January 4th, 2010 12:11pm Report this commentHas Dan Hannan made a comment yet? I wonder how supportive he'll be, as for Heff should imagine he's reaching for the acid pen right now.
Noa Zrk
January 4th, 2010 12:23pm Report this commentWhy should we not look to "cut the deficit not the NHS" by charging non-contributing citizens, overseas visitors, illegal entrants and other non entitled would be patients prior to the provision of services?
liono
January 4th, 2010 12:47pm Report this commentTwo weeks from your estimated due date which can be up to two weeks out. Over that they will strongly encourage you to be induced but I am pretty sure this is still a free country and the parents ultimately decide unless their is clear evidence the baby is in danger - and quite right to.
Verity
January 4th, 2010 1:14pm Report this commentRhoda K - Yes, of course it is knee-jerk politics. Dave has been told by Hilton that people are worried about the NHS. So Dave made a statement. Fixed.
God, he's stupid.
And ignorant. If the NHS has to lumber on, why not make a simple commitment to rejig it in the French template? Or the Singapore template?
AndyinBrum
January 4th, 2010 1:25pm Report this commentNoa, does that mean you have to have your passport/ID card with you, whenever you visit the hospital's A&E?
Verity
January 4th, 2010 1:58pm Report this commentNoa Zrk - Yes, non-contributors should pay or bugger off. Women had their babies at home for millennia untold. If they haven't paid into the NHS and can't prove that they have the funds to pay, they should go home and give birth the traditional way.
I have suggested before that banks of health insurance dispensing machines - like the instant travel insurance machines in airports - should be installed in the Arrivals area. Those foreigners who don't have evidence that they are insured should be told to go an put their credit card in one of those machines and buy insurance for the duration of their stay. And not be allowed out of the Arrivals area until they produced the documentation that they'd done it.
Noa Zrk
January 4th, 2010 3:05pm Report this commentAndy.
As UK citizens we will already be on a database and of course have NIS numbers.
If not a UK citizen; see Verity @1.58pm and compare the market or take a valid credit card or cash. Simples.
Sacre Bleu
January 4th, 2010 9:00pm Report this commentWe have a card here in France which you produce for everything medical, GP, consultant or hospital. No card then you pay. Insurance options etc are there but the system to my mind works very well. The formalities of obtaining your Carte Vitale are very fair in my experience and is a sort of 'no pay, no card'. By pay I mean a contribution system based on working or proof on retirement that you had 'paid while working'. Should not be difficult to do.
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