UK health charities warn govt. over NHS

A group of 40 British health charities has published a statement, asking the government to revise the NHS reforms to ensure that the vulnerable patients also have a voice.

The statement comes only after the Tory MP Nick de Bois revealed that his conservative party members would oppose the Lib Dem moves to make extensive changes to the NHS Bill. He defined a series of “red lines” from which he said the Tories should not retreat.

The 40 charities including the Alzheimer’s Society and the Patients’ Association claimed that the government’s proposed NHS reforms fail to ensure that the public, patients, and carers have a voice.

They asked the government to set out “much-needed” changes, and to improve the relation between health and social care, a stronger system of patient advocacy, and to facilitate the patient’s access to specialized services, mostly for those with complex needs.

Patient Association chief executive Katherine Murphy explained people’s rising concerns over the reforms to the bill, saying: “Patients are worried about GP commissioning – will GPs deviate from the clinical to the commercial? Will they be referred on to the best services or those that are going to make their GP more money? Will the changes mean shorter appointment times with GPs as they have to focus on balancing the books?”

Mencap’s chief executive, Mark Goldring, also said the government must make the most vulnerable patients sure that the health system is worked to provide better situation for them.

“It is essential that the government keeps patients at the heart of NHS reforms and ensure that the most vulnerable in our society, such as those with a learning disability, have access to the good quality healthcare they need,” he said.

The charities’ appeal comes after Nick Clegg said the right reforms to the NHS must be in line with the patients’ point of view.

Department of Health’s spokesperson said: “We agree that patients need to be at the heart of modernizing the NHS – this has always been the central aim of our plans. But we recognise that there have been some concerns, and feedback from organisations such as these is invaluable to make sure we get this right.

“The health secretary has been clear that there will be substantive changes to the bill if they deliver improvements for patients. We await the recommendations from the NHS Future Forum, expected next month.”