What Tories said about health in their manifesto Andrew Neil | 17:13 UK time, Tuesday, 15 March 2011

What Tories said about health in their manifesto

Andrew Neil | 17:13 UK time, Tuesday, 15 March 2011

Here's a pretty objective analysis of what the Tory manifesto told us about health reform from fullfact.org.

Based on my exchange with Tory backbencher Mark Simmons on the Daily Politics, if you read here you will see that the Tories did pledge GP commissioning but left vague the scale of the change.

Importantly for Lib Dems, it's also in the Coalition agreement, though that didn't stop them from voting against the reforms at their spring conference last weekend.

I think it's fair to say the Tories said they'd devolve more power and resources to doctors. It's probably also fair to say they did not spell out how radical this change would be in terms of switching the NHS budget to GPs.

This morning (watch the debate in video below ) we learned that the BMA is not too worried about GP commissioning but against the idea that health care can be commissioned from the private sector using NHS money provided the care is at least to the same standard and cost as the NHS.

But the BMA can't complain it wasn't warned: this policy is explicitly stated in the Tory manifesto.

 BMA's Dr Mark Porter and MP Mark Simmons on health bill on Tuesday's Daily Politics

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Comments

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• 1. At 6:08pm on 15 Mar 2011, maserv wrote:

  BMA always been against any change ever proposed.
  They just want the money without bothering do a bit more.

  complain about this comment

• 2. At 7:41pm on 15 Mar 2011, richardblogger wrote:

  But to be equally fair, the Conservatives did not say that they would abolish PCTs and SHAs before the election. 

  Indeed, in their "Autonomy and Accountability" policy document the Conservatives say 

  "As part of our commitment to avoid organisational upheaval, we will retain England’s ten SHAs" 

  Note that? **retain** the SHAs

  and further the same policy document says 

  "PCTs will also remain, as now, the areas to which NHS resources are allocated, although almost all of these resources will be cascaded down by the PCT to its primary care commissioners."

  So please do not say that the Conservatives told the public before the election what they are proposing now, they said in many respects the absolute opposite!

  complain about this comment

• 3. At 10:24pm on 15 Mar 2011, TGR Worzel wrote:

  Removing one tier of administration sounds like a good idea, but I don't think it is wise to shift it on to GP's shoulders.

  Not least because I know of one surgery which is struggling to provide a decent service, because some of the younger GP's attitudes are completely wrong. They seem to want to take as much as possible out of the practice whilst doing as little work as possible. The GP's concerned are in the profession for the wrong reasons. They'd make good Bankers actually. 

  And I'm quite sure this isn't the only surgery in the country with that particular problem. We seem to have a cultural problem in this country. The "me first" attitude is everywhere you look.

  We give GP's multi-million pound budgets at our peril...