The BMA has warned politicians that a “slash and burn” attack on NHS services would be “dangerous and short-sighted”, while calling for action to improve public health and an end to “market-based policies”.
Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of Council at the BMA, commented that although questions are being asked about public services, continued investment in the NHS is vital. “Now more than ever we should acknowledge the success of the NHS and recognise the support it gives people when times are hard. It would be a disastrous error to resort to measures such as cutting clinical staff at a time when demand for healthcare is increasing,” he commented. The BMA’s manifesto, “Standing up for doctors, standing up for health”, claimed that efficiency savings could be delivered if the NHS in England were “restored as a publicly provided service”. It also called for the “axe to fall, not on frontline services, but on expensive market-based policies”. According to the manifesto, this should include an end to the “overuse of private management consultants, the Private Finance Initiative and Independent Sector Treatment Centres”. “When the drivers are profits, it has to be asked whether patients’ interests are really being served, and value for money being achieved,” Dr Meldrum continued. He added that well resourced smoking cessation services, and minimum price levels for alcohol, would help reduce demand on the NHS in the future.
