The Chairman of the British Medical Association, Dr Hamish Meldrum, has called for an end to "the damaging market in healthcare once and for all," at the Association's conference in Edinburgh. The Greens are the only major party to have consistently opposed the internal market, and today Principal Speaker Caroline Lucas MEP welcomed Dr Meldrum's comments.
Dr Lucas said:
"The BMA and the Green Party want to see the founding principles restored to our National Health Service. It was built on an understanding that caring for the sick is a shared national endeavour, not a battleground for competition and profiteering. But the marketisation instituted by the Tories and extended by New Labour has begun to undermine those foundations.
"Dr Meldrum does not exaggerate when he calls the internal market a 'shoddy supermarket war'. And as with supermarket wars, shareholders benefit while customers - patients - suffer.
"The modernisation of the NHS should strengthen, not dismantle, its public service ethos. Local health centres should bring more services from major hospitals closer to patients, not hoover up GP surgeries and make services more remote. Co-operation, not competition, should guide the development of our health service, and patients should control their treatment through a genuine partnership with their doctor, not a bewildering and wasteful internal market."
ENDS
See BMA Press Release
No comments:
Post a Comment