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It is a time of dramatic change for the NHS, but as this Guardian piece points out, "the scale of what is being proposed has yet to sink in".
So what happens now is anyone's guess. Expect a lot of shouting regardless of what happens. Cameron no doubt wants to save money but the scale of change looks more like a rejigging of the actual organisational structure than a few money-saving exercises.
There are also a few interesting opionions from within the profession on today's Telegraph letters page. With one FRCS telling us that in his career at the NHS a "a modest-sized cadre of administrators" has been replaced by "a bloated swath
of 'managers',
given authority to tell the professionals what to do".
Hopefully any cost savings will be ones that optimise the NHS and allow it to continue to be there training and employing medical staff. I think the balance of private medical provision in this country along with the NHS is a good thing. Any change needs to be carefully and confidently carried out: anything else is going to be more than simply controversial.
My guess would be though that private medical care will increase over time – there are many reasons for this. But think of it like dentists' or opthalmologists' work – private provision for these has increased as the nationalised service hasn't been one size fits all and many choose some of the private as it suits their pocket. Nothing wrong with that art all. But for private medicine to grow healthily, it has to be done in the right way.
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