BMJ 1994;309:739 (17 September)

Letters

NHS reforms A conspiracy exists

EDITOR, - Chris Ham denies that government policies "are guided by a ... hidden agenda which, through a series of incremental steps, will result in more private involvement in the financing and delivery of health services.... Politicians [are] not that clever [and] for any government to undermine the NHS, however surreptitiously, would be electoral suicide. In practice, health policy is more the result of cock up than conspiracy."1

The Conservatives gained power in 1979 with a simple agenda: to remove, so far as possible, social decisions from the elected government so that they become byproducts of the pursuit of profit in deregulated markets. The contradiction inherent in running a popular socialised service as a competitive business is obvious. Even the stupidest politician knows that if you want to take people somewhere they don't like you must promise to go somewhere else. Our government therefore proclaims its reverence for the principles . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Where now for the NHS reforms?
C Ham
BMJ 1994 309: 351-2. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Robson, J (1995). GPs, patients, and the distance between them. BMJ 310: 73-74 [Full text]  
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ