Remember when Donald Berwick, he’s the guy who Obama appointed head of Medicare by bypassing the Senate, told the British NHS that they “chose well” for having a government run national health-care system? (Video) Well, Mr. Berwick might not be so happy to learn that the British health-care system is on the verge of collapse and that drastic measures have been introduced to rescue the system from going bankrupt.
There are two idea that are being floated. One, that would be opposed by Berwick, would be to decentralize (take out of government control) health-care and allow the private sector, shifting more control of the system back into the hands of doctors and patients. The plan, reported by the New York Times, would save the British taxpayer hundreds of billions of dollars and reduce administrative expenses by some 45%. There is a drawback that liberals would find disturbing. By decentralizing British health-care, layers of bureaucracy would be eliminated which would result in the loss of some government jobs.
The second idea, and the one that Obama’s Medicare head Donald Berwick advocates (see article here), would ration even the basic of care. As the British Telegraph is reporting today, the plan would call for the closing of nursing homes for the elderly, a reduction in hospital beds, restrictions on basic operations, cuts in prenatal and maternity care, etc.
Some of the most common operations — including hip replacements and cataract surgery — will be rationed as part of attempts to save billions of pounds, despite government promises that front-line services would be protected.
Patients’ groups have described the measures as “astonishingly brutal”.An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered widespread cuts planned across the NHS, many of which have already been agreed by senior health service officials. They include:
* Restrictions on some of the most basic and common operations, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and orthodontic procedures.
* Plans to cut hundreds of thousands of pounds from budgets for the terminally ill, with dying cancer patients to be told to manage their own symptoms if their condition worsens at evenings or weekends.
* The closure of nursing homes for the elderly.
* A reduction in acute hospital beds, including those for the mentally ill, with targets to discourage GPs from sending patients to hospitals and reduce the number of people using accident and emergency departments.
* Tighter rationing of NHS funding for IVF treatment, and for surgery for obesity.
* Thousands of job losses at NHS hospitals, including 500 staff to go at a trust where cancer patients recently suffered delays in diagnosis and treatment because of staff shortages.
* Cost-cutting programmes in paediatric and maternity services, care of the elderly and services that provide respite breaks to long-term carers.
The Sunday Telegraph found the details of hundreds of cuts buried in obscure appendices to lengthy policy and strategy documents published by trusts. In most cases, local communities appear to be unaware of the plans.
Dr Peter Carter, the head of the Royal College of Nursing, said he was “incredibly worried” about the disclosures.
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