Higgins slams NHS reforms
Date published: 05 October 2011
ONE of Oldham’s top health chiefs has slammed the Government proposals to overhaul the health service claiming it will do “irreparable harm to the NHS, individual patients and to society as a whole”.
Director of Public Health for Oldham Alan Higgins believes Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s proposals will put patient safety at risk, waste money and damage trust in the medical profession.
He was one of almost 400 public health professionals who signed an open letter urging the House of Lords to vote against the controversial Health and Social Care Bill, which will give more power and choice to GPs and patients and open up more services to private companies and the voluntary sector.
The medical professionals, which also include Consultants in Public Health for NHS Oldham Dr Andrea Fallon and Dr Lisa Wilkins, fear the bill will also erode medical ethics and trust within the health system.
The doctors say it will widen health inequalities, waste money on attempts to regulate and manage competition; and undermine the ability of the health system to respond effectively to communicable disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies.
They add: “While we welcome the emphasis placed on establishing a closerworking relationship between public health and local government, the proposed reforms will disrupt, fragment and weaken the country’s public health capabilities.
“The Government claims that the reforms have the backing of the health professions. They do not. Neither do they have the public’s support.
“It is our professional opinion that the Health and Social Care Bill will erode the NHS’s ethical and cooperative foundations and will not deliver efficiency, quality, fairness or choice.”
Among the changes are plans to allow hospital doctors and nurses — not just GPs — on new commissioning consortia and scrapping an April, 2013, deadline for the new boards to take over.
David Cameron claims the controversial reforms have the backing of medical professionals. The open letter by almost 400 public health consultants followed a similar letter last month from hundreds of GPs.
