Britain to Make Healthcare Changes - Fox News (blog)

British Prime Minister David Cameron plans to shake up Britain's public health service, the NHS,  transferring much decision making authority to doctors--general practitioners, and thus bypassing administrators to cut out bureaucracy.

Also, Cameron plans to open up the system to competition.

He said, "We need modernization on both sides of the equation.  Modernization to do something about the demand for public health service, and modernization to make the supply of healthcare more efficient, which is about opening up the system, making it more competitive, cutting out waste and bureaucracy."

According to Cameron, it's not, in these times of austerity, that "we can't afford to modernize.  It's that we can't afford not to modernize."

Skeptics are already accusing him of taking a "wrecking ball" to one of the finest institutions in the country, the National Health Service.  Some doctors, nurses and union leaders wrote a letter to the editor of the London Times.  Among the concerns expressed, was that bringing in competition could mean bringing down quality, because, doctors would, presumably, go for the cheapest service options in order to save money.

Gail Cartmail of the country's largest union Unite said, "A great number of people are telling us that they think these untested, expensive health care reforms are very unwise and very very risky."

But in another editoral in the Times, Andrew Lansley who writes today, "There is a myth that our plans have come out of the blue.  They are in fact a logical evolution of tried and tested policies initiated by governments of all parties over the past two decades."

The NHS has set a target of cutting $31 billion from its budget over the next few years.  Already, certain types of operations—hernia, hip replacement, and tonsils, to name a few, are being downgraded to "elective" surgeries.  The President of the Royal College of Surgeons said, By reducing elective surgery, you can immediately save money, but at the cost of pain, reduced quality of life, and deterioration of health."

But Prime Minister Cameron the centrepiece of his government's policy is upgrading and modernizing all public services to keep Britain competitive.  He points to where it is falling behind. "In Shanghai, the average child is two years ahead of a child here.  In Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Austria, or, interestingly, Poland, you are les likely to die once admitted into hospital after a heart attack than you are in the UK."

The publication of the government's flagship health and social care bill will be published Wednesday.