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Issue of the Day: Reforming the NHS
Party spokesmen debate the role of the private sector in the NHS.
Labour: Health minister John Hutton
The NHS is in the middle of the biggest hospital building programme in its history. After years of under-investment, the infrastructure of the NHS is at last being modernised and made fit for the 21st Century.
Another £4bn of new hospital facilities is planned for across the country. This comprises 15 major hospital developments, which involve new mental health facilities for Leicestershire, Merseyside and Teesside, new acute sector facilities for Sandwell and West Birmingham Acute Trust, and modern new buildings for Papworth Hospital's world class cardiothoracic services. None of these projects would have been possible without the private finance initiative (PFI).
These new schemes bring the total to 78 major PFI hospital building projects worth £16 billion that have been given the go-ahead since 1997. More than a quarter of these projects – 22 in total – are already built and operational. The great majority opened their doors to patients on or ahead of schedule. A further 13 have reached financial close and are under construction. We will not stop here. PFI is not only delivering benefits for patients, it is also benefiting the NHS.
Patients expect and deserve bright, modern, clean environments, whether they are funded by public or private funds. PFI and public private partnerships are allowing us to ensure that more and more NHS patients experience these facilities during their treatment. For some, these partnerships are totally unacceptable and undermine the very nature of the NHS. For others, me included, it is a common sense approach to problem solving that puts the patient first.
Conservatives: Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley
The NHS was founded on the ideals of comprehensive healthcare, available to all, based on need and not ability to pay. These ideals are today at the heart of Conservative policy. Conservatives are committed to additional investment in the NHS, an extra £34bn over the next parliament, on top of what we inherit from Labour.
We are also determined to deliver value for money in the NHS, which is why Michael Howard asked David James and his expert group to identify areas where government could eliminate waste and unnecessary bureaucracy. In health, £8bn worth of savings has been identified, which a Conservative government will redirect to front-line services for patients.
The Conservative Party is the only party that advocates a truly mixed economy in healthcare: a health service that integrates independent, voluntary and NHS providers on a permanent basis. Under the Conservatives, the NHS would enjoy substantial increases in resources to expand capacity to treat more patients.
It is only under the Conservatives, however, that every hospital in the nation will be given the opportunity to offer services to NHS patients to the highest standards – raising both standards of care and the efficiency with which that care is delivered. Within five years of coming to power, only the Conservatives, by creating this truly National Health Service, will have made waiting lists a thing of the past.
Liberal Democrats: Health spokesman Paul Burstow
Liberal Democrats have no ideological hang-ups with involving the private and independent sectors in the provision of health services. But better patient outcomes and good value for the taxpayer must be the motivation, not dogma.
What matters to patients is that they receive a swift diagnosis and are then treated quickly. The reasons for the excessive waits for scans and tests vary around the country. Staff shortages are a major constraint as is the age and maintenance of imaging and other equipment. Could the private sector contribute to solving these problems? The Liberal Democrats would not turn our backs on any spare private sector capacity if it makes sense and it represents good value for the taxpayer.
The sustainability of NHS services must not be jeopardised by arrangements with the independent sector. Here are a number of areas within the health service, such as diagnostics, that are crying out for an innovative approach to providing more capacity and slashing the long waits that patients routinely have to suffer. But the negotiation of contracts must be done at a local and regional level to fit local need. The solution cannot simply be imposed from Whitehall.
These comments are edited versions of articles which first appeared in The Parliamentary Monitor magazine.
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