Press Release

 

Forimmediate release

Thursday21 August 2003

 

 

Foundations for healthcare

 

As the Government'splans to introduce NHS foundation hospitals in England progress, the Instituteof Directors (IoD) today released research to stimulate the debate.

 

As long ago as February 2000 the IoD suggested that National HealthService trusts for both acute and community care become non-profit making'mutuals'.

 

The Government, has since announced that NHS foundationtrusts will be set up in England and run as public benefit corporations,modelled on co-operative societies and other mutual organisations.

 

The original IoD Research Paper - Management, Mutuality and Risk: Better Ways to Run the National HealthService- has now been reprinted to help inform the currentdiscussions on practical possibilities for NHS healthcare delivery.

 

ThePaper - by Geraint Day, Health Policy Analyst at the IoD, explores a number ofissues related to the need to free the NHS of wasteful bureaucracy. Examples ofdevolved delivery of healthcare in other countries are also examined, includinghealthcare mutuals in the United States, Japan and Brazil.

 

 

 

 


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GeraintDay, said:

 

"Serious consideration should be given todelivering a variety of publicly funded healthcare via self-governingorganisations, perhaps run on mutual lines. Healthcare bodies should be moreanswerable to their users, who could then exert influence on their boards ofdirectors in a more direct way than a plethora of quangos and centraldirectives can."

 

 

 

Ends 21.8.03 No.193

 

 

Contact Points:

Richard Taylor, PressOfficer, tel: 020 7451 3264

mobile and out of hours: 07721 734886

David Marshall,Director of Public Affairs, tel: 020 7451 3263

mobile and outof hours: 0776 4883420

email: press@iod.com

web: www.iod.com

 

 

 

 

Notesto editors

 

       A copy of theResearch Report are available from the IoD Press Office, press@iod.com or 020 7451 3264

 

       A further researchpaper - Healthcare in the UK: the needfor reform, February 2000, revised edition, June 2000 - can be downloaded www.iod.com/policy

 

       See also, The Mutual Health Service - How todecentralise the NHS, by Ruth Lea, Head of the Policy Unit at the IoD andEd Mayo Director of the New Economics Foundation, www.iod.com/policy/papers

 

 

 

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       Theauthor works in the IoD Policy Unit, following a decade working in the NHS. Heis a member of the Department of Health NHS Foundation Trusts ExternalReference Group and has spoken widely on the development of foundation trustsand healthcare mutuals.

 

 

       The Institute ofDirectors is a non-party political independent organisation with around 55,000members. In addition to its wide range of business services, the IoD providesan effective voice to represent the interests of its members to government andkey opinion-formers. It also brings the experience of business leaders to bearon the conduct of public affairs