Why did no one foresee these problems years ago?
The scandal of ageism in the NHS must end
As demography changes our society, the institutions and services we rely on must also change to meet the needs of an older population. Nowhere is this truer than in healthcare.
By Paul Burstow, Care Services Minister
In 1948, when the NHS was formed, a person’s life expectancy was a shade over 65. Hospitals were geared to treat infectious disease, industrial accidents and emergency cases.
NHS reforms will return health service to 1930s
NHS reforms will return health service to 1930s
The government’s NHS reforms will return medical care to the standards of the 1930s and 40s, a leading doctor has warned.
He claimed that for patients in some parts of the country, care would return to “what we thought we had left behind when we founded the NHS in 1948”.
Private healthcare firms could “cherry pick” patients with the simplest conditions to treat while local hospitals could face closure if they are forced to compete with independent, profit-driven healthcare providers, he said.
This would leave the NHS as a “provider of last resort” for patients denied treatment by private practises because their conditions are too expensive to deal with.
Your chance to ask Andrew Lansley a question on Health
Ask Andrew Lansley your questions
March 4, 2011
Independent journalist Sharon Alcock will be putting your questions to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley on Monday, March 7, between 7pm and 8pm.
You can watch the Q&A live on the British Medical Association (BMA) website.
Questions can be submitted in advance on Twitter using the hashtag #lansleylive or the BMA’s Facebook page.
You can also email questions to the BMA.
>> More information about the Q&A
http://healthandcare.dh.gov.uk/ask-andrew-lansley-your-questions/
