04.01.11
Taking the public’s temperature
It is maybe not surprising that so few people back the most controversial aspect of NHS reforms, the involvement of private companies – few of them probably realise the extent of private involvement already.
It is a complex issue, and it is not patronising to suggest many people will not have sat and considered all the ramifications of GP-led commissioning and the other main reforms. Some will no doubt hear ‘private’ and assume they may end up paying for healthcare, somewhere down the line.
Right now, polls showing a distinct lack of public support matter rather less than the surprisingly large amount of hostility within the professional clinicians’ organisations and think tanks. The stance of the public matters far more once the reforms are in place and once people get a better understanding of what the reforms mean to their own care.
Even so, David Cameron may be regretting the carte blanche he seems to have given his Health Secretary to drive forward these reforms. Andrew Lansley now has many years of experience in the health brief and has not thought these changes up on a whim – but his party may come to wish they had a proper mandate from the voters for such widescale change. Many will have thought ‘no more top-down reorganisations’ meant just that.
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