Free healthcare a ‘mirage’ in UK

pharmafile | April 25, 2007 | News story | Sales and Marketing Doctors for reform 

 

UK patients routinely top up their care by going private, undermining politicians’ claims the NHS is free-to-all, according to a new report.

The pressure group Doctors for Reform says it has become commonplace for patients to upgrade their healthcare, even when suffering from serious illnesses like cancer or heart disease.

The report provides examples of patients paying for breast cancer consultations, psychotherapy and medication for bulimia and MRI scans for back pain, often in order to bypass NHS waiting lists or rationing.

It blames geographical variations in care, restrictions placed on the health service as well as the falling costs of some private treatments.

The group has written to the three major political parties as well as doctors’ leaders urging them to have a real debate about the future of healthcare funding and setting out three key questions.

It asks: “Can the NHS guarantee a universal service in future, given that it does not today? “Should doctors inform patients of ‘top-up’ options as part of their general duty of care?” and “How can access to healthcare be made equitable, given that neither NHS care nor the current ‘top-up’ payments meet that criterion?”

One of the authors of the report is professor of cancer medicine at Imperial College School of Medicine Karol Sikora, who said debates on healthcare funding were strikingly inadequate. “Having to top-up NHS care is a reality for many patients. But the political debate continues to perpetuate the mirage of a service completely free at the point of delivery,” he said.

Launched in 2004, Doctors for Reform is a group of nearly 1,000 NHS doctors.

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