Posted on 01/28/2006 3:56:32 PM PST by FormerACLUmember
National Health Service patients are paying for enhanced levels of care and operations that are no longer available free at hospitals across England. The superior treatment for fee-paying NHS patients has been criticised as creating a two-tier health service and privatisation by stealth.
This week an NHS trust in Yorkshire will become the latest to offer the service, with a new dermatology clinic performing operations that were once free of charge on patients who are prepared to pay.
The operations will be carried out in an NHS hospital by NHS doctors and nurses during NHS time.
The growth in add-on services has alarmed some experts. Professor Allyson Pollock, director of the Centre for International Public Health Policy at Edinburgh University, says the most vulnerable patients are suffering as a result of fees being widely introduced. “It is shocking that NHS patients can pay for a higher level of care. They are getting priority treatment and are able to pick and choose,” said Pollock.
The Foundation Skin clinic, to be opened by Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, has been described by managers as a “halfway house” between state and private care.
NHS patients will be able to pay the trust to remove moles and warts, to screen moles or to have Botox injections to reduce heavy sweating.
Some of these services were offered free by the trust until 2003, when it stopped paying for them. The new rates will be lower than those charged by private hospitals, however.
The trust admits that the clinic has been set up in response to NHS funding shortages and said patients are happy to pay for treatments no longer available for free.
Dr Kay Baxter, consultant dermatologist at the trust, said: “This clinic has been developed to fill a genuine gap in patient service. A local cosmetic exclusion policy has been in place since early 2003.
“The NHS currently faces many difficult decisions with regard to the funding of treatments. Our patients are very understanding of the reasons behind the cosmetic exclusion policy. They are pleased to be able to access treatment not ordinarily available on the NHS while supporting their local health service.”
Many other NHS trusts across England are now charging patients for treatments or levels of care that would previously have been free.
Patients giving birth at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea NHS hospital in London can secure one-to-one treatment from a midwife if they pay £4,000, under the new Jentle Midwifery scheme. One-to-one midwife care is the recommended standard of treatment and has been shown to reduce the need for medical interventions. It is not available to all women because of a shortage of midwives.
The Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea, says revenue from the scheme, which has so far been used by 74 women, goes back into the NHS and has already paid for 2½ midwives’ salaries.
The Canadians just drive south of the border.
*gasp* Oh noes! Misery is not being spread equally! These people, with their quality health care that they pay out-of-pocket for, must be slapped down!
Very true. The Canuckistan socialist scum (who captured 60% of the recent vote) oppress every effort at freedom of choice in the Great White North. I doubt the minority Conservatives can easily change the oppression, or even have the smarts/testicles to do so, but we shall see.
The great socialist lie. Nothing is free.
*gasp* Oh noes! Misery is not being spread equally! These people, with their quality health care that they pay out-of-pocket for, must be slapped down!
Pollack is a hard core taxpayer-supported Marxist hag *sshole, who fights tooth and nail to crush freedom-of-choice and private heath care in the UK and Canada. She is also a consultant to the US democrat party, of course, and a friend of Hillary's.
You can't make this shiite up!FMCDH(BITS)
"The great socialist lie. Nothing is free."
Bingo!
I have private health insurance. I'd be insane not to.
Regards, Ivan
Oh, what a shocker!
My family had to use British health care for several years. The quality of everything from the exam room to the bedside manner was pathetic.
Yes, we must annihilate freedom. It is after all, so very, very shocking.
I can absolutely guarantee you that Marxist witch Pollack demands the very freedoms for herself personally and her loved ones that she would never, ever permit me or you!
What is that called over there in the UK? United Provident or something?
No, it's just called health insurance. I have access to private doctors and hospitals with it.
Britain basically now has a 2-tier system - the NHS and private health. I've used both...private is much better.
Regards, Ivan
And lets not forget socialized Brit dentistry!
LOL
bttt
It has always been this way, yes? Anyone who can afford private health insurance can go to private Doctors. The difference now is that the NHS Doctors, themselves, are offering more services for pay. Can you imagine the dearth of Doctors in this country if the government would take over health care? Years and years of education, loans to pay back and the government says how much you can make? That's a really quick way to eliminate the better doctors, make excellence worth the same as mediocrity.
Yes, it sucks when the free market does its thing alright. What is shocking about this statement is that it comes from a 'democracy.' I hope England can come back from the abyss.
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