Failing NHS is itself diseased

THE NHS is a more effective killing machine than the Taliban.

By: Neil Hamilton

Published: Sun, July 21, 2013

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Since 2001, we have had 450 British fatalities in Afghanistan. During the same period, Mid Staffs hospital alone was responsible for at least 1,200 avoidable deaths. Astonishingly, this outrageous statistic is just the tip of the iceberg.

A report last week by NHS Medical Director Sir Bruce Keogh detailed failings at another 14 English NHS trusts which may be responsible for 13,000 unnecessary deaths.

From this dismal catalogue of inadequate care, medical errors and management blunders, it is clear the Staffordshire scandal was far from a one-off. Again, the development of "superbugs" like MRSA has occurred almost entirely in NHS hospitals.

People have gone into hospital with a minor ailment, only to contract a fatal disease and leave in a box.

How could this happen in an organisation claimed to be "the envy of the world"? No wonder virtually nobody else has tried to copy this Soviet-style nationalised monolith, created by the Attlee Government in the "brave new world" of 1948 One thing is certain. If the NHS was a private company like G4S, which bungled security staffing at the Olympics and the electronic tagging of criminals, there would be a police investigation and culpable individuals would be prosecuted for criminal negligence or manslaughter.

Labour Ministers presided over this outrageous shambles. Their answer to everything was to throw money at it (ours!) while ignoring the systemic problems. The NHS is our largest nationalised industry, employing 1.4million people and costing £120billion a year; £1 for every £9 we earn.

NHS spending doubled under Labour but most of it went into the wages of its employees. Value for money was irrelevant because the NHS has become a substitute for religion. Nurses are "angels" and profit is a dirty word. In every election I have fought, Labour's shroud-waving has closed down debate on whether this is the best way to provide healthcare free at the point of delivery.

The latest revelations of NHS incompetence and worse demonstrate that it is too big, too complex and not commercial enough to be managed effectively. It suffers from the fundamental flaws of all nationalised industries. It is dominated by those who work in it, not those who use it.

The latest GP contract is a case in point.

Gordon Brown agreed a huge increase in doctors' pay, accompanied by a dramatic reduction in out-of-hours and weekend work. Hence the recurrent scandals of part-time immigrant doctors with poor command of English.

As the NHS has no price mechanism to relate supply and demand, priorities are decided by political pressure, rather than objective need. Politics gets in the way of providing the best outcome. Most European systems are financed through a mix of public and private contributions.

In some nations, much non-government funding is through compulsory employer and employee contributions to regulated, non-profit sickness funds. These copayment systems marry private sector disciplines with universal coverage regardless of income.

Because the NHS has become such a political football, no party has been prepared to question the fundamental structure of a system introduced in the completely different world of 1948.

Now, we are in the middle of yet another reorganisation of NHS bureaucracy. Last week the National Audit Office found that 2,200 NHS staff have been rehired after being made redundant with huge pay-offs. Forty-four senior managers received packages of up to £578,000. This was exactly as I predicted in this newspaper last year. For the lucky beneficiaries, it's a lot easier than doing the Lottery.

The NHS is also a byword for waste and misdirected investment. A failed computer system to centralise everyone's medical records had to be abandoned, having cost £12billion. Last week, it was revealed that up to £89 is being paid for cod-liver oil tablets available on the high street for £3.50. The NHS is brilliant at one thing: burning our money. For example, Rotherham NHS Trust has been paying one consultant £600 a day plus £300 a week expenses, without any need to provide receipts. A computer expert called in to address IT issues is getting £25,000 a month.

Meanwhile, the bill for a team of consultants from private firm Bolt Partners, called in to turn around the troubled NHS trust, already stands at an estimated £460,000 since its appointment last November.

Health bosses who boast of making substantial savings in the trust's taxi bills also spent more than £800 on cabs for themselves in just one month.

People have gone into hospital with a minor ailment, only to contract a fatal disease and leave in a box

These absurdities occur naturally in a body too large, complex, centralised and unaccountable to the public, with no market signals to give early warning of error. We need a grown-up debate about alternatives.

If we are to retain a state-funded system, it must be more democratic so that patient power counter balances the power of unions like Unison and the BMA.

UKIP is the only party campaigning for this, through elected county health boards, letting people decide how our money is spent.

As Churchill observed: "Democracy is the worst form of Government, except for all the others that have been tried."