More Funding , Less Cost, Better Service

Currently there are big concerns regarding the funding for the NHS, there are obvious financial issues. Our party’s aim is to radically revamp the NHS and create an efficient health service. We currently have an unacceptable situation with a large degree of waste with the NHS finances.  We believe by stream-lining the NHS we can make a much-improved service, which uses the money, more efficiently enabling better much improved treatment and better drugs. 

This proposal outlines the requirements to put an efficient fair and just health service in place. 

This policy will ensure healthy competition between hospitals and also encourage the drug companies to reduce their costs and become fairer.

At birth every individual in the country will be given a life budget for health care. This will be based on assuming each person lives to the age of 85 after which a new yearly budget will be given increasing 10% per year.

This health budget will be reduced every time you visit the doctors and every time you use Drugs prescribed by the NHS. Pricing will be displayed clearly and doctors will be allowed to compete against each other. They must declare all makes of prescribed medicines and costs. So you the patient can decide the best treatment, this will encourage the drug companies to compete as well. Any medicine not treating patients as they should be, will be refunded by the drug company. This will ensue medicines are not handed out unnecessarily

Hospitals will compete for business; No Budget will be given to any hospital as this practice does not work as every new  patient become a Burdon to the hospital depleting their budget and to no benefit to the hospital. In order to encourage competition, quick service, and a high cure rate hospitals both private and NHS will have to compete for the business the patient who was once a Burdon and had to be treated under an obligation is now a valued customer. 

 In order for hospitals to make more money both private and NHS will be permitted to take on private patients but with the caveach that for every operation that is completed privately a NHS patient will need to have the same type of treatment by the hospital. This will ensure that NHS patients have the same opportunity for less urgent treatment as the private patient,

In many cases the private hospital may do the NHS patient for no cost in order to make money on the lucrative private treatment to anyone in the world.  The more private patients we do the More NHS operations and treatment shall be completed. One can not exist without the other. 

In cases of accidents then insurance companies will refund the medical cost incurred. When a budget is used up the patient will have to go in front of a board to extend it (this will be an independent board, elected by the people). To encourage fair-play, this may or may not be extended in cases of abuse to your own health e.g. drugs smoking, drinking etc. unless an agreement to take offered help is put in place.

In cases of terminal illnesses this scheme has an advantage that if an expensive drug is available to prolong live then you have the opportunity to put many years of available budget into a treatment. In cases where this is a cure then you can apply to restore budget to pre illness amount with an increase for the new drugs required 

Private insurance companies will still have insurance against these illnesses and each person shall be encouraged to take a policy out.

Any left over budget after death can be left in a will to other people.

This proposal is although radical, is a better and more realistic approach in tackling the funding crisis we have in the NHS. We do not have unlimited funds and we must encourage ownership and bring back fair play and ensure the rich are supporting the NHS each time they use private treatment.  

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