http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2009/11/Petition_to_protect_the_NHS_from_spending_cuts.aspx The Tory leader launches a petition against NHS spending cuts yet proposes a £1.5 billion reduction within 4 years. He attacks administration while at the same time promotes a contract culture across all parts of the NHS & launches a DIY medical records gimmick without paying any regard to clinical complexity and confidentiality.
He claims to safeguard the NHS as a universal service yet proposes a furtherextension of Foundation Trust status and seeks to unleash private sectorinvolvement - dismissing the notion of the NHS as a preferred provider.
He makes no mention of devolution and the 4 different models of service delivery in the UK. It is hard to see how the NHS as we know it can survive this duplicitous Tory diagnosis and its market based cure.
UNISON was quick off the mark to condemn the policies outlined by Cameron:‘their plans are full of contradictions, their sums don’t add up and thatmeans the NHS will be in danger if they are elected’ http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1630
It is time for Labour to drop its Tory-lite policies of a competition basedtransformation of health care services and instead re-assert the historicpurpose of the NHS as being funded from taxation, free at the point of use,and delivered as a public service by workers employed in the NHS. It wouldbe a certain vote winner and the Tories know it - hence the pro-NHS disguise worn by Cameron yesterday.