Conservative Draft Manifesto 2010: Index

The Conservative Draft Manifesto 2010: Chapter One covers the Conservative plans for the NHS. David Cameron has tried very hard to reassure the public that the NHS will be safe under a Conservative administration. However, their draft manifesto shows that this is simply not the case, and they are quite upfront about their plans for moving much of treatment from NHS suppliers to private suppliers, a de facto privatisation of the service. Over the last couple of weeks I have gone through the "manifesto" point-by-point and analysed the effect of the policies. If you want one reason and one reason only not to vote Conservative it is their policies on the NHS.

The following is a list of the Conservative policies and a link to my blog post on the policy.

Introduction

A Patient-Centred NHS

"We will scrap all of the politically-motivated process targets"

"[We will] set NHS providers free to innovate by ensuring they become autonomous Foundation Trusts."

"We will unleash an information revolution in the NHS by making detailed data about the performance of trusts, hospitals, GPs, doctors and other staff available to the public online... [we will] enable patients to rate hospitals and doctors according to the quality of their care."

"We will focus on the health results that really matter, like improving cancer and stroke survival rates or reducing infections."

"[We will] give everyone the power to choose any healthcare provider that meets NHS standards… open up the NHS to include new independent and voluntary sector providers"

"we will implement a 'payment for results' system throughout the NHS."

"we will give GPs the power to hold patients' budgets and commission care on their behalf"

"we will link GPs' pay to the quality of the results they deliver"

"we will be able to cut the cost of NHS administration by a third"

"we will create an independent NHS board to allocate resources and make access to the NHS more equal"

A More Accessible and Accountable NHS

"hospitals will not be paid in full for a treatment which leaves a patient with an avoidable infection."

"We will end the scandal of mixed-sex accommodation and increase the number of single rooms in hospitals, as resources allow."

"We will reform the way drug companies are paid for NHS medicines so that any cost-effective treatment can be made available through the NHS with drug providers paid according to the value of their new treatments"

"We will reform NHS Direct and introduce a single number for every kind of urgent care to run in parallel with the emergency number 999. We will give people access to a doctor or nurse when the local family doctor's surgery isn't open, and we will stop the forced closure of A&E wards."

"we will introduce local 'maternity networks' to ensure that mothers can safely access the right care, in the right place, at the right time."

"[we will] allow new providers to deliver maternity care - especially services like ante- and post-natal support."

"…allow us to give one million more people access to an NHS dentist and give every five year old a dental check-up"

"we will remove the rules preventing welfare-to-work providers and employers purchasing services from Mental Health Trusts so that many more unemployed people and at-risk workers can be helped."

Improving The Nation's Public Health

"we will turn the Department of Health into a Department of Public Health"

"we will provide separate public health funding to local authorities"

"we will weight public health funding so that extra resources go to the poorest areas with the worst health outcomes through a new 'health premium'."

"In the long run, we will introduce a new per-patient funding system for all hospices and other providers of palliative care so that proper support for sick children and adults can continue."

"[we will] give patients with chronic illnesses or a long-term condition access to a single budget that combines their health and social care funding which they can tailor to their own needs."

"we will allow everyone – on retirement – to protect their homes from being sold to fund residential care costs by paying a one-off insurance premium of £8,000."

Conclusions

If you want to see a well funded public National Health Service then the choice is clear, vote Labour at the 2010 general election.