The Most Important Report Since Beveridge?

The BMA have just issued a report called, 'The NHS; A Rational Way Forward'. I had heard about this on the news and I initially was sceptical about it, but I looked it up and was gobsmacked. This is a giant of a report;it's not just a list of ailments of the present NHS, but offers an in-depth analysis of what has gone wrong and more importantly, how it can be put right. It calls for a complete return to the original philosophy and ethos of the NHS, an end to bit part privatisation, elected health boards, proper integration of primary care, hospital care, and public health; more money for care in the community and properly trained staff for mental health; for decisions to be based on clinical need, a list of core services that should be available to all, and not for sale;a constitution for the NHS; a proper long term commitment to medical schools and an end to PFI. And that's just for starters. You can read it here at > www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/rationalwayforward . There's two versions; the full monty or the wee diddy version for those of us who haven't got time to plough through the whole thing, but I will be discussing it in the next few posts. Happy reading!