Letter from Dr. Hamish Meldrum. (Scroll down page to read).

Letter from BMA Council Chairman Dr. Hamish Meldrum in response to 6th February article ‘An unhealthy debate.’ Read letter.

Open letter signed by BMA Council Chairman and leading medical professionals. Read letter.

Competition in the NHS has been ‘counterproductive’ and has failed to improve care quality, MPs have been told.  They heard criticisms of the PbR (payment by results) system during the Commons health select committee inquiry into commissioning. Read article.

Letter from BMA member Dr. Kailash Chand:

Cameron’s plans for the NHS

David Cameron’s commitment as the true protector of the NHS (“NHS spending safe with Tories, says Cameron”, 4 January), promising never to cut its funding or impose any more of Labour’s pointless and disruptive reorganisations, is welcome. But the devil is in examining his statements carefully.

He fails to explain that, in his scheme, the NHS would become merely a commissioning body, and the provider role would gradually be passed on to private providers for profit. His public-school pal, Oliver Letwin, has said there were “no limits” to NHS privatisation. The ideology and mindset of majority of his political activists is anti-NHS.

Most Tories appear to believe the NHS is unsustainable in its present form and want an insurance system or tax breaks for healthcare fees. Many privately admit they are lobbying the party leader behind the scenes for significant reforms to the NHS if the Tories win the next election.

David Cameron was the mastermind of the last Tory election manifesto, which said rich patients should be able to pay extra and go to a private hospital for treatment. Cameron and the Tories voted against Labour’s national insurance rise for the NHS.

The politicisation of the NHS (by both main parties) has already increased costs and overheads, demoralised and alienated staff, undermined planning, and done nothing to ensure equal access to local care. The Blair/Brown administration has opened the gates for David Cameron by driving through far more profound and wide-reaching privatisation of the NHS than even Margaret Thatcher dreamt of.

Dr Kailash Chand

Stalybridge, Cheshire

Open letter from Jacky Davis, Co-Chair, NHS Consultants Association and Barbara Rafaeli, film and documentary maker.

Read article.

By BMA Council Chairman Hamish Meldrum. Read article.

Report by Laing & Buisson