Co-authors of the NHS Reinstatement Bill, Allyson Pollock and Peter Roderick, alongside Shailen Sutaria – a specialty registrar in public health medicine – have published an analysis piece in the BMJ titled ‘Are radical changes to health and social care paving the way for fewer services and new user charges?’.
“Current reforms to health and social care services, and radical redesign of the local government finance system, may signal the end of the NHS and local government in England as we know them, argue Shailen Sutaria, Peter Roderick, and Allyson M Pollock”
Key messages
- STPs, accountable care organisations, devolution deals, joint commissioning of health and social care services, and redesign of the local government finance system are radically changing the NHS and local government in England.
- The effect on service provision of the fundamentally different funding bases for health (free at the point of delivery) and social care (means tested) services has been ignored.
- The changes are likely to lead to reduced services and entitlements, more private provision of publicly funded services, and potentially more user charges.
- People in poorer areas are likely to lose out as funding will depend more on the wealth of local areas and less on the principles of redistribution and need.
- The evidence for and effects of these changes on access to care, equity, and widening inequalities must be disclosed and understood.