Co-payments

 

One again the NHS is suffering from the rhetoric not matching the reality for patients.

The rhetoric says it is “free at the point of need” yet patients know they must pay for prescriptions, if they live in England, or for example, dentistry and other care wherever they live. The rhetoric says “from cradle to grave” yet patients find if they are elderly or terminally ill, certain new and therefore expensive drugs may be denied.

 

Now patients are told they must decide which system they are going to opt for, NHS or private but not both. To do otherwise would “create a 2-tier system”. Patients know only too well they already suffer the unfairness of a 2-tier system – the postcode lottery is as unfair as it gets. Whether it is arbitrary charges, drugs, or personal care for the elderly we already have an NHS that is no longer National. A patient who pays for additional healthcare, especially drugs, is not depriving a single other patient from their care in the NHS. In fact they may well be enabling additional care to be provided.

 

The Patients Association has long campaigned for a proper investigation of what charges should be made and why. The NHS was founded to remove the financial fear of illness. If patients are now to be constricted by this NHS straightjacket, something is very wrong and our demand for a fundamental review is even more urgent.

 

 

11.6.08