in the NHS. RICH PALSER explains what is at issue.
The first objection is that paybeds allow those with money to jump the waiting list for treatment in hospital, which since the 1960s has never fallen below an average 13.4 weeks for NHS patients. The examples of waiting lists in the accompanying box are taken from the Government's own Expenditure Committee on Private Patients Facilities.
An East Midlands study came to the conclusion that 64 percent of fee paying patients go private to avoid delay - ratner wan to gam *privacy because they are shy', as some would have us believe.
Secondly, to allow such a rapid availability of beds, pay-beds are kept vacant for when a private patient is ready to come in. This is why the occupancy rates for pay-beds are lower (60 per cent on average) than for NHS beds (84 per cent on average). Pay-beds stand unused at times when many who cannot afford to pay are kept waiting. SUBSIDISING Thirdly, pay-beds have always resulted in the subsidising of those wanting to jump the queues by paying. Not only do consultants use NHS diagnostic facilities, consulting space and NHS trained staff and nurses, but the fees paid by private patients for their stay in the hosptal are well below the actual cost. The staff union NALGO has calculated, for instance, that patients in pay-beds at Charing Cross, who pay £10.50 notional capital cost, are actually subsidised to the tune of £50.
It is for these reasons that the labour movement has consistently fought the existence of pay-beds in the NHS; and recently blacking of pay-beds by hospital workers at various hospitals in London (Charing Cross, Hammersmith, and Westminster), Manchester and Portsmouth has forced Barbara Castle to take Condition hysterectomy Vasectomy Gynaecological operations Cataract operations Tonsillectomy some action.
But if we look more closely at the running dispute between the consultants, Barbara Castle, and the labour movement, we can see that pay-beds are just the tip of the iceberg. Behind the pay-beds dispute lies the growing threat of a private health service outside the NHS the threat of a two-tier health service.
Barbara Castle's latest proposals aim to phase out 1,000 pay-beds initially, but only in areas where there are alternative private health care facilities outside the NHS.
As the Guardian put it: "The Government is likely to be fairly gentle with the doctors. The Bill will stipulate that the Secretary of State, after the removal of 1,000 beds, will hand her discretionary power over them to an independent body, which will decide how to phase out the rest, taking account of the need to build up local private clinics and hospitals, to allow consultants to continue to practise privately tors in England put the matter this way: "The criteria for use in consultations and in determining the out beds) should be the extent to which pay beds are being used and tive beds and facilities for the private practice of medicine (our emphasis).
the consultants and Castle have made a compromise, but Castle has made by far the biggest.
Length of waiting as private patient weeks 1 week 2 weeks 2 weeks not to resign from the NHS on the would be legislated through Parliament (ie. so that Castle could not later change her mind under the pressure of the labour movement), and they also voted to continue than resigning. Along with the private hospitals and private health in Medicine' - the organisation care.
NS suffering massive cuts, the demand for private practice to beat the waiting lists is growing Association, the British Dental A DHSS letter to area administra content of the schedule (for phasing the reasonable availability of alternaFar from having stood up to the consultants, Castle has accepted the "principle' which they were fighting for - that of private practice. Both Nor are the consultants sitting back and doing nothing. They voted Length of waiting under NHS 4 months 2 years 12 months years.
Over 1 month 18 months understanding that these proposals SCCLOT their campaign through other means insurance schemes, they have launched the Campaign for Independence responsible for the recent spate of newspaper adverts for private health Times have never been better for the private health schemes. With the larger and larger. The direct result of Labour's cuts has been the strengthening of the private health sector.
Big money is behind the Campaign for Independence in Medicine', which was set up by the BMA, the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, and the Independent Hospital Group (which includes private hospitals and health scheme organisations). The Campaign aims to replace the 2,000 or so pay-beds taken out of the NHS in a manner which will avoid too much competition inside the private sector. It is also preparing to oppose any action by hospital workers and the rest of the labour movement in trying to speed up Castle's schedule through SUN APR STOP the NHS cuts all private practice Hyde Park to
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Pay beds have always been a major point of conflict between consultants and the labour movement. The abolition of private practice is one of the demands of the 25 April demonstration called by the National Coordinating Committee Against Cuts