| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 3:34:11 AM | Executives from private companies could be brought in to run failing NHS trusts in England. Would private sector management improve the NHS?
The government is exploring a range of options, including bringing in managers from better-performing NHS trusts to improve failing hospitals.
Ministers insisted that front-line health care staff would remain NHS employees.
The British Medical Association expressed concerns over the plans, saying that they would be effectively privatising parts of the NHS.
Would private sector management run hospitals more efficiently? Does this amount to privatising the NHS?
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=4890&edition=1&ttl=20080604113220 | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 3:44:30 AM | | I watched a program once, Sir John Harvey Jones went into a hospital to try to increase efficiency. The director of the hospital quite literally never came out of his office to walk around the hospital and talk to the employees. When asked why, he couldn't see the point. I'm a manager in a different field, one of my first things on every job is to go out and get to know everyone.........then you've got a personal relationship with them which makes it easier to get things done, also, it makes the employee know they're being listened to, which makes all the difference in the world! even if you just explain why you CAN'T do the thing they'd like to do, they are much happier about it............but it passed this NHS manager by. So yes, I think industry managers would perform FAR better than the NHS managers, so long as they pick the right people who won't just go in trying to change everything without listening to thier greatest asset........the epxerience of the people doing the job. They're not always right, far from it, but where change is needed, people can be convinced if tackled in the right way. | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 3:53:10 AM | In a word - yes.
As an ex-NHS accountant, who qualified in the "real world," I was horrified at the poor management and control of the Acute Trust I worked for.
In the first eight months I was there, we were ordered to save £15m from our budget. The NHS professionals running the show opted to save huge amounts by dismissing most of the portering and cleaning staff.
Unsurprisingly we went from having one of the best infection control rates in the country, to having a severe outbreak of the Noro virus...
Had I actually been FD (and I did argue the case strongly) I would have lost 3 posts from the finance department, I have never worked anywhere that expected so little from me in return for that level of salary and benefits! I would scream for more work, the boredom was so bad! Guess how many jobs actually went in my dept? Less than 0. We actually had more posts!
Doing an audit of purchasing would make any professional buyer weep- the inefficiencies on ordering were beyond belief!
Senior managements reaction when this was pointed out? They spent £70k on management consultants whose much considered opinion - we needed to find ways of saving money. Genius.
Don't get the impression I do not support the NHS, but some Trusts are so appallingly run, that if a private company can be found with the skills and expertise to turn around hospitals that fail their patients, then great. | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 4:16:17 AM | The downside being I would imagine is that private companies are out to make a profit , they are businesses so therefore would profit overide the care of the patient ?
Would privatising also leave us open to additional costs which may vary from trust to trust depending on their performance , will we be paying twice via NHS contributions and privately for certain treatments/medicines??
Imo It seems like another step forward by the government to privatise health care and do away with the NHS in the long run!! | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 4:25:13 AM | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Only if it's done wrong. If the procurement of the services is done properly, and the remit clear, it shouldn't be a problem.
The bottom line is not always about what's initially cheapest. For instance, in my industry, we put work out to tender. If a tender from a contractor is far too high, they are not considered. They are also not considered if the tender is far too low, because it is obvious they've made some mistake.
The profit element could easily fall within the savings made in many trusts. | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 4:49:24 AM | There are plenty of charities and not for profit organisations working in the health sector that would be preferable to the services of a minority of trusts.
The current situation is that Trusts are "fined" if they do not meet treatment targets...brilliant that.
So we currently have a situation where the "target" is 18 weeks for a hip replacement...only trouble is, the Orthopaedic dept has overspent on budget, has no capacity or staff for the patient to be seen in time.
Solution.
The consultant sees the patient, confirms their condition and need for operation. Knows it cannot be done to meet the target, so refers patient to private hospital.
Patient is given an "assessment" appointment at the private hospital- usually by the same referring consultant...and is then booked in for the op.
Private hospital then pays the consultant for the assesment appointment (private practice)....and the hospital to do the work.
Not a bad little legal robbery if you can do it! | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 4:59:41 AM | erm its hard to say, private firm will improve on efficincy and cost cut, there will be no bureaucratic processes we still see in the nhs. Private firm will def make profit the nos 1 priority over people health needs, but as it is now....Peoples needs are the nos 1 priority even though we have mismanagement, wastage etc....i combination of both will be the best solution i think.
And anyway there is some sort of private org input within the nhs these days and not much has changed. | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 12:47:01 PM | | I trained as an accountant before i went into nursing and get really p****ed at some of the practises that go on in my hospital. I work in theatres and see alot of the 'old school' surgens working by the 'you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours' code. atleast twice a week we get a extra 'favour' added to the end of the lists were these surgens have private practises away from there NHS work and they pull in favours by slipping a private paying patient or 3 in on the QT, now if the trust got the actual money for these then im sure, over a year it would be well into the ten's of thousands. Maybe the NHS needs a really good bussiness head to come in and take alook at the money making opertunities that are there to be had. but then on the down side, if they did then it would get even worse with the penny pinching that is going on in the everyday running of the hospital....i guess its a no win situation!! | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 12:54:13 PM | | Using private firms to clean the hospitals really worked didn't it? We now reap the benefits of all that cost cutting for the sake of profit. | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 1:16:38 PM | If all NHS hospitals were run by someone interested in business then the first thing that would be cut would be all the management bonuses. Why should management earn a bonus based on cutting costs resulting in patients being unable to recieve treatment?
As has been pointed out by someone previously... staff in the admin areas are underworked while the ones that REALLY matter are overworked and are leaving the service. What's the point in paying people to sack nurses etc when the wages could be spent on expansion and additional CARE staff? | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 2:25:40 PM | | Admin staff at the lower lever are most definitely not underworked...in fact i'd say the opposite applies. At management & senior management level however, now that's a different story. it's obscene. | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 2:34:12 PM | "At management & senior management level however, now that's a different story. it's obscene."
most definately | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 2:44:21 PM | I have always thought that the NHS was unsustainable in its current form, all the government seems to do is patch it up with sticky plasters.
IMO I think it needs to be run as a business. It's the way forward for the NHS and those that work for it.
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 3:09:30 PM | IMO..
only if you can afford the luxury of private medicine.
I work part-time, and can not afford such a luxury. So NHS, for all its faults is the only option.
whether private firms can improve on NHS? well, if the money was there and the governement werent so tight-assed about spending on it to make it better, and the saaff got paid better, then there would not be a problem methinks.
But I may be wrong..who knows!
Thelma | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 3:30:03 PM | If the NHS wasnt getting bent over a barrell by drug companies and if people didnt whinge about paying a little more tax, if the mad govt hadnt introduced PFI hospitals the nhs could well be viable. it has been mismanaged to the point it apears the only solution is privatisation, it isnt! we also have people flooding here from all corners of the globe because they can get treatment on the nhs, yes it does happen!
the sharks are looming, there are profits to be made, there will be no going back, if you can afford it, you get treated, if not, suffer! | |
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 4:10:11 PM | Would private sector management improve the NHS?
Well; privatisation has always worked so well in the past, hasn't it.
Erm...
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| Can private firms improve the NHS?
Posted: 6/4/2008 5:26:12 PM | I think this is a very good idea. The current system doesn't seem to be working at all.
Maybe it would be more effective if they went all of the way and abolished the NHS completely. If people just paid for their medical treatment when they needed it the hospitals would have to deliver a better service or else people would just go to a different one. | |
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