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Tuesday, 27 June 2006 10:18
BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
'Collaboration not competition for Scotland's NHS' says doctors' leader
Doctors in Scotland have welcomed the decision not to pursue a series of untested NHS reforms north of the border.

Speaking at the British Medical Association's [BMA] annual conference in Belfast today, Dr Peter Terry, Chairman of the BMA in Scotland addressed the growing divergence in health policy between England and Scotland.

"We are in the midst of a UK-wide experiment," he said. "Health policy is diverging at a fast pace. In Scotland, as in England, Wales and here in Northern Ireland, we are desperate to improve our health service but, for the meantime we are happy to be the control arm of this experiment for we are guided by the principle in medicine of "first do no harm".

"In England, health policy is based on contestability and choice. In Scotland, we believe that collaboration and partnership is better, if only to eliminate the significant process cost associated with commissioning. We also feel that collaboration is more likely to allow a greater integration of primary and secondary care to the benefit of patients."

Dr Terry also criticised Prime Minister Tony Blair for knocking the NHS in Scotland during his campaigning for the 2005 General Election.

"Mr Blair trumpeted the success of the Health service in England compared to that in Scotland.

"The evidence for this success, he claimed, was based on waiting times for elective surgery, an activity that probably results in less than 5 per cent of the total expenditure on health, but unlike most other activity, can be measured and thus financed for the benefit of the patient but also for political gain – so eloquently demonstrated by Mr Blair himself."

Commenting on the issue of choice, Dr Terry called for 'real choices' for patients.

He said: "Patients want ‘real choices’ in terms of involvement in decisions about their care and treatment, not whether they travel the length and breadth of the country for a hospital."

In a written report to conference, Dr Terry expressed his concerns about recent legislation on joint inspection of children’s services.

This law enables inspectors from police, education, health and social work to access children’s confidential health records without consent, even when there are no issues of child protection.

He wrote: "The BMA will campaign to maintain patient confidentiality and protect the doctor patient relationship."


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