Streeting’s NHS reforms ‘reheated’ Blairism, says Dr Kristian Niemietz
13 November 2024
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Economic Theory
11 November 2024
Commenting on Wes Streeting’s proposals for NHS reforms revealed this morning, including implementing league tables, Dr Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director at the free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:
“These are reheated Blair-era reforms. In the early 2000s, the Blair government tried to shake up NHS performance by publishing ‘star ratings’ of NHS trusts that ranked them by performance, micro-managing underperforming ones, and giving high-performing ones ‘earned autonomy’. Those reforms had some success back in their day, but it is not quite clear what exactly Streeting’s measures would add to that now.
“Streeting says that he wants NHS trusts to be run ‘as efficiently as global businesses’. There is ultimately only one way to achieve that, and that is to turn them into precisely that: businesses, which rely on patient satisfaction for their survival.”
ENDS
IEA spokespeople are available for live and pre-recorded broadcast
Contact: media@iea.org.uk / 07763 365520
Notes to Editors
“These are reheated Blair-era reforms. In the early 2000s, the Blair government tried to shake up NHS performance by publishing ‘star ratings’ of NHS trusts that ranked them by performance, micro-managing underperforming ones, and giving high-performing ones ‘earned autonomy’. Those reforms had some success back in their day, but it is not quite clear what exactly Streeting’s measures would add to that now.
“Streeting says that he wants NHS trusts to be run ‘as efficiently as global businesses’. There is ultimately only one way to achieve that, and that is to turn them into precisely that: businesses, which rely on patient satisfaction for their survival.”
ENDS
IEA spokespeople are available for live and pre-recorded broadcast
Contact: media@iea.org.uk / 07763 365520
Notes to Editors
- In The Denationalisation of Healthcare, Dr Kristian Niemietz outlines how the NHS could be replaced by a European style Social Health Insurance system.
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
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