Doctors today warned Andy Kerr, Scottish Health Minister that the drive to increase private sector health care providers could destabilise the NHS in Scotland.

The warning came as doctors debated health policies on the growth of independent sector treatment centres in England which, doctors claim, is creating unnecessary competition and destabilising the viability of local NHS hospitals.

Speaking at conference, doctors spoke of a drain of workforce from the NHS to the private sector, despite preventative measures introduced by the Westminster government.

As well as impacting on the NHS workforce, doctors spoke of the detrimental effect these health policies were having on the provision of local NHS services.

Speaking after the debate, Dr Peter Terry, chairman of the BMA in Scotland, said:

"It is important that the Scottish Executive takes steps to tackle the longest waits for patients. And the BMA will welcome moves to improve access and increase capacity for healthcare services, but it must not be at the expense of the NHS.

"This morning's debate paints a clear picture of the dangers and pitfalls that await the Scottish NHS if the Health Minister continues his drive to introduce Independent Sector Treatment Centres across Scotland. We must learn from England's experience and introduce strict measures to ensure that independent healthcare providers provide patients with high quality care and do not drain the NHS of its already scarce workforce.

"Introducing the principles of choice and competition into the NHS implies that there is capacity within the NHS in Scotland. This is most definitely not the case.

"Although these reforms have managed to reduce some of the longest waiting times for patients in England, they have come at a cost.

"Hospitals that are losing out on the provision of elective procedures and are therefore dealing with a reduced workload are coming increasingly under threat of closure, leaving patients without access to 24 hour emergency hospital services."

Earlier this year, Scotland's Health Minister stated that he was developing proposals for the introduction of a tariff scheme which, doctors claim, would increase competition between private and NHS providers.

"Scotland's unique geography only heightens our concerns where difficulties in access often means that patients have little or no choice - what impact would competition have on remote and rural communities? Diverting investment from the NHS to the private sector will do little to solve the problems of the NHS in the long term," he said.

Resolutions passed by conference this morning were:

That this meeting believes that:

i) more emphasis should be placed on collaboration as opposed to competition in health care delivery;

ii) the health service should be based on the NHS as the main provider of health care;

iii) the new competitive market must not prejudice the NHS through any guaranteed flow of income to the private sector.

That the BMA should vigorously opposed Payments by Results as currently proposed because:

i) low cost private treatment centres will cherry pick uncomplicated cases and leave more complex cases to comprehensive NHS hospitals;

ii) NHS trusts are threatened by diverting funds to the private sector;

iii) Strategic planning of health services based on need will be undermined;

iv) It will increase bureaucracy and management costs

That, with regard to independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs), this Meeting:

i) demands a robust independent monitoring system to compare clinical outcomes fro ISTCs and NHS establishments;

ii) insists that the health departments must ensure that ISTCs will not be detrimental to the training and experience of junior doctors;

iii) calls on the health departments to engage in meaningful discussion to enable this welcome increase in capacity to be planned into the needs of each health economy.

For more information contact:
Gail Grant, Senior Public Affairs Officer: 07768 005 850

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