Howard pledges to abolish waiting lists

Wednesday, 23 June 2004 12:00 AM

Waiting lists will be abolished within five years if a Conservative government is elected, Michael Howard has claimed.

Launching the Conservative's "Right to Chose" brochure, Mr Howard has pledged a number of radical reforms to the NHS.

The Opposition Leader said that the Tories would scrap all centrally imposed targets, allow all hospitals to become Foundation Trusts and increase the powers of individual hospitals.

Fleshing out details of the "Patients' passport"- though it is not referred to as such- he said that money will follow the patient to the hospital of his or her choice regardless of location or the type of hospital.

If patients wish to use a private hospital, they will receive 50 per cent of what the procedure would cost the NHS.

This, the Tories, claim will give NHS hospitals the incentive to treat more patients, and for new health providers to come into being.

Mr Howard said: "Our policy will eradicate the inequalities that exist in our two-tier Health Service, where the rich get what they pay for and the poor have to shut up and take what they are given.

"Our policy is based on what we have learned from visiting and talking to people all over Europe and the world about what works best in their countries. Our policy is working every day in countries all over the world - except Britain."

"We utterly reject the idea that political dogma or ideology should stand in the way of what works. If the private sector can help drive up standards, let's use it. If the private sector can relieve pressure on the NHS, let's use it. The public and private sectors can achieve more by working together than by working apart."

Waiting lists, which Mr Howard said do not exist in France or Germany, will cease being a "British disease" and be tackled by giving patients choice, freeing hospitals from bureaucracy and giving incentives for both the public and private sector to increase capacity.

To clear the waiting list an extra £34 billion a year by 2009/10 has been allocated.

This is roughly the same increase that Labour are also committed to.

Public sector union Amicus said it thought the Conservative's plans were "a cynical attempt to make the NHS a class issue prior to the next General Election."

Gail Cartmail, Amicus head of health, said: "The notion that taxpayers should cover the cost of health care for those already wealthy enough to afford up front private health care is absolutely absurd. It is the political equivalent of offering free eye tests with every vote."

"The Tories have completely missed the point that our communities actually want an NHS that delivers appropriate choice and quality to all and not just a dumping ground for the less well off."

His proposals also came under heavy criticism from the King's Fund, a charity working for better health care. Its chief executive, Niall Dickson said: "The Conservative's choice proposals would mean the NHS subsidising large numbers of patients who would have gone private anyway. This is not a good use of public funds. It's the relatively wealthy who are more likely to benefit and in a sense it undermines the concept of a service free for all regardless of ability to pay.

"The Conservatives are right that patients must be offered more choice about where, when and how they are treated. But we need to ensure that all patients - even the most disadvantaged - are able to make choices and all this should not distract us from the fact that patients want quality care close to home."

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