I spent Thursday at a "consultation" on the White Paper.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/LiberatingtheNHS/index.htm
Although I'd read the paper beforehand, and a few critiques, it turns out there are another four sub-papers which put the meat on the bones. The paper also excludes Public Health which will be the subject of another white paper later in the year.
I nearly wasn't admitted, as my application had gone astray, but they condescended in the end. I appeared to be the only person present who was from a service users group - all the rest seemed to be from local voluntary services.
Once again I heard from a patient who had been given a cancer diagnosis over the telephone, with no ongoing support.
The Department of Health don't really seem to know how they are going to reorganise the NHS, they had been told by the politicians that it has to be done, and were asking us to design it for them. As one delegate said "Its like trying to build a house with jelly".
The only thing that seems clear is that the PCTs are going to be abolished, though with the new commissioning bodies incorporating several GPs practices its difficult to see how they will differ from PCTs, other than handing over a slice of the money to the private sector.
John
