The FT picks up on todays BMA meeting in Edinburgh.

“NHS URGED TO SHED MARKET SYSTEMS”

Doctors for Reform don’t want to shed the NHS market.

But Chris Ham does – he seems to have changed his mind.

“Chris Ham, professor of health services management at Birmingham University and a former head of strategy at the English health department who helped shape England’s policy of competition, has since developed reservations, sharing Scotland’s concern that competition in England could lead to service fragmentation. He has urged adoption of the model employed by Kaiser Permanente, a not-for-profit health group, in the US, which integrates primary and secondary care, appearing to produce better results than the English NHS at similar or lower cost.

The integrated Kaiser Permanente model is also praised in a background paper the BMA prepared for this week’s debates.”

Kaiser Permanente…….

Not-for-profit……

Hmmmm……….

Wonder what The Witch Doctor and Her Black Cat are thinking……….