The August BJGP contained articles that run straight to the heart of 21st century UK health care and what must be done to secure the future for the patients. Kath Checkland, Adrian Elliot-Smith, and Martin Marshall are to be thanked for their contributions, that viewed together, frame the scene perfectly.
The commercialisation, atomisation, proletarianisation, managerialism, and contractualism that infests so much of contemporary national life and the health service in particular ought not to go unanswered. Together we can respond effectively, but who will join the fight?
In order to prevail we must be fully and directly engaged politically — that means we must get elected in some numbers. I have committed myself to standing as an Independent as far back as 20061 and retired prematurely from general practice in 2008 for that purpose. In the last couple of days Dr Wollaston from Totnes has become a candidate with substantial chances of success — arguably because she is not a typical party politician.
It is my view and I suspect the view of many, that primary health care is best delivered by multidisciplinary, autonomous, coherent teams dealing with defined populations — this is no golden-age idyll, merely the objective reality. Likewise, coherence and collaboration between all sections of the healthcare delivery system is essential. Competition is the antithesis of care.
The door is wide open. Never has the standing of the political class been lower in the public's estimation. The commentariat is loud in its support for new blood in politics.
There are no excuses. This is the right time to achieve the future that will benefit the patients. Let's have a healthcare professional standing in every constituency.
- © British Journal of General Practice, 2009.