Government NHS announcement has a gaping hole says Lamb
Mon, 09 Nov 2009
“It’s absolutely right that every person should have the right to private treatment, paid for by the NHS," said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary.
Commenting ahead of Andy Burnham’s announcement tomorrow, setting out proposals to give patients the legal right to free private care if they do not get the treatment they need from the NHS within an 18-week period, Norman Lamb said:
“It’s absolutely right that every person should have the right to private treatment, paid for by the NHS, if their local hospital can’t provide it when they should. But the Government’s announcement has a gaping hole in it for those who still aren’t covered by the current target regime, such as mental health patients.
“It’s increasingly clear that the other two parties have little to say when it comes to improving the NHS.
“While the Government is happy to poach Liberal Democrat ideas, the Tories would remove any mechanism to guarantee patients access to treatment and return to the enormous waiting times we saw the last time they were in power.”
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