Press release: NHS Confederation responds to IPPR survey on public expectations
01 Sep 2006
Commenting on the IPPR survey on public expectations of the NHS, Jo Webber, Deputy Policy Director at the NHS Confederation which respresents over 90 per cent of NHS organisations, said:
"We welcome the release of these survey results by the IPPR as part of the on-going debate about the realities of health spending decisions across the country. The NHS Confederation has said for a long time that politicians, the public and the NHS urgently need to engage in an honest discussion about the reality of so-called 'post-code prescribing' and the difficult moral and ethical spending decisions that primary care trusts oversee.
"PCTs have a limited pot of tax-payers' money to provide healthcare for their community. They need to balance spending money on expensive drugs like Herceptin and treatments such as IVF, against others that might not get as much media attention but are still vitally important, like substance misuse or mental health services.
"Prioritising spending decisions is difficult in a cash-limited environment and this is compounded by pressures of rising expectations and an ageing population. PCTs need to work with the public, doctors and nurses and local government to ensure that there is true ownership of the decisions. They must also make sure the range of services they provide are not only effective, but also efficient because every penny wasted is a penny that cannot be spent meeting patients' needs."
ENDS
Notes for editors
The NHS Confederation represents more than 90% of the organisations that make up the NHS. Its members include the majority of NHS acute trusts, ambulance trusts, foundation trusts, mental health trusts, primary care trusts, special health authorities and strategic health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.
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