NHS patients ‘could be forced to pay bed and board’
The negative implications of this for the rural vulnerable are plain to see if you think about it:
NHS patients could be forced to pay for their bed and board in hospital unless there is a cash injection into health services after the next election, senior managers have warned.
The NHS Confederation, which represents managers, said that without major reforms and an increase in investment, hospitals would become “swamped” with patients -while swathes of the population could be left without a GP.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Rob Webster, the organisation’s chief executive, said that without urgent action, the NHS could end up “stripped right back to the basics” within the next parliament.
The former NHS trust chief executive said preventing such a decline meant significant changes to the way the health service is run, with more investment in community care, small hospitals, and GP services while centralising some routine surgery.
Mr Webster said politicians and health officials face a “stark choice” between reforming the system – or allowing it to enter decline”.