A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat (Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.

The Guardian has consistently been the best of corporate reporting on the NHS. This article is recommended.

Andrew Lansley forced into major climbdown on planned health reforms | Politics | The Observer

Threat of Lords revolt compels health secretary to change NHS bill amid claims of ‘sheer panic’ in government over opposition

The health secretary will perform a dramatic climbdown over his reforms this week in a desperate attempt to prevent a cross-party revolt among peers who fear that the changes would lead to the fragmentation of the NHS.

Amid growing concern in Downing Street that health policy is becoming the government’s achilles heel, ministers will table a series of amendments to the health and social care bill that will oblige Andrew Lansley to maintain the NHS as a national public service and, his critics say, limit his ambitions to expand the role of the private sector.

The changes will also spell out the kind of services that must be offered by GPs and will effectively ban them from withholding certain forms of care from patients.
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An unrepresentative group of doctors claims that the British Medical Association is not representative of GPs’ views on ConDem plans to destroy the NHS. The ConDem’s attack on the NHS is opposed by the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives and many more professional medical bodies. The ConDem’s attack on the NHS is nearly universally opposed by the medical profession.

NHS ‘in peril’ if health reforms fail, warn senior GPs – Telegraph

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, the heads of more than 50 new doctors’ groups argue that the British Medical Association’s policy of “blanket opposition” to the Health and Social Care Bill fails to represent GPs’ views.
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The letter has been signed by 56 GPs who are helping set up clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) across England. Under the Bill these will effectively replace primary care trusts (PCTs) and be handed their budgets.
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