health secretary’s tough call
Topping up NHS treatment
Published: 02/09/2008
NICOLA Sturgeon has a tough decision to make this week. Should Scotland allow patients to top up their National Health Service treatment with private care or keep the system free at the point of delivery for all?
It is a moral and financial conundrum that Ms Sturgeon is unlikely to solve at the first time of asking.
If you allow patients to top up their treatment, then the better off will have access to enhanced care.
Do you then spend money on rare drugs for the few when the same money could be spent treating many?
But there are precedents in the NHS already. Dental patients can pay for private treatment on top of their basic state provision. And fertility treatment and cosmetic surgery can be enhanced with private funds.
The answer may well be to do nothing while safeguards are put in place to ensure that any system that has the potential to split rich and poor does as little damage as possible.
The NHS is a victim of its own success in that people are living longer and seeking more medical help to stay healthy, which puts a strain on long-term finances.
Whatever Ms Sturgeon decides, it is clear that the current model of funding the NHS is unsustainable.