‘The most seriously ill NHS patients should be allowed to die so that the money can be better used elsewhere, the Health Department is expected to tell the Court of Appeal. John Reid, the Health Secretary, is expected to refer to the cost of keeping coma patients alive with food and water.’
So ran the opening sentences in a report in yesterday’s Times.
Anyone intrigued to know how NHS resources might be better deployed than on keeping sick people alive need only wait to today’s Sunday Times for an answer. Here a damming front-page report on current (lack of) cancer care in the NHS opens by informing readers that: ‘The government’s £2 billion scheme to revolutionise the treatment of British cancer sufferers has failed, with much of the money wasted on creating 400 bureaucrats.’
It is reassuring to see that, in a world in which so much else is changing so fast, New Labour remains wedded to Labour's public-sector traditions -- unless you happen to be seriously ill or not rich enough to be able to pay twice for health insurance.