Wealthy people to pay for treatment to help save Scotland’s healthcare

NHS chiefs in Scotland have discussed abandoning the founding principles of their health service by having the wealthy pay for treatment, the BBC reports. 

The BBC have reported seeing the minutes of a meeting, which was formed of NHS chiefs in Scotland, that discussed the proposal of a ‘two-tier’ health service. 

Last month, figures from the British Medical Association in Scotland (BMA) showed the NHS to be in a ‘perilous situation’ and urgent action was needed to relieve staff of major workload pressures. Statistics display around 6,000 nursing and midwifery posts are unfilled and A&E waiting time targets are being missed.  

Additionally, doctors and nurses in Scotland have issued warnings that things in the health sector are unsafe and standards have dropped.

Due to this, people in Scotland are diving into their savings to pay for private healthcare. 

In an attempt to help steady healthcare in Scotland, chiefs gathered on 21st September 2022 and proposed to design a ‘two-tier’ system for people who can afford to go private.

During the meeting, authorities looked into the financial constraints their healthcare system is facing and discovered some members of the public ‘are already making the choice to pay privately’ while the NHS is picking up the cost for life enhancing and not lifesaving treatments.

To help the NHS save money, the two-tier system is suggested to change the amount of time people spend in hospital to a maximum of 23 hours before they are discharged and treated at home.

However, despite claims that Scotland will potentially introduce a private healthcare system, Scotland’s Health Secretary, Humza Yousaf has said, ‘the NHS would stay publicly owned and operated and that health services ‘must always’ be based on patient’s needs. 

Other points mentioned at the meeting include:

• A review of the cost of long-term prescribing of drugs where there are alternative options
• An option to pause the funding of some new drugs unless they can be proved to save the NHS money
• Considering applying a charge for freedom of information requests
• Cutting down the amount of money that is spent on government meetings and using these funds elsewhere

Leaders in the meeting are focused on a ‘billion-pound hole’ in the budget for the NHS and warn that its currently not possible to continue running a range of programmes and doing no harm to the sector.

Previously, Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has said that the pressure on the NHS is greater than it has ever been, and the Scottish government are unable to do much about this as their health service funding is dependent on decisions taken at Westminster.

The minutes of the meeting that have been seen by the BBC are marked ‘in confidence not for onward sharing’.

Photo by Olga Kononenko