I do not agree with Baldev Sharma [AV 18 Feb p10] that NHS needs more funding over the next five years. What it needs is efficiency savings and diverting more people to take out private medical insurance. Public sector medical expenditure is about 80% of total medical costs. With accelerated medical insurance and the wealthier population encouraged to go private as much as possible, the increase in demand could be met by existing capacity.
One efficiency saving could be to not keep medical history records in NHS itself. Last week I registered my medical history at a private hospital in Rajkot, Gujarat, India. I met and discussed my case with a senior physician explaining that I planned to visit Rajkot more often and needed clinical management there also. After my case file was opened and the medical issues discussed, I was asked to take the file home.
All patients are requested to keep their medical history record file with themselves in their own homes. The hospital does not keep any records. Perhaps NHS could consider following that practice. Another saving could be by keeping cost records of what each procedure, elective as well as non-elective, costs in each hospital and make cost comparisons to highlight wastage. Another improvement could be to put all GPs on a PAYE basis and locate them within hospitals for a one stop shop type of medical service. 75% of NI contributions go towards finding State Pension. NHS expenditure is funded by general taxation.
Nagindas Khajuria
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