SMITH NOT TOTALLY FORGOTTEN:

U-turn over private care to slash NHS waiting lists (ALISON HARDIE, 11/24/04, The Scotsman)

THE Scottish Executive has staged a major policy U-turn and sanctioned significant investment in private health-care services in a drive to cut woeful NHS waiting lists, The Scotsman can reveal today.

Jack McConnell, the First Minister, had until now agreed to only limited private-sector involvement in the health service, while ministers at Westminster forged ahead with independent health-provider agreements to transform the face of the NHS south of the Border.

However, with waiting lists at an "unacceptably high" level, Mr McConnell has caved in and ordered Andy Kerr to hold talks with private health-care companies about how they can speed up NHS diagnosis and treatment in Scotland. [...]

Mr Kerr is understood to share his Westminster counterparts’ belief that buying in more private health-care will not only provide patients with much-needed additional choice, it will also drive up competitiveness and efficiency.

Meanwhile, American Democrats want to move towards a less private system.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 24, 2004 8:42 AM