UKIP Manifesto 2010 Healthcare and the NHS
UKIP believes strongly in the principles of the NHS, which should continue to deliver care free at the point of delivery on the basis of need, not ability to pay. However, we believe NHS management is bureaucratic and wasteful, and that major reform is vital to retain and improve NHS healthcare services. UKIP will:
· Make no cuts in NHS frontline health services but substantially reduce NHS waste and bureaucracy
· Make the NHS directly and democratically accountable. We will introduce new elected County Health Boards. These Boards will be made up primarily of healthcare professionals who will be elected by the county’s voters every four years in the manner of local council elections
· Improve NHS management and accountability, and use NHS funds better, by abolishing overlapping layers of bureaucracy such as EU- inspired Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts. Over time, UKIP will replace Hospital, Foundation, NHS Care and Ambulance Service Trusts with equivalent franchises
· Encourage County Health Boards to put out to tender key NHS services ranging from Long Term Care to local hospitals and GP surgeries. This will be done by franchising key services – run on a fixed budget – to charitable associations, not-for-profit and profit-making private companies, partnerships and individuals. This will bring in private sector efficiency and innovation, while fixed assets, responsibility and direction remain firmly in public hands
· Improve patient choice by introducing ‘Health Credit Vouchers’, which will enable people to opt out of the NHS public healthcare system entirely if they so wish. UK citizens will apply to their GP for vouchers that can be paid to the private health insurer of their choice
· Put medical staff back at the heart of the NHS, replacing bureaucrats and managers. Franchises will require clinically-trained Matrons to run hospitals, taking a dominant role on wards and primary responsibility for hospital cleanliness and the fight against MRSA. On-the-job nurse training and hospital-based colleges will replace most university courses
“Major reform is vital to retain and improve NHS healthcare services”
· Re-examine community care and support congregate communities for people with learning disabilities
· Restore free eye tests and dental check-ups for all UK citizens
Download the full Healthcare & the NHS policy from the Policies section of www.ukip.org
UKIP Manifesto 2010
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Introduction
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : The Economy: Tax, Budget and Regulation
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : The Economy: Jobs, Enterprise and Skills
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Immigration and Asylum
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Law and Order, Crime
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Healthcare and the NHS
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Education and Training
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Pensions
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Welfare and Social Security
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Foreign Affairs and International Trade
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Energy and the Environment
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Transport
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Housing and Planning
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : The Constitution and How We Are Governed
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Culture and Restoring Britishness
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Food, Farming and the Countryside
UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Other Specific UKIP Policies
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