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 : Defence

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 : Fishing

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Other Specific UKIP Policies

Copyright ©, The United Kingdom Independence Party, Lexdrum House, Unit 1, King Charles Business Park, Heathfield, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6UT. All rights reserved. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.