In Correspondence published Online First in the Lancet , a group of over 150 paediatricians and members of the UK's Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health call for the UK Government to drop The Health and Social Care Bill on the grounds it will have an extremely damaging effect on the health of children and their families and their access to high-quality, effective services.
The paediatricians say: "Competition-based systems are not only more expensive and less efficient but are associated with gross inequality in perinatal and child health outcomes, including child safeguarding…Children who are vulnerable, neglected, or abused will inevitably slip through the net."
They warn: "Care will become more fragmented, and families and clinicians will struggle to organise services for these children. Children with chronic disease and disability will particularly suffer, since most have more than one condition and need a range of different clinicians. A family with a disabled child will find it more difficult and complicated to organise a complex package of care, because integrated working between the NHS and local authorities will become much harder to achieve."
They conclude: "Far from increasing choice, there is plenty of evidence amassing that these proposed reforms will in fact limit choice for all children and their families, increase inequalities, and harm those who are most vulnerable. Continuous quality improvement in our already high-quality NHS does not require this legislation."
Dr Stuart Logan, Institute of Health Service Research Director - NIHR PenCLAHRC Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry , University of Exeter, UK. T) 44-79-66-88-32-30 E) stuart.logan@pms.ac.uk
For full Correspondence, see: http://press.thelancet.com/Paediatricians.pdf
For Web appendix of additional signatories, see: http://press.thelancet.com/Paediatricianswebappendix.pdf
The Lancet