'NHS should not treat those with unhealthy lifestyles' say Tories

The Evening Standard (UK) ^ | September 4, 2007

[2ndDivisionVet]

Patients who refuse to change their unhealthy lifestyles should not be treated by the NHS, the Conservatives said today.

In a bid to ease spiralling levels of obesity and other health concerns, a Tory panel said certain treatments should be denied to patients who refuse to co-operate with health professionals and live healthier lifestyles.

And those who do manage to improve their general health by losing weight and quitting smoking, for example, would receive "Health Miles" cards.

Points earned could then be used to pay for health-related products such as gym membership and fresh vegetables.

The aim is a shift in the NHS towards preventing disease and ill-health rather than having to treat it.

The proposal was one of a raft of measures suggested in a review of public services, ordered by David Cameron.

The 200-page study, entitled Restoring Pride in Our Public Services, was carried out by the Conservative public services improvement policy group's review co-chaired by former health secretary Stephen Dorrell and leading educationalist Baroness Perry.

"It is inconsistent with the concept of the responsible citizen to imagine that it is realistic for citizens, having paid their taxes, to expect that the state will underwrite the health implications of any lifestyle decision they choose to make," the report states.

Along with the health proposals were a raft of suggested changes in education and housing.

Smaller schools, it has been suggested, would improve overall results.

In cases where pupil numbers are falling large schools in the centre of London and other cities would be closed, rather than smaller schools in outlying areas. Inner city pupils could be transported to schools in the suburbs and even villages to ensure they remain open.

"Schools within schools" could be created to tackle poor discipline, particularly in large schools, national targets could be reduced and struggling pupils could be forced to repeat their final year at primary school.

Former chief inspector of schools Lady Perry said: "Every time we have a cutting back of numbers in schools, the knee-jerk reaction is to close all the little village schools or suburban schools and bus all the pupils into great big city schools.

"Schools are getting bigger and bigger. All the evidence is that discipline, achievement and standards are better in small schools than they are in big ones. So why don't we instead close the great big city school if numbers start to fall and bus the children out to the villages?

"It does not cost any more. It would be so much more productive for the children from the middle of the city to be taken out to the suburbs."

She branded the trend towards large schools a "disaster" - as Education Secretary Ed Balls hailed moves to create more mergers between schools.

He said: "Rather than set schools against schools, we need to increase collaboration."

The Tories' renewed focus on schools came on the same day shock official figures revealed an 83% in school spending only brings a 1% boost in productivity.

A report from the Office for National Statistics showed state schools were more productive during 1996-99, a period when spending was tight.

Where housing is concerned council tenants who are well-behaved could be given as much as £50,000 to help them buy their first home.

The move to rescue poor families from 'dead-end ghettos' in deprived inner cities is a key part of a Tory review of public services.

Families with a five-year record of good behaviour would be given a 10 per cent stake in their property in a significant extension of Margaret Thatcher's hugely popular right-to-buy scheme.

Under the 1980 Housing Act, families received a discount of up to 50 per cent on the market value of their house depending on how long they had lived there.

By 1995, 2.1 million families had taken advantage of the scheme to buy their home.

The payment would be held as an equity bond and could be used only to buy a home.

Council houses are typically worth between £100,000 and £200,000 on the private market - but some tenants in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea could be sitting on properties worth as much as £500,000.

The report says a Conservative Government has a duty to transform deprived inner cities into neighbourhoods with a 'sense of local pride and ownership'.

But handing money to council tenants would be highly controversial as ordinary council taxpayers would foot the bill.

The move could also provoke resentment from those who do not qualify for social housing - and will not be able to take advantage of the windfall.

But Tory officials said the financial costs would be outweighed by the long-term social benefits of good behaviour by tenants.

The latest proposal is aimed at boosting individuals' pride in their home by letting them own a share of it.

Other health measures outlined include incentives to encourage GPs to "re-engage" in responsibility for the out-of-hours care provided to their patients, without imposing "undesirable working patterns" on doctors.

Tory leader David Cameron will examine the proposals before deciding which ones to make policy.

Crucially on health, the group concluded that far more focus must be placed by the NHS on public health issues.

"We have considered ideas such as an 'NHS Health Miles Card' to promote the concept of wellbeing," says the report.

"Although much work would be required for development, we think that the creation of a small individual benefit scheme would change the language of health from illness to wellbeing."

The group also warns that public support for the NHS is under threat because of the "failure" to engage citizens in the drive to improve the service and to boost productivity despite the billions being poured into it.

[Jacquerie]

As a former inmate of communism you should write columns. Many columns. Submit them everywhere.

Alert the mentally fat and lazy here, those who either forgot or never learned what makes the US an exception in world history. Your words could resonate better than a dozen Ronald Reagans. Just do it.

[COgamer]

Hm... I don’t see anything at all objectionable about this. If they’re going to go ahead and have nationalized health care, it seems reasonable to exclude people who PURPOSEFULLY get sick. It’s a bad idea to have it nationalized in the first place, but how much worse of an idea is it to subsidize people’s destructive habits? The government doesn’t exist to remove from people any responsibility in their own lives. This plan seems very reasonable if, as I said, the nationalized health care will proceed no matter what.

[secretagent]

“Joseph Koctau Joy Joy Be Well”

Huh?

[2ndDivisionVet]

So anyone with ANY unsafe or bad behaviors should be excluded? Like AIDS from homosexual sex or IV drug use? Smoking and it’s attendent diseases? Eating junk food in any amount? Speeding or other traffic violations? Not aborting a problem baby and carrying it to term? Not exercising?

[whipitgood]

In a real socialized healthcare plan, the healthy are subsidizing the unhealthy. After all, the healthy don’t use the healthcare services. Kind of like those of us in the US who purchase health insurance, but don’t get sick. Our money goes to pay for the unhealthy people who use healthcare. I like the plan to give credit to those who live a healthy lifestyle.

[live+let_live]

“provide exercise areas/facilities on every residential block”

Or you could just walk around the block.

[live+let_live]

I understand your point but the problems can get even more complicated.

I am white and my ancestors live into their 90’s.

Blacks in the U.S. tend to have problems with hypertension and diabetes.

Can we drop them from the health plan since the odds are great they will need extra care?

No of course not.

The only answer is to not start down the road to national health insurance.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

In a bid to ease spiralling levels of obesity and other health concerns, a Tory panel said certain treatments should be denied to patients who refuse to co-operate with health professionals and live healthier lifestyles.

I presume that such people are exempt from all of the taxes used to fund socialized medicine in the UK?

[DustyMoment]

All those STILL in favor of government run health care, raise your hands!!

(Neat-o!! We’ve corned the moron vote!)

[varyouga]

“As a former inmate of communism you should write columns. Many columns. Submit them everywhere.”

An interesting idea. Most people think I am being paranoid and a good amount say I ‘need therapy’.

I feel like we are going somewhere worse than communism. The communists never had the pop culture we do. Pop culture pushes me-first, pleasure-first, political correctness and anti-family propaganda. People think the government will pay for their bad choices.

I see kids today being raised by the TV and popping pills to make them easier to manage. They are not allowed to go outside or even play indoors because it’s ‘dangerous’. And these kids are my cousins with parents that are considered 'good'. In the increasing numbers of broken homes it's probably worse.

[varyouga]

“As a former inmate of communism you should write columns. Many columns. Submit them everywhere.”

An interesting idea. Most people think I am being paranoid and a good amount say I ‘need therapy’.

I feel like we are going somewhere worse than communism. The communists never had the pop culture we do. Pop culture pushes me-first, pleasure-first, political correctness and anti-family propaganda. People think the government will pay for their bad choices.

I see kids today being raised by the TV and popping pills to make them easier to manage. They are not allowed to go outside or even play indoors because it’s ‘dangerous’. And these kids are my cousins with parents that are considered 'good'. In the increasing numbers of broken homes it's probably worse.

[live+let_live]

‘Most people think I am being paranoid”

We have a joke here: “It’s not paranoid if they really are out to get you!”

Oh, and welcome to America!

[uncbob]

Yep

[Secret Agent Man]

OMG What are the homosexuals going to do now?????

[sionnsar]

I escaped grinding communism and thought it was destroyed. Much to my anger, it is very much alive in the west. Every year I feel more like I am back in the USSR with every new law and encroachment on freedom.

I grew up here, not there, but I concur -- this is not the country in which I was raised. And we're doing it to ourselves.

[ArmstedFragg]

So they’re proposing to bus the hoods to the kids instead of busing the kids to the hood?

[visualops]

I feel like we are going somewhere worse than communism. The communists never had the pop culture we do. Pop culture pushes me-first, pleasure-first, political correctness and anti-family propaganda. People think the government will pay for their bad choices.

I see kids today being raised by the TV and popping pills to make them easier to manage. They are not allowed to go outside or even play indoors because it’s ‘dangerous’. And these kids are my cousins with parents that are considered 'good'. In the increasing numbers of broken homes it's probably worse.

You are absolutely right. Fortunately, sprinkled in with the narcissistic whiners are kids brought up with a sense of right and wrong, of earning your keep, of duty honor and country, and upholding the Constitution. Some trend studies have shown that many growing up today (Gen Y?) are more conservative than their parents. When I see the large numbers still signing up to defend this country, I am heartened that all is not lost. We must all keep praying for America, the hope of the world.

[sionnsar]

An interesting idea. Most people think I am being paranoid and a good amount say I ‘need therapy’.

If that's true, then we're further gone than I thought (or dared to think).

[Eric Blair 2084]

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[Calpernia]

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