It is vital that the principles of the NHS be maintained through whatever reform may be needed. “Free at the point of need” prohibits use of payments made by patients to access NHS services to fund those services, or to subsidise provider’s costs, let alone contribute to someone\’s profit.
For this reason, it is imperative that the proposed ban on use of revenue sharing (084) telephone numbers be introduced immediately and throughout the NHS. This is contrary to the position of the BMA, which is expressed in the following quote:
“WE BELIEVE that people should be charged as low a cost as possible to call NHS services but that this has to be balanced by the quality of service the patients are accessing”
This proposal for market reform FROM THE BMA is wholly unacceptable. If this statement was an unauthorised error, it must be corrected.
If a true statement of the BMA creed, IT MUST BE CHANGED.
I agree.