Fund NHS properly or charge for hospital beds, says senior executive
It seems to me that you can only have so much prevention before you need the capacity to also cure. I suspect the idea of charging for bedspace may end up being too controversial to implement but these things (look at the way carpark charges have become a tax on the sick and ill) can develop a momentum. Should a policy like this be pursued it would of course disproportionately impact on rural dwellers, who need hospital care more often due to their demographic trends and need to drive further to get it. Policies like this if they are to be considered need to be fully rural proofed. The article goes on to tell us:
Hospital patients could be asked to pay for their “bed and board” if funding does not match increasing demand, a senior health service manager has said.
Rob Webster, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS commissioners and providers, said the health service would have to make “tough choices”.
Plans to charge patients for accommodation had not been drawn up, said Webster, but the Independent quoted an unnamed source suggesting the fee could be £75 a night.
Webster told the paper: “If the NHS cannot afford to fund everything then it will need to make tough choices about what it does fund.
“Do we think about increasing our tolerance for longer wait (for care), or do we say NHS funding is only for the health aspects of care and treatment, which means patients being asked to cover their hotel costs for bed and board?