NHS :: NHS unrecognisable in ten years time

The majority of young doctors believe the NHS will be unrecognisable in ten years time, a BMA survey suggests.

The research, published at the BMA Junior Members Forum in Dundee, shows that most young doctors are very concerned about the growing role of the private sector and almost half think that job insecurity will force them to find work outside the NHS.

Around a thousand young doctors responded to a BMA survey asking how the NHS would look in 2017.

More than nine in ten (94%) thought that the role of the private sector in the NHS would continue to grow ? only 15% believed that this would benefit patients

Around half (46%) suggested that at least 50% of NHS care would be delivered by private providers in ten years time, and 15% suggested that the figure would be as high as three quarters

Three in five (61%) said they were very concerned about the fragmentation of the NHS and a further third (31%) were somewhat concerned

The theme of this year?s BMA Junior Members Forum is ?NHS ? going, going, gone?? Dr Andrew Thomson, a Forfar GP who will chair the conference, says:

?Doctors fear that current reforms are damaging the NHS beyond repair. We seem to be selling off the service to the highest bidder without considering the legacy for future generations of patients. Government reforms are having negative effects on both services and the morale of doctors. We need to find ways of moving the NHS towards a period of stability ? at the moment it is under serious threat.?

Many of the survey respondents are among the 34,250 junior doctors currently applying for 18,500 specialist posts in the UK. The survey suggests that the problems with the government?s Modernising Medical Careers reforms have created unprecedented pessimism about future employment possibilities:

Only half (50%) thought that medicine is now a job for life

Around half (48%) envisaged having left the NHS in ten years time. Of these, only a third (35%) said that this was through choice

Fewer than one in five (17%) thought that doctors would automatically get a job in the NHS on completion of their training in future

Many respondents also thought that limitations may need to be placed on services available through the NHS:

Three in five (61%) thought it was unlikely that the NHS would be free at the point of use to all patients in 2017
Four in five (83%) thought that the range of services provided by the NHS free at the point of use would decrease


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