HEALTH GOES CORPORATE

The Health and Social Care Bill, which will end the role of the NHS as a universal health care system, and shift the nature of UK health care to a market-based service, gets its third and final reading within the next few weeks.

Until now the NHS has been, just like the old Post Office and Britsh Rail, mainly protected from market pressures. Unlike, say, the US, where 60 million people currently go without health care, this has been how the UK has managed to maintain a universally accessible service.

But, if the bill becomes law, it will see the destruction of the NHS as we know it. In its place will be "Foundation Trusts"; a little understood term which has conveniently replaced the widely reviled, eventually unsellable concept of "foundation hospitals".

The government maintains that Foundation Trusts will be models of local ownership and control. There is a supposed cap on the involvement of the private sector, and limits to the private finance which can be raised. Although Foundation Trusts will be expected to make a "surplus" (ie a profit); in what seems like a reasonable move, the surplus will then be directed back into the trust.

There is, however, no requirement for trusts to provide one of the hallmarks of the NHS - universal service. And it will be entirely legal for trusts to enter into partnerships wth private companies, lease out premises to private companies, and sub-contract to private companies. The profit opportunities will, obviously, be immense. US corporations like United Health Care are already queuing up to target this new and lucrative market.

Meanwhile the pressure on trusts to achieve a surplus will, campaigners say, result in the continued erosion of staffing costs and an increasing dearth in treatment for the elderly, the long-term sick, or otherwise "unprofitable" patients.

The trusts themselves will be overseen by a "Regulator"; a role previously held by the Secretary of State. This will now be entirely outside parliament; the regulator's duty being to act "in a manner suitable to a Secretary of State" - whatever that might mean.

In a recent meeting with business leaders, Tony Blair indicated his intention to open all aspects of the health service to the private sector. The current bill, which has so far been opposed by only 30 MP's, is the next, irreversible, step.

Campiagners, including the major health and medical unions, are urging people to contact their MP's and press for a historic rejection of this attempt to dismantle the NHS. They are also calling for journalists to publicise its contents. The Bill is due for its final reading within the next few weeks.