Here's a break from the coverage of tumbleweed blowing around the Labour Conference in the form of a quick quiz. The question: who pointed out that Britain's NHS isn't the envy of the World but actually the worst health service in Western Europe and gave the following quote...
"As the Netherlands is expanding its lead among the best performing countries [on healthcare], the index indicates that the Dutch might have found a successful approach. [The secret of their success is that they] combine competition for funding and provision within a regulated framework. There are information tools to support active choice among consumers. The Netherlands have started working on patient empowerment early, which now clearly pays off in many areas. And politicians and bureaucrats are comparatively far removed from operative decisions on delivery of Dutch healthcare services...forward-looking governments start using healthcare information and choice to engage patients in the decision-making, building a pressure from below for improvement."
Such a quote and painful league table - Britain placed 14th in Europe, lowest in Western Europe - is usually dismissed with a smear against the person who dared to question the national religion, who dared to deny the wonder of the NHS or failed to declare unquestioning love of it. Who could say such a thing and compare the NHS to that of 15th placed Slovenia? Must be some crazed head banger bent on profiteering from illness or denying care to "the poor", keen to bring in the feared "competition" and "choice" to "break up" the NHS. Was it Dan Hannan? Was it the Reform think tank? Was it me?
