Patients And Customers In The N.h.s.

EDM number 371 in 1991-92, proposed by Alun Michael on 10/12/1991.

That this House notes with alarm the view of the Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Welsh Office that 'everyone who comes into contact with the National Health Service is a customer of the National Health Service', including patients, their friends and relatives, staff and organisations who deal with the National Health Service; considers that this reflects the extreme views of the Minister who sees all human life in terms of market competition; notes that the definition of 'customer' in the Concise Oxford Dictionary ('a person who buys goods or services from a shop or business') accords with general usage; notes that the Minister's views are leading to massive distortions in the operation of the National Health Service in Wales as illustrated by the ambulance managers of Powys, Gwent and South Glamorgan whose only reason for proposing a combined opted out service for an area that forms a gigantic inverted reverse question mark around the deprived county of Mid Glamorgan is that they 'consider it the best way to protect their market share'; believes the last thing an accident victim or seriously ill patient wants is to be regarded as 'a piece of market share'; believes the people of Wales want a return to consensus on the National Health Service which has been shattered by the present Conservative Government and in particular by the activities of the Parliamentary Under Secretary; and demands an end to the meddling impracticality of policies for opted-out trusts and the creation of a market in care where the commodities and the losers will be the patients, communities and public of Wales.

This motion has been signed by a total of 40 MPs, 2 of these signatures have been withdrawn.