WI: UK Government Under Thatcher Attempts To Privatize NHS

Title.

What would the reaction of the populace be? Assuming NHS is a sacred cow as Medicare is in the US and Canada, I assume she would become very unpopular, very quickly...

-AYC
 
Let's assume she attempts this during her final term. Several of the more moderate members of her cabinet resign (Clarke, Hurd, Rifkind, possibly even Major and others), the government falls to a VONC, a general election is called, and the Tories end up in third place.
 

AndyC

Donor
Never happen - she'd be less likely to privatize the NHS than most PMs. She always regarded it as a "third rail"; in David Owen's autobiography he commented that he trusted the Tories under Thatcher with keeping the NHS in public hands and funded than he did Labour!
One of the reasons for John Moore's career stalling was that as Health Secretary he kept health funding level in real terms for a year rather than increasing it.
John Major would be a more realistic one; or if Cecil Parkinson or Norman Tebbit succeeded in the late Eighties.

It would also necessitate an investigation as to what form the NHS would take afterwards ("privatization" applied to the NHS tends to mean virtually anything to do with the private sector). A US system would be very unlikely; a continental "Bismarckian" system would be far more likely, probably a German model.
 
Define privatisation.

Most of UK health policy for the last 20 -25 years has been about creating contestability amongst providers and thats really a consensus, the contestability (competition) inevitably leads to more competing provider organisations operating with greater degrees of autonomy - the rest is just soundbites.

There has never really been serious consideration of changing from 'free at the point of need funded from general taxation' for meeting the costs, for the good and sufficient reason that its actually cheaper and arguably more efficient in terms of distributing the money. I doubt if any PM could get a move to an insurance based system past Treasury.

If there was a move it would likely be similar to the move to Foundation Trusts. A conservative version would likely involve a broader range of non treasury finance at the provider level earlier and the source of that finance becoming a large part of the Board of the FT i.e. instead of PFI funders taking a pure rental income they take a shareholding and mixed rent/dividend.
 
Never happen - she'd be less likely to privatize the NHS than most PMs. She always regarded it as a "third rail"; in David Owen's autobiography he commented that he trusted the Tories under Thatcher with keeping the NHS in public hands and funded than he did Labour!
One of the reasons for John Moore's career stalling was that as Health Secretary he kept health funding level in real terms for a year rather than increasing it.
John Major would be a more realistic one; or if Cecil Parkinson or Norman Tebbit succeeded in the late Eighties.

It would also necessitate an investigation as to what form the NHS would take afterwards ("privatization" applied to the NHS tends to mean virtually anything to do with the private sector). A US system would be very unlikely; a continental "Bismarckian" system would be far more likely, probably a German model.

Pretty much agree with all of this. I think it'd be very, very dificult to privatise the NHS-and if anyone, be it Major, Parkinson, Tebbit or Churchill back from the dead-tried to do this, they'd probably find themselves being quietly removed from office by the Tory Party-and if they don't, the electeret will do it.
 
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