14 How far can it go?
Resolution submitted by the RCN South Oxon Branch
That this meeting of RCN Congress calls for government to privatise the NHS
In the year since this resolution was debated, there has been a change of Prime Minister and a subtle shift in health policy. However the private sector remains a key part of the Department of Health (England) strategy to increase provider plurality in the NHS. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, their policy position which is essentially against large scale private sector involvement, remains unchanged.
The RCN has always recognised that there is a difference between privatising the NHS and the NHS working with the private, independent and voluntary sectors. So, where it is in the interests of patients, the RCN is not ideologically opposed to using the skills, resources and capacity of these sectors to deliver certain NHS services. However, the RCN would not support the wholesale privatisation of the NHS.
Consequently, the RCN keeps a constant watching brief on this area of health care policy and, as a key stakeholder, remains fully engaged with the government in the on-going health care debate
No further action has been taken.