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Hospitals competing for patients?
THE extraordinary picture appears to be emerging of hospitals competing with each other for the limited funds available – to the detriment of patient care.
This week Moorfields Eye Hospital Foundation Trust proudly announces the opening of its new £16 million eye centre for children.
What can be wrong with that, readers may ask. Nothing, if it wasn’t for the fact that a couple of miles away, at the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital (GOSH), a large eye department will be trying to attract the same patients as those of the new Moorfields hospital.
Moorfields wants to treat children with ‘intractable’ eye problems, says a press release.
But GOSH has run a very good department for years, under world-leading specialists.
Not only will these hospitals now compete for the same ‘market’ in London but also for the lucrative trade of private care for rich clients in the Middle East. Moorfields has already stolen a lead on GOSH by setting up a hospital in Dubai.
When the creation of Foundation Trusts was announced four years ago, Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson warned that they would end up competing against each other, poaching staff, scrambling for a share of the available funding, all to the point where the weaker trusts will go into liquidation.
His warning appears to becoming a reality. |
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