16 june 2010, health is wealth

Excellent seminar over the last couple of days, getting to grips with the uk's national health service. I learnt, amongst many other things, that the nhs is not so much interested in health (which consumes about 1-4% of its budget) as in illness, which is very lucrative. My hospitals, in common with others, get paid for the more people we get through the doors, which is a stark contrast to chinese doctors, who get paid by all their patients until they get ill. The nhs, which has done marvels over the last few years, but on a rapidly increasing budget, is now entering a phase of contraction, which is not going to be easy to manage, but nor, I think, is it impossible. General practioners, the friendly family doctors, are to be the agents of change and innovation, which is a smart move, as convincing them that the move away from expensive hospital care is the right one is probably the hardest task, and the bit that unlocks a very different way of doing things. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.