£1m consultation bill for NHS- dismay
The Labour government's flagship public consultation on the future of primary care services will cost almost £1m, HSJ can reveal. Politicians and experts this week rounded on the Your Health, Your Care, Your Say project after details obtained by HSJ under the Freedom of Information Act put the cost at £900,799.
The Department of Health says the consultation, which lasts around six weeks, will shape the white paper on health outside hospitals, due at the end of the year.
Opinion Leader Research, the company that won the contract, will have hosted four small regional consultation days and a 'citizen's day' for 1,000 people in Birmingham by the time the consultation closes at the end of October. Fewer than 90 people turned up to the first event in Gateshead earlier this month.
King's Fund chief economist Professor John Appleby said: 'What benefit are we getting from this? If you look at Gateshead it doesn't look like very much.'
Findings from that meeting, published on the DoH website, are that people want better information about NHS services, a health MOT, good services on their doorstep and proper funding for everything.
'These aren't earth-shattering revelations,' said Professor Appleby. 'I could have predicted those responses from the public - that's what the NHS was set up to doHe added that £1m would be the average cost of treating 1,000 acute NHS patients. The King's Fund would be in favour of getting people involved in policy-making, but who knows what the value of this is?'
Paul Evans, director of anti-privatisation pressure group the NHS Support Federation, described it as a 'startling investment' on a consultation with a 'narrow focus'.
He added: 'If you are going to invest in finding out what people think, you have got to ask them about the full range of health reform. It's not good enough just to talk about areas you are interested in.'
Participants will receive £75 for the regional consultation days and £125 for the Birmingham event. The DoH says this is to ensure that a cross-section of people have the chance to be heard, not just those who can afford it.
But shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley branded the consultation 'little more than a costly public relations exercise'. He added: 'It is unacceptable that this amount of money is being spent, when one-third of hospitals are reporting frontline cuts to deal with deficits.'
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb described the process as 'glorified focus groups at the expense of the taxpayer'.
He said the consultation is 'not shaping what the government thinks, it's working out how to sell what they have already decided.'
In addition to the main consultation days, local events will be held throughout the country by the NHS, local authorities and voluntary organisations.
National Association of Primary Care chair Dr James Kingsland said the money would be well spent if the consultation produced some 'really rich data'.
He told HSJ: 'If you are going to ask questions you may get answers you don't want to hear, and if policy changes as a result of that it will be £1m well spent.'
Meanwhile NHS Confederation chief executive Dr Gill Morgan said it was 'too early' to judge whether the consultation represented value for money, but that its effectiveness hinged on whether it engaged with hard-to-reach communities.
And NHS Alliance chief executive Michael Sobanja said health secretary Patricia Hewitt was 'genuinely interested' in gauging public opinion through the consultation.
A DoH spokesperson said the issues being consulted on were 'up for debate', and the consultation would ensure the white paper tackled issues that matter to the public.
'The questions we are asking cover a range of issues; for instance, information for healthy living, access to GPs, support for carers, and how to provide end-of-life care. Participants at the regional events are free to raise any issues that they do not feel are covered by the questions. So we will get a rounded view of people's priorities.'
http://www.hsj.co.uk/nav?page=hsj.news.story&resource=3304653
The Department of Health says the consultation, which lasts around six weeks, will shape the white paper on health outside hospitals, due at the end of the year.
Opinion Leader Research, the company that won the contract, will have hosted four small regional consultation days and a 'citizen's day' for 1,000 people in Birmingham by the time the consultation closes at the end of October. Fewer than 90 people turned up to the first event in Gateshead earlier this month.
King's Fund chief economist Professor John Appleby said: 'What benefit are we getting from this? If you look at Gateshead it doesn't look like very much.'
Findings from that meeting, published on the DoH website, are that people want better information about NHS services, a health MOT, good services on their doorstep and proper funding for everything.
'These aren't earth-shattering revelations,' said Professor Appleby. 'I could have predicted those responses from the public - that's what the NHS was set up to doHe added that £1m would be the average cost of treating 1,000 acute NHS patients. The King's Fund would be in favour of getting people involved in policy-making, but who knows what the value of this is?'
Paul Evans, director of anti-privatisation pressure group the NHS Support Federation, described it as a 'startling investment' on a consultation with a 'narrow focus'.
He added: 'If you are going to invest in finding out what people think, you have got to ask them about the full range of health reform. It's not good enough just to talk about areas you are interested in.'
Participants will receive £75 for the regional consultation days and £125 for the Birmingham event. The DoH says this is to ensure that a cross-section of people have the chance to be heard, not just those who can afford it.
But shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley branded the consultation 'little more than a costly public relations exercise'. He added: 'It is unacceptable that this amount of money is being spent, when one-third of hospitals are reporting frontline cuts to deal with deficits.'
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb described the process as 'glorified focus groups at the expense of the taxpayer'.
He said the consultation is 'not shaping what the government thinks, it's working out how to sell what they have already decided.'
In addition to the main consultation days, local events will be held throughout the country by the NHS, local authorities and voluntary organisations.
National Association of Primary Care chair Dr James Kingsland said the money would be well spent if the consultation produced some 'really rich data'.
He told HSJ: 'If you are going to ask questions you may get answers you don't want to hear, and if policy changes as a result of that it will be £1m well spent.'
Meanwhile NHS Confederation chief executive Dr Gill Morgan said it was 'too early' to judge whether the consultation represented value for money, but that its effectiveness hinged on whether it engaged with hard-to-reach communities.
And NHS Alliance chief executive Michael Sobanja said health secretary Patricia Hewitt was 'genuinely interested' in gauging public opinion through the consultation.
A DoH spokesperson said the issues being consulted on were 'up for debate', and the consultation would ensure the white paper tackled issues that matter to the public.
'The questions we are asking cover a range of issues; for instance, information for healthy living, access to GPs, support for carers, and how to provide end-of-life care. Participants at the regional events are free to raise any issues that they do not feel are covered by the questions. So we will get a rounded view of people's priorities.'
http://www.hsj.co.uk/nav?page=hsj.news.story&resource=3304653
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