Health Policy and NHS Practice

Written by Dr Evan Harris MP on Tue 4th Jul 2006

It has been a busy and important last few weeks for health services locally and health policy nationally.

I was at the BMA's annual conference during some of last week in Belfast, representing local doctors and talking to doctors' leaders about the key issues. On the first day I heard the sad and dramatic news that 2 over-worked consultant surgeons were being made redundant at the Oxford Radcliffe, probably on the say-so of a team of over-paid accountants recruited by the Government to "turn-round" performance!

It costs hundreds of thousand s of pounds to train surgeons to consultant level and the sort of work done by these doctors - including cancer surgery - is very well regarded in the region and in the country. We need more of it, not less and as I told the BMA - it is a crying shame that is happening for the medics and the patients alike.

In the same week, my colleagues and I who support changes in the law to make assisted dying for the terminally-ill lawful (with safeguards to prevent abuse) were disappointed to see a well organised campaign by opponents of such a change succeed in reversing the BMA's policy on the issue. Last year I succeeded in getting the BMA to adopt a neutral position on the principle of liberalising the law in this area but this year my opponents, mainly on religious grounds, managed to change the policy back to one of opposition. As it happens the House of Lords - heavily lobbied by the Bishops there - had already blocked Lord Joffe's private members bill so we wont see the issue return for at leas a couple of years.

On behalf of Oxford's doctors I proposed a motion supporting a recent court ruling that doctors acting as expert witnesses in court should be subject to the jurisdiction of the court only - just like all other witnesses - and have immunity from being sued by disgruntled defendants in a civil action or through the GMC. The media hounding of cot-death paediatrician Prof Roy Meadow - who was eventually cleared by the High Court, has deterred many doctors from being willing to help vulnerable children by providing testimony, which is in no-one's interest.

Finally back in Parliament, I spoke in a debate on embryos and abortion where many MPs from all parties joined me in calling for a review of abortion law. In my view - after 40 years it is high time that we look at whether later abortions can be reduced by making earlier abortion easier to access and see whether medical advances have had any impact on the ethical underpinning of the current time limit. The Government - as usual - said "No, now is not the right time". But when will it ever be?