Liberal Democrat shadow health secretary Norman Lamb has set out his vision for a future, much more decentralised, NHS.
The proposals, published in The NHS: A liberal blueprint, are not formal party policy but, with a general election imminent, do start to outline where the Liberal Democrats are likely to stand on the NHS in a future parliament. While there is little coverage of workplace health within the document, it does look at the issue of “introducing effective incentives for preventing ill health and managing those with chronic conditions better”, albeit in the context of NHS commissioning and budgets, rather than employer-funded provision.
Lamb also suggested GP pay should be better linked to improving patients’ health, such as encouraging people to give up smoking or to lose weight; every patient should have the right to contact their GP by e-mail; and that there should be fines for people who turn up drunk at accident and emergency wards and are aggressive to staff.
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