"Give UK patients money for health care," BMJ says

UK patients with long-term, chronic conditions should be given money to organize and purchase their own care, according to an article in the British Medical Journal. The idea draws from established polices for direct payments for social care, which were introduced by the then Conservative government in 1996. However, such a policy is likely to meet stiff resistance from the current Labour administration, which has recently banned patients from topping up National Health Service care to buy prescription drugs privately, in the name of equality of service provision (Marketletter March 3).

The existing payment system is accessible to disabled adults, the elderly and carers of disabled children. This allows services to be more accurately tailored to individual needs, the BMJ reports.