Coalition’s ‘totalitarian’ approach to NHS will lead to more deaths, says Lord Winston

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 11:34 EST, 22 January 2011

Reforms will endanger lives: Lord Robert Winston says Government plans to change the structure of the NHS will lead to a decline in care

Reforms will endanger lives: Lord Robert Winston says Government plans to change the structure of the NHS will lead to a decline in care

Fertility treatment pioneer Lord Winston has argued the Government’s NHS reforms will lead to a decline in services and put patients’ lives at risk.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley unveiled radical changes to the health service earlier this month, with 24,000 management staff to be made redundant and GPs given control of buying in NHS services from 2013.

But after the plans drew criticism from the opposition benches and the Royal College of General Practitioners, IVF expert and Professor of Science and Society Lord Robert Winston claimed the proposals were ‘disastrous’.

Lord Winston, who was made a life peer in 1995 and holds the Labour whip, said the Government’s attempt to save money through revamping the cash flow of the NHS is fraught with danger.

‘I do not believe that handing a £100billion budget to the staff of the health service, who are least qualified and interested in handling it, is a wise decision,’ he told The Times.

‘GPs are really important. But what they should be doing is listening to patients and they will be increasingly distracted by running the service.

He added: ‘We will have a real problem because we are spending huge resources on this reorganisation and we are doing it very quickly.

‘There will be old people and people with chronic diseases whose medical care will be deficient and some of them will probably die as a consequence.’

Lord Winston, known for presenting BBC shows such as The Human Body while developing new treatment for couples struggling to conceive, claimed the Government's approach to the NHS has been mirrored in its 'almost totalitarian' handing of education and constitutional reform.

Poor at risk: Lord Winston believes the NHS reforms will increase inequality in the UK

Poor at risk: Lord Winston believes the NHS reforms will increase inequality in the UK

The peer's remarks came days after Mr Lansley revealed the new Health and Social Care Bill will allow patients to choose where they receive NHS treatment and confirmed the £100billion health budget controlled by primary care trusts would be put in the hands of GPs in around 300 consortia nationwide

Mr Lansley said: ‘This Bill will modernise the NHS to give every patient the best chance of surviving an illness like cancer, and the best quality of life if they have a long-term condition like diabetes.’

However, the pressure group NHS Support Federation said 10,000 members of the public have backed an online statement to voice concerns about including more private companies.

In a statement the group said: 'At the heart of the NHS should be patients, but business motives are cutting deeply into the fairness, quality and value that we have come to expect.'

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