BRITISH CONSERVATIVES HAVE THE RIGHT IDEA

(When they're not scared of their own shadows)

David Cameron's policy chief has declared there will be "no limit" to privatisation of the National Health Service under a Conservative government. In comments that threaten to damage the Tories' carefully crafted new image on the eve of their conference in Bournemouth, Oliver Letwin has outlined plans for a huge increase in the use of private companies in healthcare provision. His vision would reduce the NHS to a commissioning body, with many patient services provided by a range of businesses.

Letwin, chairman of the Tories' policy review, said that contracting out healthcare was in the best interests of patients and any reputable organisation should be allowed to compete for the work. Andrew Lansley, shadow health secretary, has given only vague indications of the party's plans for the health service, focusing instead on the need to free it from red tape and Whitehall targets.

Letwin said the Tories would have "no hang-ups" about use of the private sector in healthcare, although the NHS would remain free of charge. Asked if there would be any limits, he said: "No limits, no. Let the commissioning bodies decide where patients can best be cured. If people can provide services under the NHS which are good services - social enterprises, private bodies or NHS foundations - if they can satisfy the commissioners within the NHS that the best way is through them, then they should be part of the show."

Conservative Central Office immediately tried to play down the remarks, insisting there was no plan to break up the NHS. Letwin's remarks threaten to undo months of work by Cameron and his team to convince voters of the party's commitment to public services. Labour strategists greeted his intervention with glee, saying it exposed the Tories' real intention to dismantle the NHS. "This plays perfectly into our hands," said one. "We'll say Cameron's touchy-feely image is all window dressing but underneath they are the same old Tories who believe `private sector good, public sector bad'. " Labour, which has extended the private sector's role in the NHS, has said that it expects independent operators to have no more than 10% of the business during its current term of office. Ed Balls, the Treasury minister and a close ally of Gordon Brown, said: "David Cameron's plan for the privatisation of the NHS means the end of free healthcare as we know it."

Letwin outlined his vision for the NHS as Cameron faces his first conference as leader. He is under pressure for his refusal to detail his policies since taking over from Michael Howard last year. In his opening speech today he is expected to say it would be "superficial" and "insubstantial" to "make up policies to meet the pressures of the moment". He will tell delegates that policies rushed out without careful consideration will not stand the test of time. "Policy without principle is like a house without foundations. We must think for the long term," he is expected to say.

Cameron will set out his big idea as "social responsibility" - that businesses, doctors, teachers and parents should be trusted to resolve their own problems rather than have solutions dictated to them by government: "When we see challenges to overcome, we do not just ask what government can do. We ask what people can do, what society can do." Cameron's advisers believe that although Labour's intentions have been good, it has tried to solve problems by imposing too many regulations, such as making it mandatory for parents to fit child booster seats in their cars or imposing targets on NHS trusts. "We are more in favour of supernannies than the nanny state," he will say. One example which Cameron may cite in his speech is allowing parents to use childcare tax credits to pay neighbours, friends or grandparents for looking after children - rather than, like Labour, restricting the state benefit to established local government schemes.

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Queensland ambulance service still endangering patients

Despite greatly increased funding

A woman with a brain aneurism had to wait more than an hour for an ambulance after her plea for help was recorded as a headache complaint. The woman was working out at a suburban gym when she collapsed in agonising pain, holding her head and screaming "I'm going to die". Gym staff immediately dialled triple-0, but it was 80 minutes - with the woman lapsing in and out of consciousness - before paramedics arrived.

An ambulance spokeswoman last night confirmed the incident occurred last Thursday morning at the EnergyXpress gym in the Brisbane suburb of Bellbowrie. The spokeswoman said that, as the call had been recorded as being for a "50-year-old woman with a headache", it was treated as a low priority. "One hour later we got another call to say the lady was experiencing altered consciousness, so an ambulance was dispatched immediately," the spokeswoman said, adding that crews were attending other high-priority cases in the area at the time.

The woman underwent surgery in a Brisbane hospital on Friday night and was last night released from intensive care. But the woman's sister, who asked that family members not be identified, said her sister faced a long road to recovery. "I'm very upset that it happened and that she was waiting such a long time," she said. "It's still very raw for us and very upsetting."

Jessica Williams said she was working out with her mother when she heard a terrible scream. "At first we thought it was a personal trainer pushing someone a bit too hard, then we realised it was a lot worse than that," she said. "She was holding her head and she was screaming: 'My head's going to explode. I'm going to die. There's something wrong'."

Queensland Liberal leader Bruce Flegg, whose electorate takes in Bellbowrie, called for the service to release the full transcript of the initial call. "Clearly it is unacceptable to wait an hour and a half for an ambulance," Dr Flegg said. "Staff are under severe stress (but) there should be adequate resources because of the ambulance levy, but it is not flowing into improved services."

A spokesman for Ambulance Employees Queensland said communications officers were being forced to work up to eight 10-hour shifts in a row causing stress and fatigue that could lead to mistakes.

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

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