Choice and the Swedish Model - the New NHS?

Under attacks once more accusing him of privatising the NHS, David Cameron outlined 5 pledges, promising to protect the NHS. Among them was ensuring that coverage remains universal, that waiting times are kept short, that the budget will increase and that the NHS will not be sold off. 

Assuring that he never entertained the possibility of turning the NHS into an American-styled private service, he did however speak highly of the German and Swedish models, which successfully integrate public and private healthcare, with private providers being paid for healthcare provision by governmental budgets. Is this where the NHS is headed? Significantly, he did not expressly discount the possibility of allowing additional payment contributions as an added source of income for the health services.

Another central point was expectedly the debate over competition. Cameron stressed that the sole purpose of competition was as a means to drive up the standards of care; indeed, competition should break the ‘you take what you get’ model the NHS has been able to get away with so far. Yet it is very unclear who will have the power to make those choices that will make competition meaningful. Will patients be able to directly choose providers for themselves? What would be the mechanism for this? If GP Consortia will have the power to overrule patient choice, the ‘patient-power’ banner loses much of its strength.