Competition - it's not as bad as you think

Increasing competition in the NHS has not brought an increase in health inequalities, according to research from the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) at the University of York. The studies examined the effects of market reforms under the Labour government in the 2000s, using Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) to look at hospital usage related to socio-economic status. These studies in particular challenge the view that increased competition would allow hospitals to "cherry-pick" patients and avoid treating those from more deprived background who may be less healthy and more challenging to treat. The teams from CHE found no change in the association of deprivation and hospital use for several key elective admissions between 2000 and 2008 and no change also in the relationship between deprivation and disease prevalence, "indicating that observed need did not grow faster in more deprived areas than
elsewhere." A more general assessment of Labour's interventions to promote competition in the NHS is provided by the King's Fund, also offering "key warnings" to the present government.