LBC 97.3 Live at the RSA: Is this the end of the NHS as we know it?

Major changes to the way the NHS is managed and funded are about to take effect. LBC’s James O’Brien chairs a live radio debate from the RSA Great Room, asking: will the changes really make the NHS more efficient? And what can patients expect?

1 April 2013 marks the day the new NHS is born, when the legal responsibility for managing most of the NHS budget will be handed over to local GP commissioning groups.

The government has argued that major reforms are vital if the NHS is to continue to provide the standards of care to which we’ve become accustomed.  It points to the ‘perfect storm’ caused by public spending cuts, and the extra pressures resulting from an elderly population, rising obesity and expensive modern drugs.  These reforms, it maintains, will increase efficiencies and help drive up standards, as patients are put in charge of their own care for the first time.

But health managers have said the scale of the changes will destabilise hospitals and force some units to close, and unions have warned the moves represent a privatisation of the health service. The changes are already starting to cause unrest, as public opposition to the reorganisation of hospitals in south London shows, with thousands taking to the streets in protest.

Major changes to the way the NHS is managed and funded are about to take effect. LBC’s James O’Brien chairs a live radio debate from the RSA Great Room, asking: will the changes really make the NHS more efficient? And what can patients expect?

Speakers to include: Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, Shadow Health Secretary; Katherine Murphy, chief executive, Patients Association; Anne McElvoy, public policy and education editor, The Economist; and Sean Worth, senior consultant, Policy Exchange.

Chair: James O’Brien, LBC 97.3FM – ‘London’s Biggest Conversation’.

The event will be broadcast live from the RSA Great Room on LBC 97.3FM – .