http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…

Millions of people with arthritis, asthma and even heart failure will be urged to treat themselves as part of a Government plan to save billions of pounds from the NHS budget.

Instead of going to hospital or consulting a doctor, patients will be encouraged to carry out “self care” as the Department of Health (DoH) tries to meet Treasury targets to curb spending.

The guidelines could mean people with chronic conditions:

  • Monitoring their own heart activity, blood pressure and lung capacity using equipment installed in the home
  • Reporting medical information to doctors remotely by telephone or computer
  • Administering their own drugs and other treatment to “manage pain” and assessing the significance of changes in their condition
  • Using relaxation techniques to relieve stress and avoid “panic” visits to emergency wards.

The Prime Minister claimed the self-care agenda was about increasing patient choice and “personalised” services.

But an internal Government document seen by The Daily Telegraph makes clear that the policy is a money-saving measure, a key plank of DoH plans to cut costs.

So taking away personal responsibility, ignoring scarcity and giving out something for “free” leads to abuse? Who would have thought? At first I had thought this would be simply a story about the later two but I forgot just how inefficient government can be. They were requiring people to come into the office just to report particular information or check blood pressure? These things are easy to do why would you have mandated that in the first place? From what I’ve read places like the UK with its NHS usually have emergency rooms filled with random people with no serious conditions. Panic attacks are not generally serious nor should the behavior be encouraged by allowing any person the ability to walk into the ER and be treated for the smallest thing. These cost savings messures seem pretty obvious to me… it’d just be nice if the British government didn’t try to spin the issue.

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