Do remind us all locky what hag it was that allowed very many of the NHS dentists to opt out?NHS under the Tories - concluded
As in the 1950s, there had been a rather begrudging acceptance of the
NHS by the Tory governments under both Thatcher and Major. Funding of
the NHS was kept tight for much of the eighteen years of Tory rule. With
transfer of responsibility for the long term care of the mentally ill
and the elderly transferred to local authorities the scope of the NHS
was significantly reduced. The later
Tory governments also oversaw the
beginning of the decline of NHS dentistry, as parsimonious contracts
prompted more dentists to opt out of the NHS and dental charges were
increased. Yet during these years of Tory rule the founding principles
of the NHS remained largely intact. Although ancillary hospital services
were contracted out to private companies, the line was clearly drawn at
medical services. The NHS remained predominantly a universal public
service provided on the basis of clinical need not ability to pay and
funded out of general taxation. Neither Thatcher nor John Major was
prepared to make any unprecedented breaches to these founding
principles.
http://libcom.org/library/driving-nhs-market