Has New Labour introduced radical changes to health and health care Essay

Has New Labour introduced radical changes to health and health care policy since it came into office - Essay Example This pledge to divert major sums of governmental funds into the health care system was political fodder for Conservatives and was a principle part of the Labour Party’s addition of ‘new’, an act primarily designed to pronounce a new philosophy and proclaim its eagerness to distance the party from past conceptions of socialist leanings. In many cases, the radical changes to the NHS espoused by new Labour followed Conservative concepts. These new policies have proven to be more of a massive evolution rather than a revolution. Still, what had been the most radical change to the organisation of the NHS since its 1948 inception; the 1991 reforms instituted into the NHS Act were eclipsed by the 1997 Act. This was especially true when considering the abolition of the internal market and the creation of Primary Care Trusts (PCT) which, when taken together, embodied an even more radical change than the earlier reform. This discussion examines the similarities and differenc es of New Labour as opposed to Conservative approaches to health care and the changes brought by the NHS Act of 1997. The distinction of ideologies between Conservative and Labour (right and left wing) continues its relevance concerning key philosophical divides and policy making matters in today’s political arena. A description that encompasses the principle divergence between the right and left political ideals is their respective stance regarding the perception of fairness. The right has historically leaned toward favoring policies promoting inequality while the left have a tendency to favor social equality in its policies. New Labour initially promoted itself during the 1997 election as the party for radical change, referring to its movement as the ‘third way’ uniting viewpoints of neo-liberalism and social equality (Mouffe, 2000, p.