Senior doctors will declare today that the NHS can no longer provide everything the public wants and patients may have to accept paying for some services themselves. Surgeons, consultants and GPs from across the country will demand that a list of “core” services is drawn up to tell patients what they can expect from the NHS. Top-up charges for treatments and medications outside this list can no longer be ruled out, they will argue. The British Medical Association’s annual meeting will be urged “to face the unpalatable truth that free at the point of contact can no longer be sustained”. Unions and patients’ groups warned that top-up payments were “contrary to the whole ethos of the NHS” and that people would not trust NHS bosses to ration care until they dealt with the series of scandals rocking the health service. Gordon Matthews, of the BMA consultants’ committee, will tell the conference today in Edinburgh: “There has never before been a more important time for the Government, the Opposition, doctors and other health professionals to engage with the public, to explain the issues and seek consensus as to what priorities are for health and social care, and making explicit what can be funded from central taxation and what cannot. “A publicly funded and free-at-the-point-of- delivery NHS cannot afford all available diagnostics and treatments.” With the government spending review due on Wednesday, George Osborne is u
The Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, Monday, launched its slimline manifesto for the May 5th general election, a twenty-seven page document entitled ''The British Dream''.

The manifesto focuses on five key areas:

'''Lower tax and value for money''': The party plans to make up to £12 billion of savings annually by reducing beurocracy such as quangos.  £8 billion will reduce previous deficit, and £4 billion of tax cuts will be made, especially to what have been called "stealth taxes".  The party promised that funding for education, health, transport and international development would not be cut, and spending on police, defence and pensions would be increased.

'''Flexible childcare and school discipline''': The manifesto promised an increase in maternity pay and more choice of childcare.  Under a conservative government more independence over expulsions and admissions would be given to school heads and governors.  Special schools for disruptive pupils would be created, and more vocational courses would be created for 14-16 year olds.

'''Better healthcare and cleaner hospitals''': A major feature of the coservative campaign has been hospital sourced infections, and in respose the party have promised to introduce ward matrons charged with keeping hospitals clean, with the authority to close wards with MRSA infections.  A Conservative government would contribute funding towards operations in private hospitals.  Econimic migrants with HIV or TB would not be allowed to live or work in Britain.

'''Safer communities and more police''': A Conservative government would increase police recruitment by 5,000 a year.  The manifesto promised to increase prison terms and increase Britain's prison capacity by 20,000 places.  The party would reverse the Labour government's decision to relax laws prohibiting Canabis use.

'''Secure borders and controlled immigration''': The manifesto proposes a new border police at Britain's busiest air and sea ports, with 24 hour surveilance.  The party would set a quota on economic migrants and reject asylym-seekers who are not vetted by the UNHCR.

Party leader Michael Howard summed up the manifesto: "If you long for cleaner hospitals, more police, school discipline, controlled immigration, lower taxes and accountability - you can vote for it, on 5 May", accusing prime-minister Tony Blair, who is campaigning for his third term, of letting the country down.