The marketing issues and problems affecting the public services sector in the U.K. at the current time - Essay Example

The NHS was established with the intention of providing health care for all who needed it at the point of delivery because in the past, health care was not available to all who needed it. Consequently, there was a need to make sure that health care services were more coordinated in the region. There are numerous organisational changes that the NHS has undergone. First of all, it created an internal markets idea where health authorities and doctors were given funding from the government and they could use this to purchase health care from different groups like acute hospitals.

However, with time, this scheme was not very effective as there was too much bureaucracy. Consequently, there was a need to bring in reforms in order to reduce inefficiencies and the current system was born; the use of primary care trusts. (Department of Health, 2006) The Health care system in the United Kingdom is operated by a national budget made by the government. This budget normally includes all the issues that will affect the effectiveness of service provision such as; capital outlays, operating expenses and medical training.

Specific health care providers normally operate on set budgets made on a yearly basis. Despite all these benefits, one must not underestimate all the disadvantages that come with provision of health services under such a scheme. First of all, the total available resources will always and have always been less than the demand for health care. Consequently, there is a need to prioritise issues and allocate finances for the neediest groups. Groups such as the elderly are maintained at a pre-set fee and must therefore be denied certain medical procedures such as kidney dialysis; this procedure is only allowed for those who are fifty five years and below.

There are many patients in the UK who have still not reaped the full benefits of a national health care