08 November 2002
Speaking to the public administration select committee on October 31, senior representatives of head teachers and NHS doctors said the government's 'targetitis' was damaging the two sectors and had already undermined key services.
David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, told MPs that education targets 'distorted the schools curriculum'. He said: 'The distortion comes from the relentless concentration on literacy and numeracy at the expense of other important areas of education, such as sport and drama.'
Hart said he accepted the government's assertion that high levels of numeracy and literacy were the most important starting point for schools, but he argued that successive governments had focused on teaching specific needs at all costs.
Hart also claimed that local authorities had been 'coerced' by government into accepting specific targets, often through financial incentives.
Ian Bogle, chair of the British Medical Association, said the Department of Health's 'targetitis' had 'distorted clinical needs and priorities' because it led NHS managers to intrude on consultants' decision-making.
'It has downgraded, in terms of their perceived importance, patients with certain conditions. That does not equate to improved care.'
Asked for an example, Bogle said the DoH's plan to reduce waiting list times was 'lousy' because it led doctors to pursue the easiest treatments at the expense of the more complex.
Bogle claimed that hospitals should be allowed to set their own targets so that doctors could match regional needs with treatments.
PFnov2002
