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In a radical extension of his Big Society idea, David Cameron has announced the government is to allow patients to bid to run hospitals in the same way they have introduced parent-run schools:

Giving patients control of their healthcare rather than it being in the hands of faceless bureaucrats like doctors and nurses is exactly the kind of diminished state, individualist, self help and self sufficiency this government would like to encourage. And not only that, it’ll save us shedloads of money.

When asked about the idea, Mr Bill Smithers a patient who was having a bunion operation at  St Catherine’s Hospital in Birmingham said he would be interested in bidding for a hospital because he’d like to “have a go at running one”. He added:

I’m a dab hand at carving the Sunday roast and my wife’s an excellent sewer so together we’d pretty much have everything covered.

A  spokesperson for the British Medical Association, which represents doctors and GPs in the UK, said:

While we would like to see people taking more responsibility for their own public services we’re not sure if it’s a good idea for people to be doing their own operations. Mind you, if the government is thinking of bribing us with more lucrative contracts from private US pharmacy companies, we’d obviously be prepared to change our professional opinion at the drop of a hat.

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