Health increasingly becomes a commodity

People may buy more healthcare as specific individual packages, and the implications of increased commercialisation could have wide-ranging and uncertain effects on the nursing workforce.

People may buy more healthcare as specific individual packages. Laser eye surgery is a current example. There could be many more instances over the next 20 years, as more services become available and the private sector becomes more involved in providing health and social care.

This idea would have wide-ranging potential effects on the nursing workforce, many of which are uncertain or unknown. Demand and supply may become extremely susceptible to the free market, thus more volatile and less predictable for purposes of planning the workforce.

Therefore, policymakers will consider how best to factor this shaper into decision-making, given both the high uncertainty and potential wide-ranging implications of increased commercialisation.

Sources or references

• Suggested by number of stakeholders in workshops during CfWI research on nursing.
• From unpublished CfWI report (report available on request).

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.