As I have been married for many years to a NHS consultant so I have refrained up till now from commenting on the NHS. These are my views below not those of my wife or 3 medic children.
The NHS is there to deliver good health care, does it do this? The outcomes comparing UK health care results with that of other advanced countries shows the NHS lagging badly. The usual explanation trotted out to explain this discrepancy is that other countries spend more per capita on heath care. This is true in some cases but cannot be the whole explanation.Click on link below
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_quality_of_healthcare
and you will see that the UK ranks around 20th in survival rates for colrectal cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer. Roughly the same position for cardiovascular disease and slightly worse for stroke. Clearly other countries simply organise their heath care better than we do.We have an army of highly paid so called heath service managers. Why can they not match the performance of other countries?
This guides us to our solution, look at what other countries do in heath care and stop claiming the NHS is the best in the world when it clearly is not. It suits the vested interests of our heath care to parrot this slogan to justify their high salaries but British is not best in heath care just as it is not best in education where international comparisons tells the truth.
The common factor in the poor performance in our public services is the obsession with equality and political correctness. Staff are rewarded not for doing the job well, teaching, doctoring or whatever but for ticking the correct boxes. Until we change this culture it will not matter how much money we pour into health care, the results will not match the money put in.
5 comments:
A grown up debate would help but not possible under the guise of politics. As Trump has said, "my button is bigger than yours".
My doctors does not operate an appointment system and works very well. That said I am so pleased that when my girls were children, the level of commitment by GPs and certain doctors at the local hospital was there. The system must work at the GP practice for the rest to have any chance. Interesting article in the Daily Mail today by a consultant.
From youtube Dr Bob Gill.
https://uk.ask.com/youtube?q=dr+bob+gill&v=khP4O-PGDnI
https://www.youtube.com/embed/6xcLSrfKwRQ?rel=0&autoplay=1
So what of the future. I fear US style privatisation.
I agree 100% with what you have said Eric.
The Harrogate Agenda would place hospitals under county control and severally reduce or even disband the Department of Health.
My own opinion, as a general principle for starters, they should stop all 'vanity' procedures involving plastic surgery, obesity fertility etc as something has to give as the population ages. The should also charge for food and transport to and from hospitals. As to car parking charges they should be kept but exceptions given to patients having chemotherapy etc.
Finally A&E should introduce draconian measures to ensure it ONLY deals with genuine ACCIDENTS & EMERGENCIES.
Seeing as we are supposed to be a rich country why can we not utilise some of the methods of those countries around the top of the Wiki list - Japan Israel Australia South Korea etc instead of being near the bottom and being used as a political football.
In my humble opinion it’s all down to management, given the resources, and I am not convinced an insurance based system would be any better although I do remember an old saying ‘nationalised and paralysed’.
http://selloff.org.uk/
https://www.gofundme.com/the%20greatnhsheist
I note nobody is referring to our rapidly increasing population ahead of the necessary infrastructure combined with hospital bed closures adding to the misery of those in pain waiting for hip operations. It’s not just those for the next month being delayed it’s everybody unless they are having an almost impossible massive increase in capacity sooner rather than later to catch up. I despair.
Anonymous I mentioned the population is aging.
As to solutions the key, from which all else follows, is to get the dead hand of, a politically correct out of touch, central government off the backs of the hospitals.
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