Current State of the NHS

The NHS has been in existence for sixty three years and ever since it began it has been in an apparent state of flux and crisis. At its inauguration although commonsense dictated that it could be nothing but a good idea, with poor families no longer priced out of health care, doctors and other health professionals predicted that it wouldn’t last five minutes and that chaos was just around the corner.

This hasn’t happened of course and in the years between there have been bad times and good times, with swingeing changes not always being for the good. The removal of almoners and matrons, who had kept a sometimes all but sinking ship afloat was bemoaned by many, but as the managers who replaced them found their feet, it was clear that in some hospitals the pruning had removed nothing but dead wood and so the improvements continued.

Over the years pay structures have been addressed as have waiting lists; attempts to even out the levels of care in different areas have been given priority; staffing has been given a huge amount of media attention, particularly the problem of non-English speaking doctors and nurses and of course the perennial problem of bed shortages is always with us.

With the recent health proposals put on hold, many people were concerned that the NHS was on its last legs. In fact many of the planned reforms were to do with accountability and choice, which many patients, if they were given the opportunity to join in the discussion, would probably happily live without if they could just have a simple promise that they would have their operation or treatment before the condition became untenable.

The NHS is staffed in the main by dedicated professionals who are attempting to provide a first class service, often without first class buildings or equipment to back them up. As improvements in drug therapies and surgical interventions are made, it is only right for patients to expect that they are made available to all who would benefit from them. A new drug launched recently costs £78,000 per course and whilst of course it is not reasonable to simply refuse to provide this for a patient who could gain more years of life by taking it, the other side of the coin is that that much money could buy treatment for many other patients and perhaps give several children improved quality of life for a whole lifespan.

This juggling act is something which the NHS is in the throes of now and always will be. A conglomerate of caring professionals, the NHS will never have enough money, enough staff, enough time. What it needs is to be supported enough by everyone, from the Cabinet down to the end user, with less complaining, fewer cutbacks, less talk and more getting done – then the NHS will be able to do what it does best. Essentially, that is to make the sick better and give the well the tools to stay that way.

on 10.06.11 by Mark Hinksman