So the King has cancer, I bet there was no waiting for him to get treatment! Don’t get me wrong he needs care and of course he should get it, I hope he fully recovers. Over 24 years ago the NHS saved my life, I had Leukaemia, a rare form called Hairycell, fortunately they knew it could be treated with Chemo and there was a 50/50 chance of being successful. It was. Leukaemia of itself won’t necessarily kill you but your immune system is so weak that any kind of infection or bug will. I was so pumped full of anti-biotic , that there were times when I believed I was back in the sixties!
The NHS, a shining example of “free at the point of delivery” care system, that the world envied. What the hell happened to it? It should have gone from strength to strength but instead the reverse has happened as years of underinvestment and poor management has undermined it’s very purpose and has not evolved to cope with an ever changing population. We all know it is in desperate need of reform, radical reform. Top heavy management, a poor buying policy, Brexit, an unreasonable reliance on targets, the pandemic, has brought it to its knees. The last 14 years of underinvestment in all social care by a Tory government that has been riven with internal in fighting that has lead it to react more to its own members than what is needed for it’s citizens, has caused much of the NHS to crumble. It is not solely down to money, we too are responsible for its decline placing ever more burdens on an already overworked system.
Judging by the plethora of motobility scooters whizzing around Kettering, you would think that there is an epidemic of people who for one reason or another have such poor health they are unable to exist without a four wheeled battery driven vehicle?
The NHS is doing its best and I am sure the staff care deeply about looking after those in their patients. You will remember we were encouraged to clap for them during Covid, how poorly they have been treated after their dedication to that unprecedented virus!
In order for our health system to be “fit for purpose” it needs to be looked at with a hyper critical eye. Perhaps a return to only being responsible for the core tenants of health care is required and to cut away the more superficial elements which drain funding from its main purpose? Whatever is required, there is no doubt it is an unenviable task which will be akin to turning round a very very long supertanker!
Stay well
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