life support for the nhs
When asked recently if I were against the proposed tory changes to the NHS, I responded with an angry and indignant, ‘yes, of course, and so should every thinking man who holds the NHS dear’. And so they should. Or should they? Or which bits exactly and why should they?
I guess I’m not too dissimilar to most of you out there in that I’m guilty of trivialising many topics, boiling them down to easily understood bite-site morsels and wrapping them up in my preferred dogma and ideology. And so I have with the proposed changes but on further reflection I have to say what’s all the fuss about? Having spent pretty much the last year experiencing what the NHS has to offer in an emergency situation I have to say that on the whole it’s top-notch…but not without its failings.
In the campaign to resist the bill, it is apparently vitally important to subscribe to the sentimental, and wholly inaccurate, pretence that the NHS is perfect and could not in any way be improved upon. And only the criminally insane or potential profiteers could have any desire to do so. The tory line is that decentralisation and the subsequent ordering & control of services by your local council of GPs with create a more pragmatic, flexible and relevant medical service. It may well do, but in reality, that’s pretty much exactly what we already have! Furthermore, who’s to say that doctors have more sympathy or empathy with their ‘customers’ than politicians? My own first hand experience of late is that surgeons think firstly of their pocket, secondly of their time and thirdly of the patient. Sadly, I kid you not.
The issue I have with the proposed bill is that it seeks to absolve Westminster from the hard, uncomfortable and unpopular decisions that will ultimately have to be made in the future. They seek to create conditions where these decisions will be made without political accountability. ‘Not my job, G’vnor!’ and ‘Don’t blame me it’s the doctors that done it.’ This is wrong on all levels. Of course Governments change but is it wrong to think that all colour and persuasion should have the health and long-term well being of its population at its heart?
Tories want the bill to proceed as it is part of their shrink-the-state-small-govt-is-best-at-all-costs credo. Lib Dems want it as they too, secretly like the thought of decentralisation. Both parties are taking dangerous first steps with our precious but imperfect institution and they need to be wary of what they wish for.
