How to Save the NHS

This is what came through my letter box. “No cuts, no closures, no privatisation.” What are these ninnies on about?

There are no cuts, that’s what NHS surgeons do. The NHS gets more funding every year, whatever party is in power. There are closures. The days of having a Cottage Hospital with good nursing care but bugger-all else are over. Modern medical equipment is expensive and needs to be used round the clock to get value from it. I had my scan at 11.30 on a Friday night. It is sensible to put this kit in specialised units. My local, Charing Cross, retains its A&E but some specialised departments have been centralised in other hospitals in the area.

No privatisation? Why ever not? My dentist used to be on the NHS but for a while has been private. (I noticed the change when there was an aquarium and Tatler in the waiting room and my surmise was confirmed on the way out when I paid the bill.) A lot of people would willingly pay for an appointment with a GP, prescriptions and more. As, we hope, the standard of living across the board rises these sort of charges need to be introduced. Nobody disputes that there is an imbalance between the rising demands made on the NHS and the resources allocated by the government (I mean the tax payer). There are two ways of, to some extent, resolving this: raising taxes and partial privatisation. The latter appeals to me.

So what solution does my leftie pamphleteer suggest?

He (I sort of imagine him as a man with a messy beard) asks for more funding and no privatisation. This is a political debate. He should gain support from a political party and let the electorate decide. It seems to me the reality is that health care right now is being rationed. If there is an effective treatment but it is too expensive, it is denied to users of the NHS by the inappropriately named NICE. If the number of people using the NHS could be reduced by some services being privatised then, maybe, some of these expensive treatments could be given to claimants genuinely in need.

What is for sure is that successive governments cannot go on pretending that the 1948 Aneurin Bevan model is running smoothly. Well it is; as smoothly as a Model T Ford. For sure I have had excellent care under the NHS but I know that in other parts of the country there are problems. Those problems are only going to get worse unless those that can afford to pay do so. It’s crazy that my employers paid huge premiums for my private health insurance; I barely used it. Now that I’ve retired I use the NHS and don’t pay a dime but I could and I should.

I am getting this off my chest because I was so irritated by the week-long NHS bashing by the BBC recently. It was 100% negative and certainly didn’t countenance anyone else except the taxpayer funding the service.

Now here’s a Billy Joel song with some clever rhymes.