HOSPITALS & HEALTHCARE FACILITIES
Yet, there is a dynamic to the latest spot in which the NHS finds itself, which appears materially different to anything in the past. Again, you need only scroll through some of the local press articles to discover that waits are longer, levels of basic care poorer and patient experiences grimmer than ever before.
Figures published by NHS Wales last week revealed more than 60,000 patients are waiting more than two years for treatment. Ian Hembrow, 53, from Maesteg, in Bridgend was told the waiting list for his urgent hip operation was four-and-a -half-years.
In Bonhill, West Dunbartonshire, 69-year-old grandmother Mary Travis has already lived in crippling pain for more than two years, waiting for a back operation to straighten her twisted spine. Earlier this month she was told that, despite being at the top of a waiting list, she could face a further, two-year wait.
The NHS has endured because there is an almost spiritual belief in its universality. People of all classes and backgrounds accept the same level of treatment as a right and consequence of being British.
Those principals have survived because NHS care, as well as being universal, was also universally excellent. That can no longer be said to be the case. The withholding of treatment for years is worse than receiving poor treatment and those who can afford to pay privately for a better service will inevitably opt to do so.
The most compelling argument against privatising the NHS has always been that the provision of healthcare should not be left to the vagaries of market forces. The irony of the current crisis is that those very market forces may now compel its demise.
No matter how strongly Britons support the NHS, few will be prepared to wait months or years to have an ingrowing toenail treated or a cyst removed if they can have it done privately the following week for a few hundred pounds.
And while we may be happy and willing to pay European levels of taxes in return for a European-style health service, we’re unlikely to do the same for a US-style system.
With the growing development of robotics and telemedicine, as well as an expansion of over-the-counter diagnostics, more people are now seeking remedies, for a greater range of treatments, from their local chemist or from a private therapist or practitioner.
By spending a small amount each month, they can have more- or-less unlimited telephone or video access to a private GP.
More is being done online than was the case a few years ago. Much of it remains minor, but the direction of travel is such that, before long, more serious illnesses will be diagnosed remotely and by high street providers.
If patients can be diagnosed with prostate or breast cancer sooner, and treated more effectively, then the way in which the health service is configured and funded will no longer be as important.
We may end up with something approaching the German health service model where a private service handles minor and routine complaints, while accidents and serious illnesses are treated by a publicly funded service, similar to the NHS, which is free at the point of delivery.
It’s unlikely the NHS will ever be wholly privatised, but we could see – slowly and over time – some of its more routine functions being taken over by private companies.
Even the most traditional religions are forced to adapt and evolve to remain relevant and the NHS is no different. How it responds to the current crisis will determine its role in treating the next generations of patients and whether they will hold it with the same reverence for another 70 years.
www.sneddencampbell.co.uk
42 | TOMORROW’S FM
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