Improve The NHS And Scrap The Two-Tier Health System?
Is It Worth It? How many people actually know the National Health Service is as bad as it is? It is often not until a person falls ill that they find out how long they may have to wait to get an appointment. Waiting times for appointments on the NHS, even with serious conditions, can often be between four and six months (I was told five to six months to see a Cardiologist), whereas privately, you can get an appointment within a few days. It makes you wonder why there is such a big discrepancy and if it is actually worth having a national health service when the service is so bad.
False Sense Of Security: Having an NHS actually lulls people into a false sense of security allowing them to believe that if they fall ill there is no problem because the health service will take care of them. Sure, if you've got the time. However, if you took your car into the garage to be repaired and they told you you would have to wait five to six months before anyone could even look at it, you would think they were having a laugh. And yet, you can manage without a car if you really have to, or even buy another one, whereas you can hardly manage without your health and you certainly can't buy another body. Not yet anyway!
So Much Better! Perhaps instead of having a rather bad NHS, the Government should provide everybody with a free mandatory health insurance policy, so that everybody can go private. Private health care is so much better than the NHS, but how many people actually realise this until it is too late. In actual fact, the fact that we have a national health service prevents people from taking out private insurance because they think they do
not need it. If we didn't have an NHS, people would have to take out private insurance, but rather than this, and rather than leave anything to chance, it would be far better for the Government to provide a free life long policy for each individual automatically at birth. Of course, this may expose the fact that we don't perhaps have enough doctors and nurses - well that's another story! However, this simple move would even everything up and make things a lot fairer for people, meaning that everybody is subject to the same conditions, and can get prompt health treatment when they need it, regardless of their social position. Which, forgive me, but wasn't that the original idea behind the National Health Service?
Casualties Not An Emergency: A young lad has to wait five hours in casualty before he can have his badly cut hand stitched up. His younger brother is waiting also with their dad. His dad has the unenviable task of trying to comfort the injured son whilst trying at the same time to pacify and occupy the younger brother, who is, understandably, suitably bored. They are all hungry and after the trauma of the day just want to get sorted and get home. Five hours later they are still waiting and in the end settle for some attention from a nurse who does the best she can to clean up the wound and apply stitches. There is still no sign of the doctor. This story repeats itself time and time and time again and, I'm sure, many of us have been there and would agree that all too often casualty waiting times are far too long.
What Causes A Backlog? Whether it's in the casualty department, the outpatients, or the G.P.'s surgery, it is the same old story. Not enough people to address the problems as they occur. If waiting times are ever to be reduced we have to do two things. Provide enough staff to cope with every situation as it occurs plus a few extra to work off the backlog. Also, we should be looking to help alleviate unnecessary additional strain on the health system by addressing some of the many problem areas in our society that add to instances of ill health in the first place, such as the rising levels of obesity and diabetes. However, look how long it took just to ban smoking in public places! Quick and on the ball we are not!
Why Have We Got A Two-Tier Health Service? This situation has been allowed to persist simply because those that run the system and pay themselves nice fat salaries can all afford to go for private health treatment, so they're alright. Unfortunately, they appear then not too worried that the bulk of the nation's two-tier health system is in an appalling state because they're all on the top tier. It is time to even things up a bit! Some people in society always think they can use their wealth to push in and jump the queue, and of course, at the moment they can!
Heal The NHS: Of course we don't actually want to see the end of our beloved and long-established NHS and we don't want to see it suffering. So that being the case, things need to be done to make it better. It needs to be more efficient and it must have the resources it needs to cope with the demand, because at the moment, it's a bit unfair on staff and public alike that patients have to be asked to wait so long for attention and treatment and that staff are so put upon. When staff are suffering shortages and under pressure, things get overlooked, patients are left waiting and morale becomes low.
Another Way! There is of course one other way that would work, and that is to make private health care illegal. This would mean that everybody would have to rely on the NHS, nobody would be able to jump the queue and everybody would be subject fairly to the same conditions. Of course the powers-that-be would soon get their act together then wouldn't they! Just as if their lives depended upon it!