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| The celebration of the NHS at the Olympics opening ceremony |
I personally would argue that the NHS is at its best in treating emergencies and accidents. If you chop your arm off, you will be rushed to hospital, treated, and your life will be saved. I would argue that it is the GP side of healthcare which causes the NHS frustration - and often not at the fault of the GPs. The GP is the port of call to assess your health and if necessary refer you on to the right people for the right treatment - e.g. specialist assessments, MRI scans and so on. These referrals can take many weeks, and if you have a health grumble, this is time that you are not at your best and this can be an agonizing wait for many.
Then again, how can we slate a free system that will save our life in an emergency with efficiency and offer us the services and skills of hard working, frankly, amazing people... because we have to wait 6 weeks for a referral? I think this may also be down to perspective - if you expect the NHS to deliver a guaranteed solution to your health problem in a short time, you will be let down. Do we just have unrealistic expectations of the NHS?
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| The celebration of the NHS at the Olympics opening ceremony |
Then
there is the private sector - having experience working in this area myself, I
feel there is a strong vibe that those in a position of wealth who are able to
afford private services are increasingly taking it up, often due to frustration
with the NHS. People in the middle earnings who would perhaps before have used
the NHS are sacrificing a larger proportion of their income than before for
their health. And the thing is, I cannot fault private clinics - they eliminate
a proportion of the population from using the NHS, which in turn saves the NHS
time and resources leaving more for the majority of us who would not afford
private healthcare.
Plus,
the private sector is undoubtedly more efficient - I would personally advise
people to save some money away in case a time arises when you need a treatment
or referral done quickly and efficiently as the private sector is much faster
than the NHS and if I were to ever need masses of medical treatment I know I
would prefer to go private - who wouldn’t? But the private sector is just that
- private. It is no different from HSBC or Tesco in terms of business. Private
clinics generally offer health assessments - no symptoms needed, but a full
health check for a large sum of money. Now, in some cases, things are picked up
and lives potentially saved - but for others, hypochondrias causes people to
spend their hard earned money on such assessments to be told they are
completely fine, which again although reassures, may not be the best way to
spend your dosh.
The
media are a huge culprit in our lack of faith in the NHS. I know I am like a
broken record with my general dislike for the media but the papers never report
on 'middle aged man had a heart attack, he was efficiently taken to hospital,
taken straight to theatre, had an operation which saved his life, in recovery
where he is being attended to by friendly and helpful staff' No. All we see is
- 'The GP missed it even though I told them it was cancer' 'Old woman had to
wait 10 weeks for a referral' 'GP thought meningitis was the flu'. I think even
the most efficient systems have incompetency’s from time to time, so looking at
the NHS which is on such a large scale there will be such inefficiencies. And by
reporting the worst cases to the world and victimizing doctors and healthcare
professionals who make a slip up, the media does not only shake our faith in
the NHS, but also encourages the idea that people are wronged by bad service
and have the right to sue doctors. This in turn causes doctors to treat people
with one eye over their shoulder - extra precautions are taken which can save
lives, but can also waste NHS time and money.
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| Are the government the problem, not the NHS? |
A further point is the government - the picture to the right here shows the governments actions have the potential to 'destroy' the NHS - so perhaps it is the government who we should blame, not the NHS. Is it the people working in the NHS who are responsible for the flaws, faults and inefficiencies, or is it the few at the top of the pyramid who oversee things on a larger scale, and set often unrealistic and detrimental targets? GPs, for example, have targets for the amount of referrals they make - and if they keep their referral numbers below this target they receive a financial bonus - so the government tries to discourage GPs referring with cash incentives? Therefore people with borderline problems may not be referred, indirectly due to the government not only rewarding targets, but by putting immense pressure on surgeries and hospitals to meet them.
For
all the moaning about the NHS, I would say this is not constructive. The NHS
will never meet our expectations - with the whole population to please this
simply will never happen. We will look to neighbor countries and say why we
aren’t like that, like the jealous child wanting better than what they have. I am by no means staying the NHS is perfect,
believe me I’m not, the media may twist things but they do not fabricate
stories from nowhere - people are dying while they wait on a list, and others
are treated terribly. And I do understand the personal frustration if one has a
medical problem and feels they have not been treated as they should. But what I
am saying is that so many lives are saved by so many people who go into work
day in and day out and really make a difference to the people they help. The
NHS isn’t perfect, but it’s the system we have. We should celebrate the
success, not dwell on the flaws.
But what do you think? Tweet me @Human_Interests or visit
facebook.com/humaninterests.
Interesting reads
http://nhslocal.nhs.uk/blogs/jessica-arrowsmith/2011/03/why-nhs-one-best-healthcare-systems-world
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