Apologies it has been a while since my last post, much has been going coming that ARCP make-it-or-break-it time!
So the Conservative party has won and it seems the forever spiraling slaughter of the NHS shall continue under government's fingers. Since the disengagement of the prior PCT's to what is now basically consumed as regional money boxes gatekeepered by GPs, it encourages the "postcode lottery." It encourages services to be available or not available depending on your local population.
Added to that is the constant NHS-bashing in the media. The media are heavily to blame for shooting the morale among staff. Doctors, Nurses, Porters, Maintenance staff etc - all working hard and put in the extra effort to make things better for the greater population. However, when staff are being nationally shamed in the media for, what is often their fallibility, then it portrays to the public that the NHS is a untrustworthy organisatino and medical professionals should always be questioned upon their clinical judgement. It's like taking your car in for MOT and not trusting the mechanics advice. I'll let you ponder over that analogy.
It's heartbreaking when I overhear relatives moaning about how their GP is awful or "the specialist was useless and wasn't listening to me." Sure, there are occasional not-so-nice doctors but overall, the NHS provides a service that no other nation can - free at the point of care.
When the NHS was set up in 1948, the general public respected it as a privilege to be able to see a doctor for their illness. My semi-retired GP colleagues tell me, if they made home visits, they were treated like a Priest - the utmost respect with open discussion. Nowadays the government and the public are treating the NHS as a right. The NHS is there to look after every aspect of your health. If you are having respiratory problems because your home has damp proofing issues, yet you can't afford a builder to repair it, then your GP must get involved to sort out our your home to make your chest better - Wrong!
What I'm trying to highlight is that the NHS is being abused by everyone. The demand on it's service far exceeds it's capacity to provide. It will collapse. Privatisation will eat away like a cancer. The NHS is ill, it is suffering, and the next decade will see it become further frail. I look forward to the next healthcare reform bill. Not.
