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| The NHS is nearly dead! |
For years the British National Health Service (NHS) has been touted as the best public healthcare organisation in the world. IT IS NOT, nor has it been so for decades. It is no longer able to fulfil its intended responsibilities (set out in post-war years) and is no longer fit for purpose. Whether by intent, ignorance, inefficiency, political meddling, poor financial and resource planning, waste and loss of control over critical supporting components, including loss of doctors to other countries; it is no longer fit for purpose and public confidence is at is lowest level, with over 7.5 million diagnosed treatment requirements listed that remain outstanding, with some lists over a year long. It is currently so dysfunctional that even overseas news report it and millions of pounds are "lost" from the NHS as they insidiously outsource problems of their own creation, thereby accelerating the breakdown (break-up?) of the NHS, which will lead to a two-tier system of patient care: For those able to shop-around within the offered services and those that are not. Duplicity is also prevalent in the overseers of the NHS.
We, the people, have allowed numerous governments to stealthily wind back the spirit of the NHS and its peripheral infrastructures for decades now. It is our fault that the NHS is fucked, because we allow fuckwit politicians and "apparatchiks" to do as they desire under cover of "our" ignorance, indifference or apathy; that is not to say medical professionals within the NHS are blameless, for they have kept their timid heads down for years with few publicised whistle-blowers, perhaps because their money would keep coming anyway, or because an acknowledged and growing "toxic and bullying" culture intimidates them, as parts are rotting from the inside, whilst the care quality commission has been reviewed as not fit for purpose. To paraphrase a comment by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, "too many (in the NHS) have become very comfy in the tepid bath of managed decline". Ouch!
The NHS no-longer delivers a service. It delivers a fractured and failing amalgamation of ever loosely bonded "facilities" designed to take the heat/demand out of core NHS services, either now or in the future; "drop-in centres" exemplify this in that you drop in, they look at you without actual treatment, and refer you back into a service no-longer working as it should.
Everyone paying tax in the UK is statutorily contributing to the largest single employer in Europe and they are getting bugger-all back in many areas of the NHS once deemed important: free prescriptions - gone, free dentistry and eyecare - gone, the availability of many local and social caring systems - gone, effective GP services - gone. (GP now stands for generally poor as "super practices" are being formed throughout the land.) Everything we should value has been costed and wherever possible outsourced, in order to gain "efficiencies" and cost savings that have not made the NHS "better". Money that is being spent seems to be going on new estate, cutting edge medicines that benefit few, and all manner of frippery that doesn't really cure anyone; here I am thinking of the following: help with being fat (eat less), smoking (just get on and die), drug addiction by self abuse (ditto), chronic self-harming (ditto), childlessness (adopt and thereby save a poor soul) and lastly, though most noticeably the erection of new "estate".
It seems to me that there are now too many risk-averse, secretive, hostile administrators; too many non-medical centric people beavering away in ways that no-longer directly facilitate the treatment of patients, but sometimes actually undermine their care. Senior administrators do not exhibit interest in patients anymore; they talk money, risk, excuse, expediency, secrets and unpublished intent, often over-riding concerned parties and whistle blowers. My personal interaction with the NHS, by being in hospital a few times, suggests that staff on the ground floor of the patient interface are dedicated, effective and friendly, yet a bit fearful for their future. They know things are bad
NHS whistle-blowers are not often heard of in the press, but in the case of killer nurse Lucy Letby it was seen how they are often ignored by "those above", who deny problems and refuse to act.
LUCY LETBY - though not really within the context of this article was a nurse who was convicted of killing many children in her charge and her post sentencing review revealed examples of corporate denial and obfuscation, symptomatic of the NHS now? Hospital bosses said they were mislead and yet her hospital administrators ignored complaints about her (for fear of bad publicity) and children died during their procrastination; though some are still unsure about her conviction and others thinking she killed more, though some think less. What is obvious is how opaque the upper working of the NHS is.
Getting back to the NHS, I observed some people getting the briefest of interactions with staff and subsequently discovered they were "bed-hoggers" - people fit enough to leave hospital but not "allowed" to do so because of social care commitments not being fulfilled by other parts of the NHS, or indeed by familial responsibilities/expectations. Bed-hoggers cost the NHS millions and are acknowledged by government to be one reason beds are in shortened supply, putting fresh patients at risk by blocking their free flow through the NHS. If places can be found almost immediately for illegal immigrants, then maybe bed-blockers could be catered for as quickly? The Government are considering state financed care home beds again, (Taking back a role outsourced by councils in the 90's to "save money").
Here is a classic case of "bed hogging" caused because by the supposedly integrated social services failing. The hospital has fixed this patients medical problem and their job is done, but social services are happy to renege on their paid responsibilities. (Though I do wonder if parents or family are dragging their feet).
ENOUGH!
Finally, if don't like your NHS job then leave or move on, as your wages are fair and for some very good indeed, so stop disrupting or "robbing" from this already ailing service.
