The NHS is in doldrums for over a decade, the demand is higher than the NHS can cope with. It has been a shining example to the rest of the world for providing universal health care to the people of the UK. Now it is going downhill.
The NHS was born on 5 July, 1948. When health secretary Aneurin Bevan launched the NHS at Park Hospital in Manchester (today known as Trafford General Hospital), it is the climax of a hugely ambitious plan to bring good healthcare to all. For the first time, hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists were brought together under one umbrella organisation to provide services that are free for all at the point of delivery.
The central principles were clear: the health service will be available to all and financed entirely from taxation, which means that people pay into it according to their means. The NHS set out the guiding principles of the NHS and your rights as an NHS patient which included: Working together for patients; Respect and dignity; Commitment to quality of care; Compassion; Improving lives and Everyone counts.
The current crisis in the NHS shows none of these commitments are being met in full:
n The standard ambulance response times of 95% has not been met since May 2015
n There is shortage of doctors, consultants, nurses and support staff.
n Increase in bureaucracy and mangers.
n Outdated procurement practices and compliance.
n Less efficiency
n Fraud and waste.
The Five Year Forward View forecast that the NHS would have a £30bn gap in funding by 2020/21 if current demand trends continued, the NHS received flat real terms funding and no further efficiencies were delivered. This equates to NHS funding growing from £101.0bn in 2015/16 to £119.6bn in 2020/21. While this implies a short fall of £22 billion by 2020/21. Yet we are spending less percentage of our GDP compared to France, Germany, Sweden and Italy. Why is that so?
One can see a big hole on the funding side. The Government cannot close its eyes to this huge deficit. People are prepared to pay extra taxes ring-fenced for the NHS, so that they can get a better and efficient service. Immediate action is required by all concerned, be they the ministers, MPs, councilors and community leaders, otherwise the NHS will be privatised through the backdoor very soon.
Baldev Sharma
Harrow
