The Question – Why love to hate our NHS?

Our NHS entered it seventh decade in 2017, its something we both love and hate, can find frustrating but praise when we get the care and support, we all need. The health service was created by Nye Bevan, no relation, based on one key principal which remains today, ‘Healthcare should be free to everyone regardless of ability to pay.’

In practice, that makes going to hospital or the doctors free at point of use as we pay for health care through tax. At the heart of the NHS is the people, many of us see doctors for health care and their job is to find and give us the best possible treatment.

But its not perfect, the NHS has in some ways become a huge success story and that has also created problems. The NHS have allowed people to live through fatal diseases and accidents when twenty years ago as well as decade by decade allowed us all to live longer.

Since the early days, the health service has been there to improve things for the least well off allowing us to all live longer and healthier. We see in the seven decades life expectancy for everyone rise by fifteen years between 1948 and 2018. This is because the key aim set out by Nye Bevan was that healthcare was free to all at point of use, regardless of the ability to pay.

The NHS has become one of the worlds largest tax payer healthcare systems, providing healthcare from birth to death. On the day it launched 94% of the population were enrolled and were entailed for free care. The aim was to allow the poorest to access healthcare without the fear of debt.

At the time the British Medical Association, the doctors’ union, was still threatening to boycott it until as late as February 1948. The aim was not to have private care involved in NHS Care, that hasn’t worked as to meet the growing demands the service has had to contract out to private companies.

The NHS has been at the front of medical advancement, developing new technology and treatments for all kinds of conditions as well as wiping out childhood diseases. In 1958, the first major vaccine programme saw the polio and diphtheria wiped out across the UK.

Soon after, medical dramas emerged based on the health system, Emergency Ward ten, then in 1986 Casualty the worlds longest running medical drama then sister show Holby City.

The NHS was and continues to be pioneering, that innovation remains at the heart of the NHS, the first living donor transplants were tried on a pair of twins, the contraceptive pill became widely available, a milestone in fertility and women’s rights.

This all helped to build a system which is today, to care for everyone and improve quality of life. My own experience as a patient has been largely OK, but I have experienced frustration when trying to access the treatment needed.

Our NHS is there from the day we born to the day we die. Its there not to judge when we make mistakes, there to repair us, fix us when we have problems. Treating us with kindness in our darkest hour, its often the lowest paid staff like nurses and junior doctors who work the hardest and with the best possible care.

It has led to a reduction in deaths from heart disease, stroke and eradicating Tuberculosis. But as we live longer, we still face challenges with Cancer deaths and dementia which have risen, partly because we are living longer.

The way we are treated and diagnosed has changed radically, from the introductions of X-rays in the 1950’s CT and MRI scans in 1970 and 1980. These allow doctors to see the soft tissues and better diagnose what the medical issues / conditions were, thus leading to better care.

The NHS has become that strange aunt or uncle, we love them but can find them annoying. The NHS will always be there in an hour of need, but it’s our responsibility not to abuse it.

Recent reforms however pose questions, the private sector is increasingly playing a greater role in the primary care service. This is things like physio, OT, SALT and other community services. I am not a person who wants a health system where we need to pay for treatment as we need it.

The great thing about the NHS, is that we pay in when we start earning and those who can’t afford to pay don’t, but the key thing is that no British citizen is denied free care when they need it. But the biggest issue is caused when people don’t look after themselves.

Binge drinking, obesity, avoidable illnesses all create extra pressure on an already pressurised system. The other big issue is partly due to the NHS itself, as we get older our health need increase and the reason, we are living longer is the fact we get free health care and the irradiation of diseases.

For me personally I don’t think I would be as fit and healthy without the hard work put in from the NHS, they gave me the physio, OT and extra care I needed to give me the best possible start in life. I know how hard these people work, I’m a son of a ward sister who has worked hard for thirty years to get where she is.

Most doctors and nurses want to care, rather than be involved in budgets, targets and the business side. Though I accept we need some targets to measure performance, however these I believe meeting targets should not be put above the patient care.

Reform is needed and I want just not a National Health Service, but a National Health and Care Service. While NHS budgets have been ‘protected’ by the coalition and then the conservative government has also cut social care budgets by around 10% according to fullfact.org.

This has inadvertently increased pressure on the NHS, the issue is simple there is not enough discharges because of the number of people who need community/social care has risen. Community/social care has seen a reduction in budgets leading to closure of beds and services in the community.

The NHS is entering its ‘old age’, it needs more money and not to be treated as a single service I would bring social care into the health service. This I believe will relieve some pressure on people being stuck in hospital and allow more elective work to be done thus avoiding problems later on.

The NHS should be something we should all be proud of, its not perfect and there are faults with some parts of it. But, the thing we must be proud off is that despite seven decades in of a changing world, that free healthcare remains one of our greatest achievements and assets as a country.

“Lets be proud of our National Health Service”