What Next for the NHS? A Blog
The object of this blog is to open discussion on the future of the NHS, taking into account the seismic changes in the UK since its foundation in 1948. Please feel free to leave considered comments that will help the discussion. This blog is non-partisan, but I may throw some large rocks in from time to time, to see where the ripples go…
This first post just sets the scene, with a couple of questions to start things off. Its direction will be driven partly by the response it receives. My book ‘Nurse! A Life in One Day’ portrays a light-hearted but realistic view of life in the NHS firing line. and this blog is intended to follow up some of the issues evident between the music and the giggles.
One of the fundamental tenets of the NHS is that it is free at the point of delivery. However, we all pay for it through taxation, so how should the NHS develop to make it sustainable? Is it destined to be a political football for ever, or is there a better way? And what is to become of social care?
Here are a few bits and pieces to start:
UK Population 1948: 50 million, 2024: 69 million
UK Life Expectancy 1948: 66 (men) 77 (women), 2024: 79 (men) 82.6 (women)
Infant mortality 1948: 34 per 1000 live births, 2024: 3.25 per 1000 live births
Health innovations since 1948: vaccinations, organ transplants, joint replacements, IVF, major changes in imaging and screening for a wide range of conditions, adevances in treatment of disease (especially cancer), gene, DNA and stem cell research and therapies, robotic surgery and much, much more.
Would you be prepared to pay, say 1p in the pound more in income tax (raising about £7.5 million by 2-27)? Could the NHS be reconfigured to provide excellence in public health and acute services, with other areas sinanced by a contribution scheme with salary deductions similar to current pension contributions? Or should the sacred cow be slaughtered, and charges made at the point of delivery?
Over to you, and let’s see where it goes.
Link: https://www.england.nhs.uk