For readers outside of the UK, this refers to the UK's National Health Service, or, NHS for short. Over recent times it's become more clear of how services are being carried out over-budget, but with nobody able to identify exactly where the money is being wasted.
It could simply be a case, as is in my personal opinion, that the NHS is being cash starved, so eventually it will be "saved" when it is sold onto private firms, to carry on delivering a service.
It's a very sad thing at the moment, how the NHS is being seen. Only 2 weeks ago I was in a hospital with a relative, and able to see myself the dedication that the staff have. We were at the Aintree hospital, Aka, Fazakerly hospital. We arrived at about 3 ish if I remember correctly, and from the moment we were in the hospital, not one member of staff could have been more polite, nor done enough for us. It was actually a massive thing for me to see, because it made me, as an outsider of the NHS, want to fight to keep the NHS alive, and of course, get it's staff better treatment (IE, better pay and better working conditions). Everybody from the woman who came round with free food and drink, to the Dr's, who's bleepers kept going off telling them of major trauma cases coming into the hospital, made all people feel that the patients health was number one, at all times.
Don't get me wrong, there's a few thing's Id change, like a patient wouldn't be moved wards past say, 9pm, or something like that, because being woken up in the middle of the night and either moved or discharged from the hospital, is not a good thing, that said, I'm sure those rules are not created by the doctors and nurses who have to carry out the work.
The question of this blog post is, can the NHS be saved, or is it too late?
Firstly, we need to identify where the money is going.
Granted, there's been (in my opinion) some VERY foolish spending on the part of the NHS. For example, I don't think breast enhancements should have ever been available, for anybody. I do believe that the way the management has been set up within the NHS has been wrong in the past, and in some area's, still is, and as we all know, managers in the NHS do not come cheap! Yet there's been reports of some workers in the NHS having 3 managers at the same time.... well WTF? Who decided that any role, would require 3 managers, at any time?
There's MANY rumours going around about where the money is being wasted, but if you speak to any employee of the NHS, either past or present, they will all have their own view, and the reason's are vast, but do seem to make sense... but all have one thing in common... Their idea's, if spoken about, fall onto deaf ears, somewhere along the line. THIS is where the money is being wasted. Look, the NHS has some of the most talented dr's and nurses in the world and they really could change the NHS for the better.... if only somebody was listening to them. Don't get me wrong, many are signed up to union's, but they only seem to deal with the pay, work environment and a little about the future, but even their suggestions are falling on deaf ears.
Secondly, we need to look at the NHS budgets themselves. As we know, over recent years, the UK has seen ALOT of new people coming into the country, and of course over time, these people are going to require health care, be it a simple check-up at the Dr's, or a full on session at A&E because of an emergency, so, have the budgets been increased in order to deal with this new demand? By how much have they been increased or decreased?
Finally, I will say, the NHS DOES have a future, but it needs people's idea's to be listened to and a governing body that will act upon idea's and not just push them to one side. It needs support.
So my message on all of this is, if you see any NHS petition's, look into it and sign it, we need more people to begin screaming to save the NHS. We have a wonderful thing, lets not let it go to waste here.
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