Anger management

This phrase is often used, but l can say with total confidence that Anger Management is back due to public demand By Maarten Hoffmann

DISCLAIMER: All views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this publication

THE UNPALATABLE TRUTH

Our much revered National Health Service is in crisis; a crisis from which it is unlikely to ever fully recover. Once envied across the world, the NHS was born on July 5th 1948, thanks to Aneurin Bevan’s bold and pioneering plan to make healthcare no longer exclusive to those who could afford to pay, but to make it accessible to all – and that has been achieved brilliantly ever since.

But that was a long time ago and to expect those same worthy sentiments to be maintained in 2023 is a little like King Canute’s attempts to hold back the tide.

For 2022/23, the budget for the NHS is £180.2 billion - that is 40% of all government spending across all departments, rising to 44% by 2025. Yet the service is viewed as grossly underfunded. We have reports of A&E waiting times of 22 hours, over 500 people per day dying due to lack of rapid treatment, heart attack patients lying where they fell for up to 14 hours, a child gravely ill with scarlet fever waited for 22 hours to be seen in Oxford, 95% of all hospital beds are full, healthcare workers are on strike for more pay and leaving the service in their droves, and on and on.

The NHS pensions bill is £140 billion and the government is currently in a pay fight with the workers while there are 7.21 million people on the waiting list for operations. Although we all feel that nurses should certainly be paid more, every 1% pay increase costs the NHS £900 million. They are asking for 9% which would cost £8.2 billion per year.

The unpalatable truth is the NHS is no longer fit for purpose and a new model has to be found. We never want to get into the USA situation where everything is charged, and millions are too poor to go to the doctor, and those that do can end up with bills for hundreds of thousands of dollars that can take a lifetime to pay off.

There is not a politician alive today in the UK with the courage to say this as the NHS is considered ‘untouchable’ and is a career killer – but this cannot go on and reform must be enacted fast.

Free healthcare at the point of need should be protected for those on low incomes but why is someone earning £200,000 entitled to free healthcare? Surely the answer is to make the NHS means tested?

I know few people like means testing but equally, few people like to wait 22 hours for treatment or 3-4 years for

an operation. The system is broken and the fix is not more money; it is efficiency, less waste and fewer patients.

If anyone earning over £150,000 had to have mandatory private health cover, this would remove approx. 1.3 million people from the NHS. Then vastly increase the number of companies that offer health care within the employment package, with legislation and tax incentives if necessary. This could take another 15 million people off the list (family members included).

In one fell swoop we have removed around 16 million people from the NHS AND pumped huge sums into the private health system, which currently employs fewer than 56,000 staff across the entire country, as only 13% of Brits have private healthcare.

In addition, long-term sickness amongst employees might reduce with rapid care, shorter waiting times and less stressed nurses and doctors who might actually start enjoying their careers. Currently, there are 2.51million workers off on long-term sickness, costing the economy billions each year.

Then open up immigration to the world’s health professionals and attract them to help build a truly 21st century health service.

We love the NHS. We love those dedicated doctors and nurses who care for us, and we love being one of the few countries in the world with a ‘free at the point of need’ health service. But could it be that no other country can make the numbers work? We are no longer an empire, we are a tiny island in a large world and cannot, sadly, afford this wonderful luxury any longer.

❛❛ The unpalatable truth is the NHS is no longer fit for purpose and a new model has to be found ❜❜