The NHS (again)
Posted: August 18th, 2023, 10:48 am
Reading in the paper this morning of an 86 year old resident of the village of Braemar, about 60 miles or so west of Aberdeen in the foothills of the Cairngorms. She needed to get to hospital in Aberdeen and was told no ambulance would be available for about 6 hours, so a local councillor drove her to hospital in Aberdeen. Even then she had a two hour wait before being seen. As a result of this, a local business has offered to buy an ambulance to service the local community. The only local GP, who is to retire soon, currently runs his own out of hours surgery to save patients having to travel 40 miles to the nearest out of hours clinic. Presumably NHS 24 does not cover Braemar and/or it takes too long for them to get there.
That reminded me that in the days before the NHS, health care relied on philanthropy to a very large extent, not just for this sort of care, but for entire hospitals. In my nearest teaching hospital there is a whole wall dedicated to remembering those benefactors of old. I am sure that it helped bring communities together and also helped indicate that these resources have to be paid for one way or another. Health care is such a basic need that I cannot help feeling that this needs to be explored again, not necessarily for the provision of hospitals but certainly for peripheral services. Charities such as religious orders are very prominent in places like say Hong Kong and no doubt other places where there is no national health service and I am sure that many charities would be happy to provide say an ambulance and help with maintenance costs. The name of the donor could be displayed prominently on its side if the business or charity wanted it. But we seem so set on our 'wonderful' NHS that it would seem almost disloyal to encourage this sort of thing. I do not know if private health insurance premiums are tax deductible or not but I think they ought to be.
New thinking is so urgently required. We will not get it from Labour if they gain power so it is up to the current crop of politicians to get a grip on this.
Dod
That reminded me that in the days before the NHS, health care relied on philanthropy to a very large extent, not just for this sort of care, but for entire hospitals. In my nearest teaching hospital there is a whole wall dedicated to remembering those benefactors of old. I am sure that it helped bring communities together and also helped indicate that these resources have to be paid for one way or another. Health care is such a basic need that I cannot help feeling that this needs to be explored again, not necessarily for the provision of hospitals but certainly for peripheral services. Charities such as religious orders are very prominent in places like say Hong Kong and no doubt other places where there is no national health service and I am sure that many charities would be happy to provide say an ambulance and help with maintenance costs. The name of the donor could be displayed prominently on its side if the business or charity wanted it. But we seem so set on our 'wonderful' NHS that it would seem almost disloyal to encourage this sort of thing. I do not know if private health insurance premiums are tax deductible or not but I think they ought to be.
New thinking is so urgently required. We will not get it from Labour if they gain power so it is up to the current crop of politicians to get a grip on this.
Dod