I have made it very apparent that i am a political person. i cannot 'divorce' myself from the external world of what is happening to the many individuals, families and friends who are sick, chronically ill, disabled and very vulnerable. I have had personal experience of the NHS, the hospitals, experts and equipment, as a crohns sufferer from the age of 14 . I have witnessed the 'abuse' and political ideological tussles of governments of all persuasions, when it comes to the experiences, values and results of the great institution the UK has known as The National Health Service.
I am confident that without the qualities and skills of so many medical heroes over my 36 years with crohns, I would not be around to have the ability to write this today. It is by no means perfect, it is impossible to attain perfection, we have human beings in a pressure scenario. Nevertheless, the vision of the NHS as one which is available to all from cradle to grave, via state national insurance and taxation, with the sheer will of the government for it to be a thriving evolving but invaluable life-source, remains to this day as relevant as those early days in 1948 when it was born in an age of post-war austerity.
I recall the creeping expansion of private out-sourcing of cleaning services, then additional services being tendered for contract, often to the lowest bidders, not always the bids which saw the greatest reward to patient. I have also witnessed a failure of government to promote and invest in the training of nursing staff, which has often left a dependence on overseas expertise and care. Even more outrageously,i have seen how the use of agency staff to allow wards to thrive and care for the suffering and vulnerable patients, suck vital resources from the health service, with agency staff warranting ridiculous levels of financial recompense.
Even more disgustingly, the managers, with direct authority from political masters, have been encouraged and allowed to close kitchens , make cooks and kitchen staff redundant. This, simultaneous with the use of ready meal transportation of meals, often barely edible, not designed specifically for the nutritional requirements for patients with special requirements. IBD patients have often experienced the inadequate provision of poor quality, weak nutritional meals. This, in my view, a 'criminal' ideology, leaving patients undernourished or even malnourished, at times when they need major dietary expertise and quality.
Why have these many things been undertaken? With the needs of the patients, staff and hospitals as paramount? No way, sadly the decisions have on many occasions been taken from short-sighted, financial and politically motivated objectives.
We have seen this situation become increasingly critical, hospitals being 'used' by government to sink or swim. Sadly, in my view, i feel that at this current time, NHS hospitals are being deliberately left to struggle, squeezed by their political visitors. The political visitors, who visit wards to emphasise how they 'love' the NHS, care so profoundly for its future, whilst actually undermining the entire foundation on which we all depend. A foundation showing increasing weakness and vulnerability as they are being drained of resources and prepared to be sold off to private groups, many of which have no expertise in the field of healthcare. Hedge-funds, building companies, entrepreneurs with interests in anything and everything and expertise in little!
We in the UK as IBD patients are dependent on the NHS for our lives, yes our lives. We know it suffers failings and managerial weaknesses. We know it occasionally fails people and the vulnerable suffer.
Irrespective of this, the knowledge that we have access to consultants, nurses and support, as a fundamental icon of our society, is something we can cherish and help secure and thrive as this century progresses.
The Prime Minister told us prior to the election is priority was N-H-S , well sorry Mr Cameron, but you misled us all. You continue to, the NHS is at its most vulnerable weakest point it has been at since its formation. This coalition government, with no mandate, are leading and facilitating the provision of NHS healthcare, into the arms of a private medical system. a system like all private companies which will have its shareholders central to its decsion making. Its aims will be for profits, either through such radical reductions in staff and treatments, the selection of 'sexy' more favourably positioned conditions to secure financial rewards, or the introduction of charging for nominal treatments intially, then extending to more complex and extended care and treatments.
Companies like UNUM, an American private medicare company is one of those hovering waiting for the day when they can move into a market to sell private health insurance to patients,with the silent, but obvious approval of this government.
Yes, we know how it feels to be vulnerable, sick, at our lowest point and staring into a spell of weakness, pain and suffering. This is how the NHS is at this precise time, it is being left hung out to fail in order that individuals and companies, with no concern for you or me, more interest in profit and loss and quarterly results, can be presented to the people as the saviours of a 'failed system', the NHS.
We of all people know the value of so many who have cared for us and treated us when we have been at our weakest state. We should know that the NHS is being underfunded, squeezed and exploited for political and financial gain. We will be among the first to experience the effects, but it is our children who will be the long term victims of this dishonest 'robbery'.
I apologise that this blog is so political, but as a chronic sufferer of IBD and other secondary conditions, i believe i have a duty not to ignore and delude myself that nothing is really happening. I have a responsibility to the nurses and doctors who have helped get me through so much, and continue to do so, to stand up for what is right and just. That is to stop the drip , drip drip, discrediting and undermining of the NHS, deliberately, and the desire to allow hospitals to fail and be stolen by private business.
This may sound like scaremongering and politically one-sided. Well, i admit my politics are socialist, i see the value of working and running an economy for the good of society and its people. The essence of the NHS is the accessibility of it to all in their moment of need and vulnerability. It is and had always been funded by the population paying contributions, which will mean they, their families and loved ones, can be treated with care and expertise. The benefit for all, a social service, yes, service, a phrase that is becoming increasingly undermined by political ideology at this time.
If you think my characterization of a creeping 'handing over' of NHS hospitals to private business is extreme and will not really happen, i have news for you, it is already happening. It will become increasingly prevalent if we don't object and oppose the 'theft' of our NHS.
The sad fact is the government has no authority to do anything as radical as this, in fact its mandate should be so weak and diluted by the effect of a coalition. It is a pity that the Liberal democrats have the chance to prevent this and the many attacks on the the state provision of services and welfare to the sick, unemployed and disabled. It does appear their role is to occupy the positions in government, enjoy the luxury and feeling of power, but fail to do little to restrict the extreme changes in the services and elements that have helped this country offer a secure welfare state for its people!
You may use the words 'deficit' and 'austerity' , i will respond with tax loopholes, tax havens, complex tax evasion 'won' by well paid accountants , under the current legal HMRC rules. Add to this, a reduction in the numbers of staff who work in HMRC, which makes the task of recovering 'lost' tax located in complex accounts or havens by 'cheating' individuals and companies, increasingly hard to fulfil and achieve!
John Ingamells
01/11/12
