But hey, it’s National
Where did NHS go wrong? An analysis by mummylonglegs:
Let’s look at what it was created for first. It was created to treat the poor sick peeps of this country. It was not created to deal with boob jobs, gastric bands, sex changes, drug addicts, quit smoking/drinking/eating clinics, eating disorders etc. It was created 50 odd years ago to treat the sick and the dying.
Mission creep, writ large. And with that expansion comes the inevitable change in focus:
I think that when the NHS was created it embodied the Ward Matron whose only desire was to care for poor sick people. She was responsible for all and answered to none. She would feed the incapable, clean the incontinent, reassure the unsavable. If she couldn’t make them better she was prepared to hold the hand of those left behind.
Today the NHS embodies a Business Manager whose only desire is to climb the greasy pole and have the letters after their name. They are responsible for nothing but will blame everyone else for their failings. They will tick boxes, count beans, apportion blame and never, ever hold the hand of a dying person, let alone comfort the grieving family.
Recommended changes:
All GP’s (and Dentists) should be state funded. Pay them to sort the wheat from the chaff. Allow them the freedom to do what they trained to do, i.e. work out who is really sick and who is really selfish.
No free prescriptions. If you are sick and really worried about it your medicine should be worth more to you than your fags/beer/annual cruise etc. Children under 16 are the product of the parents, if they get ill, parents should pay for it. Works the same with pets.
Scrap NI contributions as they are. Take minimal amounts from all the other taxes and state that free GP appointments & Dental appointments (diagnosis and maintenance) apply to all. Draw up a list of acceptable treatments that would be free, such as oh I don’t know, accidents and sudden illness and such. Everything else, go private. Pay into a scheme and when you get sick, use it.
I’m not sure how any of these proposals would play in the States, but the circumstances here don’t seem especially different from those in the UK, particularly as regards the Business Manager types. Most so-called “reform” proposals here aim to replace one set of such with another set of such, the result inevitably being no diminution of such.
McGehee »
20 September 2009 · 10:21 am
Bureaucracy abides. Give it a Treasury paycheck instead of one signed by a corporate CFO, and nothing of substance changes.
tioedong »
21 September 2009 · 9:14 pm
sounds fine to me…