By Felix Von der Geest
Last year, my grandma had breast cancer and she was saved by the NHS. If she had lived in America she wouldn't have been able to afford treatment . This year, our healthcare workers have done so much for this country and for what? A few claps? One study commissioned by ITV suggests 4/10 nurses are either using food banks or going hungry; 64% have worked overtime to pay bills and 30% said they would leave the profession in the 12 months. These are grave statistics, particularly in light of comments from the Royal College of Nursing suggesting, "Patient safety could be endangered unless nurse numbers increase."
I find it absurd anyone could suggest taking more money away from the NHS. In February of this year, a report on health inequalities was published, written by Sir Michael Marmot, an esteemed Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health. The report's findings were as follows: "This ‘10 years on’ report shows that, in England, health is getting worse for people living in more deprived districts and regions, health inequalities are increasing and, for the population as a whole, health is declining. The data that this report brings together also show that for almost of all the recommendations made in the original Marmot Review, the country has been moving in the wrong direction. In particular, lives for people towards the bottom of the social hierarchy have been made more difficult. Some of these difficulties have been the direct result of government policies, some have resulted from failure to counter adverse trends such as increased economic inequalities or market failures."
The report directly mentions the failings of government policy. The NHS is under-funded and under resourced. In terms of spending per capita, we spend significantly less than Sweden, Germany, France and many other wealthy nations. We rank 22nd in the number of beds per capita and we are well-below average on the number of doctors per 1000 population, compared to other OECD countries. As a result of the this lack of investment and the inequality, life expectancy in the UK ranks 17th out of all EU countries (We are the 6th wealthiest country in the world).
During the pandemic we have seen the effects of 10 years of Tory government on the NHS. The system is completely stretched due to lack of investment and inadequate staffing. Findings from the British medical Journal show that fewer than 50% of patients were seen within 18 weeks and 83,000 patients have waited over a year to receive treatment. In the pandemic millions of operations have been cancelled.
From the numbers, it is clear to see that the NHS is in a dire situation. I think we are at a vital stage where the government has to make a decision on whether we want to be a "scientific superpower" (the on that Boris Johnson pledged) or a country with a barely functioning healthcare system. Peoples lives are in the governments hands...
So we need investment: how do we fund it?
Now that we recognise how neglected the NHS has become, how do we become a scientific super power? A report from Statista suggests the UK ranks 13th in enabling corporation tax avoidance, and they estimate we are losing over £673 million per week. A recent New York Times investigation suggests about $11 billion went to companies either run by friends and associates of politicians in the Conservative Party, or with no prior experience of supplying PPE. Many people voted for Brexit on the promise of £350 million a week going to the NHS when in reality Brexit has already cost £130 billion to the economy so far! This money could have gone to our struggling NHS, I am no economic expert but I can tell you now the failing of the NHS is a choice by the government not an inevitability.
Refrences
5. file:///Users/felixvondergeest/Downloads/Charting%20Europe%E2%80%99s%20capacity%20to%20deal%20with%20the%20coronavirus%20crisis%20%E2%80%93%20POLITICO.htm
8. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-profile-for-england/chapter-4-european-comparisons
11. https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3557
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