Nothing short of a complete restructure will save the crumbling NHS - Yorkshire Post Letters

Those of us who have worked or have been involved in the NHS practically since its birth (in my case just short of 70 years) wonder which NHS, NHS England is referring to, on whose website the following statement is made, and I quote: “…since 1948, the NHS has always, evolved and adapted to meet the needs of each successive generation”.

This alone indicates how out of touch NHS England is and how, once again, the propaganda machinery of politicians (the Government) is hard at work to make us, the public, believe that there is cause for celebration.

Please, NHS England, tell us: What is there to celebrate about a service which has such long waiting lists that a substantial number of people (never disclosed) are dying whilst waiting on the list?

What is celebratory about an NHS service when the morale of the staff, due to shortage of cash in their pockets, is at such a low level that they have to resort to strikes.

Strikes are not only one group of workers but practically all staff who are on the front line of the service, such as nurses, ambulance drivers and even junior doctors.

The website boasts that the NHS: “Treating over a million people a day…Today 9 in 10 agree that health care should be free of charge, more than 4 in 5 agree that care should be to everyone, and the NHS makes them most proud to be British”.

What this abuse in massage of statistics calls for is: Tell us the number of people who need treatment and are not receiving it.

What population was sampled, of what age group, where and by which independent body?

Day in and day out we are exposed to the quick turnover of patients in hospitals due to technical advances.

But once patients are discharged, they enter into the black hole of quasi non-existent social and community care services.

Once upon a time the NHS had family doctors in primary care. Now the service is covered mostly by ‘Dr Who’s?’ whose receptionists attempt to ‘triage’ before one can even speak to a doctor.

Let’s face it, we have no NHS.

We have an inflated management structure; NHS Trusts whose role has become to find a cheap agency to contract for services.

Nothing short of complete restructuring will save the crumbling of our once national treasure.

Every reorganisation has produced more cracks in the once solid structure.

The mother of all reorganisations was in the 1980s with the introduction of monetarism and managerialism.

In my view, and that of many of my contemporaries, that reorganisation was an earthquake, the cracks of which can never be fully repaired.

Some of us in our capacity as experienced consultants tried hard to draw attention to the irreparable damage which that reorganisation would cause, but our voices fell on deaf ears and many consultants were ostracised.

The current NHS is a mish mash of agencies which purport to look after patients.

We do, however, celebrate the devotion of those healthcare workers who struggle but do not receive the pay they deserve.