It appears that every day now you see or hear more reports in the 'news' about the NHS, nearly all negative and most ill informed or purposefully misleading. Of course this is not by coincidence, it's part of a well orchestrated plan to demonize our publicly controlled NHS and sow the seeds of a commercial model heath service. Not a day goes by, it seems, without some new report being published on failings or some scandal about treatment, and if someone’s anecdotal musings are aired, they'll be almost entirely negative, of course with one tiny positive anecdote shoehorned in to stifle claims of media bias.
Well, bollocks I say. My wife has just been in hospital for a couple of days to have a spinal implant op, a serious neurological procedure. The NHS were fucking brilliant! Yeah, you can see it fraying at the edges, some of the equipment looks tired, and yeah, there don't appear to be enough staff and the staff that are there are all rushed off their feet, and things appear to take longer or sometimes you have to ask a couple of times for things. But don't blame the doctors, the nurses or the support staff, blame successive governments (and the wilfully ignorant who mandate their policies) who have constantly undermined and underfunded the NHS. Any failings in the NHS are there by establishment design. Blame outsourcing (or privatization as it really is), look behind the headlines and 9 out of 10 times the area of the 'NHS' which has failed is in fact a private contractor! This is never mentioned, corporate secrecy to protect competitiveness, don't you know. Blame underfunding. Blame structures embedded by government policy, designed to create discord and demoralize both patient and practitioner, aimed at creating a fertile bed on which to sow the seeds of privatization. Privatization doesn't work, except for those shareholders reaping the profits. Name one public service or state company improved by privatization; I bet you can't (with honesty).
So next time you see or hear a report on the NHS failing, look behind the headline, think about what's motivated the story, who's directing it and what narrative is being projected. Treat the NHS staff with love, and if you have to wait too long or you have a minor complaint, speak softly, remembering it's not their fault, on the whole they're trying their best to give the best service and care, with ever diminishing resources and ever diminishing respect. Direct you disdain at those truly responsible, government, the establishment and those who give mandate to their wicked plans. The NHS is this country’s greatest achievement and it's being dismantled for profit in front of us, and that's not to the people benefit, no matter what line we're spun. Love it (the NHS) or loose it! It's as simple as that.
Well, bollocks I say. My wife has just been in hospital for a couple of days to have a spinal implant op, a serious neurological procedure. The NHS were fucking brilliant! Yeah, you can see it fraying at the edges, some of the equipment looks tired, and yeah, there don't appear to be enough staff and the staff that are there are all rushed off their feet, and things appear to take longer or sometimes you have to ask a couple of times for things. But don't blame the doctors, the nurses or the support staff, blame successive governments (and the wilfully ignorant who mandate their policies) who have constantly undermined and underfunded the NHS. Any failings in the NHS are there by establishment design. Blame outsourcing (or privatization as it really is), look behind the headlines and 9 out of 10 times the area of the 'NHS' which has failed is in fact a private contractor! This is never mentioned, corporate secrecy to protect competitiveness, don't you know. Blame underfunding. Blame structures embedded by government policy, designed to create discord and demoralize both patient and practitioner, aimed at creating a fertile bed on which to sow the seeds of privatization. Privatization doesn't work, except for those shareholders reaping the profits. Name one public service or state company improved by privatization; I bet you can't (with honesty).
So next time you see or hear a report on the NHS failing, look behind the headline, think about what's motivated the story, who's directing it and what narrative is being projected. Treat the NHS staff with love, and if you have to wait too long or you have a minor complaint, speak softly, remembering it's not their fault, on the whole they're trying their best to give the best service and care, with ever diminishing resources and ever diminishing respect. Direct you disdain at those truly responsible, government, the establishment and those who give mandate to their wicked plans. The NHS is this country’s greatest achievement and it's being dismantled for profit in front of us, and that's not to the people benefit, no matter what line we're spun. Love it (the NHS) or loose it! It's as simple as that.
And, while I'm going on, the same ill informed and wilfully ignorant who mandate the governments attack on the NHS are usually the same people who complain about immigrants 'coming over here and stealing our jobs' (both being elements of the same ideological package). Whilst in hospital a good half the people we spoke to were foreign, all were competent, coherent, lovely, caring, professional people. They've not stolen anybodies job! That's just right wing rhetoric created to distract from the simple truth, which is, successive governments have intentionally failed to invest in training and recruitment, and we need these foreign workers to staff the NHS. I for one thank the gods for them.
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