Political Courage Needed On the Future of Nhs




Summary


EVENTS are certainly conspiring to ensure that the Scottish Health Service, now apparently funded to the level of most other European countries, is unable to deliver the level of care we all wish for. I just wonder what Aneurin Bevan or Harold Macmillan would have made of the situation were they alive today. Your leader comment (June 8) provides a comprehensive analysis of the background to many of the staffing problems, and the Scottish Executive has the ultimate responsibility for the provision of health care with the unenviable task of modernising the system with limited funding from taxation alone.

The next general election may change things, but I'm not sure any of the current political parties have many of the answers. Health- care systems all over the world are struggling to provide for the needs of an ageing population requiring ever more expensive medical interventions, and even the widely praised French service is now facing a crisis with a (euros)32bn debt and the requirement for patients to pay a non-reimbursable (euros)1 for each consultation.

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Extract


Political Courage Needed On the Future of Nhs

With all the current NHS problems, it is tempting to blame various professional groups involved in funding and providing a service that appears to be failing, but managers have to...

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