DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Radical treatment can get NHS to 100 years old
Seventy-five years ago, the National Health Service was born into a very different Britain from today.
The hardship of the depression and the destruction of the war meant diseases of poverty and bad sanitation, such as TB and polio, were widespread. Life expectancy was just over 64 years; now it’s almost 82.
Of course, the best medical care was available to those who could pay. Millions of others, though, lived not just in dread of illness or accidents, but of not being able to afford treatment and pain relief.
So the creation of the NHS in 1948, providing free care to everyone who needed it, regardless of means, was a godsend for ordinary families.
Three-quarters of a century on, the health service remains the closest thing the British have to a national religion.
Seventy-five years ago, the National Health Service was born into a very different Britain from today
This morning, a special service will be held at Westminster Abbey to celebrate its 75th anniversary, with the Prince and Princess of Wales due to attend.
Last week, BBC2’s Newsnight programme kicked off the tributes by having a children’s choir sing ‘Happy Birthday NHS’ – a cringe-inducing stunt worthy of North Korea’s state propaganda channels.
Such events present a picture of the NHS as the pride of Britain and envy of the world. But beyond its longevity, how much is there actually to be proud of – and is the world really green-eyed with jealousy?
Few would dispute that NHS medical staff give an outstanding service, sometimes under enormous pressure. Their performance during Covid was heroic.
It remains, however, political heresy to acknowledge this simple but devastating fact: Our health service, and its model of taxpayer-funded provision, is failing.
A record 7.4million patients languish on waiting lists. When it comes to preventing deaths from cancer, heart attacks and other serious illnesses, Britain is among the worst in the developed world.
Militant medical unions whipping up NHS staff to go on politically-motivated strikes in pursuit of unaffordable pay rises are making a bad situation worse.
And as demand surges because of an ageing and expanding population (in 1948 it was 50million; today it is approaching 68million) and ever-more-expensive treatments and drugs, the monolithic Socialist blueprint on which the NHS was founded becomes more unsustainable.
With tiresome predictability, Labour plus various pressure groups and vested interests claim the health service is unable to function properly because of consistent underfunding. This, frankly, is nonsense.
Expenditure has nearly doubled in real terms over the past 40 years. Successive Tory governments have funnelled in record sums (a bizarre thing to do if, as the Left shrieks, they are trying to run it down).
Militant medical unions whipping up NHS staff to go on politically-motivated strikes in pursuit of unaffordable pay rises are making a bad situation worse
The truth is, ploughing in extra billions won’t transform the NHS, not least because of the behemoth’s intrinsic inefficiencies and epic wastefulness.
Yet the degree of reverence in which it is held is unhelpful in making it better. Anyone who dares suggest it needs reform, not a blank cheque, is in for a rough ride. That ex-health secretary Sajid Javid feels able only now he’s leaving Parliament to call for a Royal Commission into its future illustrates the debate’s toxicity.
The time has come for our pusillanimous political class to stop treating the NHS as a sacred cow, and instigate a grown-up debate contemplating a serious shake-up of the way it is structured and financed.
That should include examining successful healthcare systems overseas, which mix private insurance with public funding.
Everyone wants the NHS to thrive. But all other aspects of life in Britain have altered radically in the last 75 years.
If the health service wants a secure future, it must undergo major surgery too. Then, in 2048, we will surely celebrate its centenary.
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