Socialist Healthcare System

[rexbo 104]

if Obama is elected.

The NHS is sick

A piece of the article...

"For years, the system was held together by goodwill. People stayed late, doing that little bit extra, because they believed in what it stood for. Now that's all been stripped away," adds Cheryl, a doctor in A&E. Since the NHS was opened up to the internal market and the introduction of the "mixed economy of care", there has been a tangible change. Clinical decisions have been taken out of the hands of the clinicians, and given to managers.

"I've trained for years, so I know what to do with a patient," continues Cheryl. "Yet I've got someone over me who's not interested. They just want the patient dealt with in a particular way so they don't breach some government target."

The other doctors suddenly look animated. "That's the essence of it," says Will from geriatrics. "It's the constant conflict with non-clinical staff above you, who prioritise targets over patients." On his wards, there is a constant pressure to discharge patients, even before they are medically fit, in the full knowledge that they will be back within a few days. "But the managers don't care, because all the targets have been met. When the patient is readmitted, they count as a new case, so it doesn't impact on the statistics."

Cheryl tells a similar story. In A&E, there is a target that everyone must be seen, treated and processed in four hours. "I'll be waiting for blood results, or a second opinion, and I turn round and the patient has been transferred by the bed manager up to a ward. It's dangerous."