It is no secret that the NHS is in crisis and it is no secret what the problems are.
Record level vacancies which are increasingly difficult to fill now that freedom of movement with Europe has ended, show no sign of reducing.
Of course, there is still well travelled routes from the Asian sub-continent and the likes of the Philippines but that risks denying health care professionals to those countries where they live and were trained.
Instead, one answer is to increase training provision in the UK and that means, on the one hand, increasing the number of training places for doctors and reverting nurse training to the traditional ‘in hospital’ route without the need for them to have a degree.
Yes, they can bolster their CV and gain specialist posts with university affiliated study, but we seemed to get by very well before a nursing degree was mandated.
And we need to recognise the value of the NHS staff and pay them accordingly. It is no secret that pay rates have fallen significantly in real terms since 2010 and while the profession was lauded during the COVID pandemic with us all banging pans and clapping on doorsteps, this fall in pay has not and is not being addressed.
It needs to be. Maybe not this year or the next but if just one leader had the bottle to say, “yes, we have let you down and over the term of this Parliament – ie five years – we will address this”, it would be a start.
The issue of NHS dentistry probably needs a column to itself, save, for now, to say, we are paying for and training plenty of dentists but we are not getting them into the NHS system because of the appalling contracts NHS dentists have been saddled with. Sort out the contracts and you might just get dentists working with the NHS.
One other area where there are significant challenges for the NHS is with primary care – your local GP.
I have a friend who injured his back and was able to go to the local minor injuries clinic where, following initial treatment, he was told to get an appointment with his GP, be referred to a physiotherapist and get a fit note to show what he could and could not do at work.
He phoned every day at 8am, he even camped outside the practice on some mornings. Could he get a GP appointment? No chance. And while he discussed with the receptionist the need for a fit note, he was told that he needed an appointment with a GP to get one. Catch 22 all over again. He ended up paying for physiotherapy privately and having to rely on work colleagues to shoulder the heavy lifting while he got better.
In response, the Government has said it will spend millions on new telephone systems to alleviate the 8am rush for appointments. Not sure how that will work, after all, you need people to answer the phones.
The Government also wants more use of the NHS App through which we can order repeat prescriptions or book appointments or self-refer to ancillary services such as physiotherapy.
So, yet another reliance on an app. Why not just tell ChatGPT what your symptoms are and ask them to diagnose the problem and tell you what to do. Oh, forgot, we have been doing that by Googling symptoms for years, to be told we are dying and then, miraculously, we don’t!
The final part of the Government’s fiendish plan is to allow pharmacists to prescribe low level pain relief and antibiotics for things such as earache and sore throats, both of which, in the majority of cases, can be sorted by asking your local pharmacist which over the counter products you should use.
But the fundamental flaw in the plan to involve pharmacists more is that we are not certain there will be any pharmacists on the high street.
A relative has a long term condition and needs a monthly repeat prescription. They do use the NHS App to ask for this and the app – this is the NHS App, remember – then asks them if they want the prescription sent to them in the post thereby denying the local, high street, pharmacy of revenue.
And the online prescription delivery service probably employs ONE qualified pharmacist sitting in a vast warehouse of drugs who simply checks the right medicine goes into the right envelope before some minion licks the stamp and puts it in the mail.
No one on hand to discuss how the medicine should be taken or to discuss possible side effects. No one to look into the eyes of the sufferer to check how they are. Nothing except a money grabbing service which, for all their wonderful websites, adds nothing to the patient’s wellbeing.
So, if the NHS App is geared up to offer delivery of prescriptions by post, where does this leave the high street pharmacy? Just a note: a local high street pharmacy chain does offer prescription delivery from your local store with staff who know you – you just have to ask.
You’ll probably still be able to see one in larger towns or cities, but, like banks, they will become increasingly rare in small towns and villages.
If the Government wants the pharmacies to take some of the GP strain they must support them and we must support them by using their services whenever we can.
About Cumbria Cat
Born in Cumberland and, now, back living in Cumberland, having spent most of the past 50 years in some place called Cumbria, this cat has used up all nine lives as well as a few others.
Always happy to curl up on a friendly lap, the preference is for a local lap and not a lap that wants to descend on the county to change it into something it isn’t. After all, you might think Cumbria/Cumberland/Westmorland is a land forged by nature – the glaciers, the rivers, breaking down the volcanic rocks or the sedimentary layers – but, in reality, the Cumbria we know today was forged by generations of local people, farmers, miners, quarriers, and foresters.
This cat is a local moggy, not a Burmese, Ocicat or Persian, and although I have been around the block a few times, whenever I jump, I end up on my feet back in my home county. I am passionate about the area, its people, past, present and future, and those who come to admire what we hold dear, be it lakes and mountains, wild sea shores, vibrant communities or the history as rich and diverse as anywhere in the world
