One of the assertions in the book is that at least 15,000 people a year die premature deaths in Britain because we have the NHS rather than an averagely good system. Normally the deaths don't get into the newspapers but this one did (see below). The child who died would probably have had his operation in good time if he had been one of Tony Blair's children. If Tony Blair himself needed a similarly important operation, there is no question that would get it promptly (see earlier posting on his back injection). So, we have a medical system under which children can die from from lack of timely treatment but in which the prime minister always gets timely treatment. Is that what he calls 'social justice'? Is that what Nye Bevan, that passionate defender of the working man, had in mind when he created the NHS?
A nine-year-old boy has died after an operation to treat his severe epilepsy was cancelled because Britain's top children's hospital had run out of money.Peter Buckle, from Evenwood, in County Durham, had a massive seizure and died last Monday. He had been waiting to undergo surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London.
The brain operation which might have saved his life had been cancelled twice. The first time, on March 15, Great Ormond Street cut back its operation lists after finding that it had treated more children than its budget allowed for. The operation was rescheduled for April 22, but cancelled three days beforehand when a ward was closed after staff contracted a viral infection. It had since been rescheduled for June 10.
See full Sunday Telegraph story here.
Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in NHS • Politics
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Treating AIDS takes 50% of Great Ormond Streets Budget.
45% of the UKs AIDS patients originated from Africa in the last 2 years.
You do the math.
Posted by: Robert Read at May 25, 2005 12:46 PM
Surely the true socialist position is to give everyone the same ability to influence the system as Tony Blair would have.
The current system means that some are more equal than others. Not only that, the people who are more equal control the system, and conspire to deny to others the choice that they enjoy. That is the true hypocrisy of the left.
Posted by: Ricky at June 1, 2005 08:17 PM
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I would feel quite comfortable if we had a mixed / Private health system and The Prime Minister had access to top notch Private Healthcare. He is after all someone who is important.
However, the current system is somewhat akin to the state owned shops in the Soviet Union that only the elite had access to.
If we are to have equal socialist care for all, that has to include the Prime Minister.
Posted by: EU Serf at May 24, 2005 11:14 AM