The NHS is 70 years old today. Only after an atrocity such as World War II would any politician be able to push through an absolutely fabulous, radical policy such as a collective, free at the point of access health system. It would never happen now – not a chance in hell.
The NHS saved my life and that of my son… or at least kept us from being totally bankrupted for life after a quick succession of interventions to get baby delivered safely and to stop me from bleeding out.
We had loads of antibiotics, I had an epidural, a spinal tap, a C Section, a lot of oramorph (which is maybe my fave painkiller, at least top 3 anyway). We also stayed for 5 nights due to both of us coming out of it feverish and generally bashed about, so I also had delicious school dinner style puddings and bothered the midwives about 1567 times a day using my buzzer cos I’d pushed my back out and kept dropping my phone off the bed (sorry).
I can’t even comprehend how much that would cost privately. I don’t even want to know because I think my eyes would bleed and my blood-pressure rage would be dangerous.
But the fact that I am not dead isn’t even the best bit about the NHS, even though I am pretty great. The best part is that thousands – no MILLIONS – of people I have never met are also not dead.
By saying YES PLEASE to the NHS you are pointing to that person who just walked past you saying ‘hey dude, I don’t want you to die. I want you to be healthy’. That is so powerful! And it makes you a great person. So kind, so benevolent.
I am gonna spend today silently telling people with my eyes that I am super happy they are alive.
By paying our taxes we are collectively pooling our resources to make sure no one is left behind, that no one who is skint (for whatever reason, it doesn’t matter) has to choose between feeding their kids and getting better. Or going without food themselves so their kids can get better. Or enter 100 other harrowing situations here.
Because like it or not, that’s the reality of upfront health care. I have absolutely ZERO time for anyone who presents any sort of hybrid system where we pay a bit here or there. NO.
If you have no money, £30 to see the doctor or anything like that is a massive barrier to access. £10 sick notes are already a massive issue to people living in poverty, who are more likely to get sick and stay sick too, because *newsflash* living in poverty is totally shit.
What if you don’t go to get that niggling cough checked out because £30 just seems a lot for no real reason and you’re busy, and you’re prioritising everyone else in the great juggle of making ends meet? What if it turns out to be horribly serious and you could have caught it in time but you didn’t? So there you go, that’s you in big old trouble.
Upfront payment is a slippery, slippery slope. Occasionally I hear the complaints about the NHS which are fair enough – impossible to get an appointment, waiting for ages to be seen, lack of beds etc. I almost made a private appointment once because I was so done waiting after being bounced back and forth to incorrect departments for a specialist.
But every time we line the pockets of a Bupa, or a Nuffield Health, or tell people you wouldn’t mind paying extra to be seen quicker or anything like that, we are seriously undermining the most amazing thing about the NHS. You can’t pay to get to the front of the queue. Do you know why? BECAUSE THAT ISN’T FAIR. If you have more money it doesn’t mean you deserve to be healthier than poor people. “Illest people to the front” should be the new tagline, I will email the big boss and give them that one for free.
So I promise I’m not ignoring the problems, but we are at a crunch point now. It’s being seriously dismantled from the inside out and the Tories only give a fuck when public opinion gets so upset that it could affect their votes.
So please, give the NHS the best birthday present ever.
Start talking about how you love it. Tell tired, weary health workers you think they are AWESOME (and aaahhhh please don’t leave your jobs ).
Take some ACTION! Look up your local action group, give a few quid to a hospital charity.
Please do something. Save our beloved NHS.
Stretchmark Sista 