This week brought with it the 75th anniversary of our National Health Service: a unique system undoubtedly still envied by the rest of the world, but by no means the crown jewel it once was.
As the NHS enters into its 75th year, the focus of both the Scottish and UK Governments must be on ensuring that the health service has everything it needs not merely to limp on, but to recover and flourish.
Make no mistake: firm and decisive leadership will be required in order to make this mission a success. Nonetheless, it is the least our society can do after everything the NHS has done for us all.
While many reading will remember Scotland before free universal healthcare, few if any would choose to return to life without it.
The young people we love have never had to contemplate an existence where the most natural acts of being born, falling ill or dying could result in an unaffordable bill, and nor should they have to.
Of course, through no fault of its employees, the NHS has been struggling for some time. Though the Covid pandemic had a huge knock-on impact that staff, hospitals and services are still fighting to recover from, coronavirus was not the catalyst for decline but the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Cradle to grave promise can’t be upheld under current conditions
In recent years, every area of the UK has been affected by NHS personnel and bed shortages, strikes and long waiting lists, to name just a few issues; the north of Scotland is no exception.
Our health service was designed to support every citizen throughout life, from the cradle to the grave. The painful irony is that, today, parts of the north and north-east can only provide woefully inadequate maternity care, and the major hospitals – whether in Inverness or Aberdeen – are unable to cope with patient numbers. The result is new parents welcoming their babies into the world in lay-bys, and elderly people in need of urgent treatment left waiting inside ambulances for many hours.
Though the NHS remains, it is a shadow of its former self; a ghost. Citizens are duly afraid and understandably frustrated that their experiences and concerns are not being heard. This is by no means the fault of staff; despite significant challenges, the unwavering professionalism of the passionate and dedicated workers is one aspect of the service has remained consistent.
If the NHS is to make it to 95, decisive action must be taken now. Politicians alone cannot truly transform the current model into something fit for a modern era while still upholding the health service’s original founding principles. Medical experts, frontline healthcare workers, patients: everybody has a role to play when it comes to ascertaining what we need from the NHS, and what it needs from us.
The Voice of the North is The Press & Journal’s editorial stance on what we think are the most important issues of the week
