Lies and Denial: NHS phoney war hides the real scandal. Do we really want the health services used as tools in a war game?

Rachel Sylvester reports in The Times 13th January 2015: NHS phoney war hides the real scandal – While politicians swap puerile pre-election blows, they ignore the cause of the crisis – a breakdown in social care

This excellent article summarises the denial and the lies that the politicians are going to try to sell the public over the next 4 months – if they can get away with it. Ms Sylvester’s last paragraph reads “It is time for more non-partisan honesty about an issue that will resonate long after the current generation of politicians have gone. The future of the NHS and social care are much too important for political games and point-scoring.”  Do we really want the health services used as tools in a war game? I fear it is too late. The crown jewels are lost. The time horizon for turnaround is too long, and knee-jerk responses are inevitable – after the election..

….In the two weeks over Christmas 24,589 people had to wait between four and 12 hours on a trolley before getting a bed. The target of 95 per cent of patients being treated within four hours of arriving at A&E has been missed for 77 consecutive weeks, operation waiting times are at an 11-year high and more than a dozen hospitals have announced “major incident” emergency plans. As tents are erected in hospital car parks and fire engines and police cars work as makeshift ambulances, it is clear that the health service is struggling to cope.

The combination of an ageing population and a more consumerist culture — which means patients turning up at A&E because they want immediate treatment, rather than waiting for an appointment with their GP — is putting unsustainable pressure on the NHS. Without serious reform, the winter crisis will morph into an emergency that will last through the spring, summer and autumn too….

According to the latest figures, 294,000 fewer people aged over 65 now receive state-funded social care than did at the last general election and 90 per cent of councils provide help only with “critical” or “substantial” needs when they used also to help those with “moderate” needs. According to the King’s Fund, an independent health think-tank, there is “rationing” of social care that would be unthinkable for cancer drugs. (Actually, Chris Smyth in The Times on 13th Jan 2015 reports: Cancer patients lose life-extending drugs – negating the unthinkable!) With home visits reduced and less equipment such as grab rails, which prevent falls, being installed, it is not surprising that more elderly people end up in hospital. There has also been a 48 per cent increase in patients aged over 90 arriving at A&E in ambulances over the past four years…..

Meanwhile, Dame Julie Mellor, the parliamentary ombudswoman who investigates complaints into the NHS and other public services, says that she is increasingly concerned about people being discharged unsafely in the middle of the night….

..With less than four months to go to the general election, politicians across the board are trying to “weaponise” the NHS. While Labour accuses the Conservatives of “privatising” the service, even though it was the party that first got the private sector involved, the Tories claim Labour would put the NHS at risk by failing to stabilise the economy. With health one of the voters’ main concerns, barely a day goes by when David Cameron and Ed Miliband do not exchange puerile blows over it.

There is, in fact, a good deal of consensus between the political parties about the need to deal with the problems in social care. Both Andy Burnham, Labour’s health spokesman, and Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, have promised to introduce much greater integration if they are in power after May — and have endorsed plans to improve the system put forward by Simon Stevens, the capable NHS chief executive. All sides cite Torbay hospital, which has closed whole wards by keeping more elderly people at home, as the model for the future. But there is a conspiracy of silence about the level of agreement between parties who would prefer a phoney pre-election war.

It is time for more non-partisan honesty about an issue that will resonate long after the current generation of politicians have gone. The future of the NHS and social care are much too important for political games and point-scoring.

Ed Miliband on ‘weaponising the NHS’ (11Jan15) – YouTube

Steven Swinford in The Telegraph reports 7th Jan 2015: David Cameron accuses Ed Miliband of ‘disgusting’ attempt to ‘weaponise’ NHS – Prime Minister’s Questions is dominated by the NHS as David Cameron accuses Ed Miliband of using the health service like a ‘political football’ ….