Friday 25 May 2018

Non-NHS care on the NHS and political sloganising

Yesterday afternoon I spent four hours at the QMC Hospital’s privately owned Treatment Centre having a inguinal hernia repaired under a general anaesthetic.

I visited my GP on 9 April (six weeks ago) about a problem first diagnosed in June 2016 but at the time I was waiting to have open heart surgery, so the surgeon wasn't keen, for understandable reasons, to operate on my hernia until 18 months after my heart op. In the event this pushed back the hernia op until August 2018. The solution was to wear a support belt during the day, but most days began with me pushing my inguinal hernia back inside, usually more than once. By the beginning of this year (2018) it had become quite painful at times, so I started to keep a hernia log and decided to visit my GP sooner rather than later on the basis that I wanted to have my hernia op at the first opportunity.

The private Treatment Centre adjacent to the QMC Hospital saw me on 18 April and I had my pre-op assessment the next morning, thanks to the fact that the 8.30 a.m. appointment is difficult to fill. My hernia didn’t stop me walking or exercising, so I walked from Beeston to the Centre each time. At the end of last week I was offered a cancellation for yesterday at 2.30 p.m. which I willingly accepted. So here I am at home 12 hours later recovering, feeling fine and taking it easy, doing this post. Tomorrow I plan to walk into Beeston, then home after a coffee.

The Treatment Centre treated me like royalty from beginning to end, mirroring the heart and lung care and support I have been receiving from Nottingham City Hospital for the past three years. With my hernia fixed I hope I am now at the beginning of a long Indian summer. I’m 74 and never felt better in so many ways, but I am not complacent. I have to stay active and I am enjoying exercise now more than I ever have. I feel more creative. From where I am sitting writing this I can see my runner beans growing and the last of the blue bells, the garden has been awash with them this year.

Now back to the point of this post. Circle Health says of itself if you visit their website: The Circle Nottingham NHS Treatment Centre is the largest day-case centre in Europe. It operates under a Standard Acute Contract, providing a wide range of outpatient, inpatient, diagnostic and therapeutic services. It is the only independent sector facility in the UK to offer teaching and research, including pre- and post-graduate medical, nursing and AHP training. Its surgery has been rated "outstanding" by the Care Quality Commission.

It is also a private company listed at Companies House and has had its moments in the media. I am politically opposed to any public service / utility being in the private or voluntary sector with the exception of mutuals in which users and workers are joint owners. I feel able to say this having worked first as a Family Planning Association (FPA) clinic volunteer over 50 years ago, then 12 years with the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) followed by 21 years with Advance Housing & Support, all charities providing healthcare related services local government and the NHS failed to provide in large swathes of England. All these organisations budgeted to make surpluses but not to pay shareholders directly. However all of them took out bank loans on which they paid interest and, therefore contributes to 'profits'.

Labour politicians have actively encouraged private healthcare so we have to be cautious when condemning private healthcare. At the point of treatment, in my experience, there is no distinction between public, private or private. Many charities are now led by managers paid a 'market-led wage' little different to the private sector.

I have long favoured the issuing of bonds offering a fixed annual return for a fixed period of time as a way of enable small savers to invest in public services and utilities, so that their need to borrow from banks can be minimised.

At the end of the day it is easy to sloganise when it comes to healthcare and public services if you give little thought to the consequences, then there taxes on our income, purchases, property and wealth!

Taken altogether, this is why I believe we need to arrive at a cross-party bipartisan agreement — something I have blogged about before — when it comes to the NHS, welfare and housing (and I'm pleased to say that our MP Anna Soubry agrees with me on the NHS, but struts like a Tory when it comes to housing).

I managed to live 71 years before needing to draw down on 47 years of National Insurance payments (money which was not ring-fenced). It annoys when the media and politicians talk about our 'rising older population' and ignore the fact that as a percentage so is the working age population.

What concerns me is the quality of all lives and this is not simply about age, it is about income and wellbeing, and I know for a fact that even at 74 on a relatively low income I am one of the lucky ones!

Tony Blair had a plan to improve the lot of working people and it failed big time, but I do not doubt his intent.

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