Express & Star

E&S Comment: Time to fix broken NHS

Patients being treated in corridors in one hospital, 400 jobs axed in another to save millions of pounds, no wonder one NHS trust chief executive describes the system where he works as 'broken'.

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Politicians continue to make the health service their sacred cow.

But the rows over how how it is funded, whether or not it is free at the point of use or whether it should move to an American style of health insurance are utterly pointless.

No party that wishes to win power would ever advocate such a dreadful dismantling of the greatest institution this country has ever produced.

It is, however, easier to argue about this than it is to face the reality of the need for improvements.

David Loughton, the chief executive of the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust says 'the whole system is broken'.

He and his staff are performing a delicate balancing act as they try to cope with soaring demand for their services and tight restrictions on their budget.

But the NHS is not one enormous body.

It is lots of trusts and groups, all in control of their own budgets, all facing their own targets and all trying to keep their own heads above the water.

This is why Cannock now has a minor injuries unit operating within reduced hours. The move may well save one arm of the NHS money. But someone else has to look after those patients.

Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley is losing 400 jobs and will have to deal with the implications of that.

At New Cross in Wolverhampton a new accident and emergency department is being built.

But the demand for it is there now, exacerbated by the night time closure and impending downgrade of Stafford Hospital.

All of these are effectively different, competing organisations.

They just happen to operate under the same umbrella.

And they all have the same source of funding in the end - the taxpayer.

People being treated in corridors are being told they will have to put up with this for another year.

In the meantime various health bosses urge them not to go to A&E unless it is vital.

This implies people are going there by choice as though it is a day out or something to do when bored.

The NHS deserves better. Politicians must acknowledge that the 1940s model of healthcare, brilliant as it was at the time, has mutated beyond recognition.

Ignoring this is as bad as leaving the people who pay for it waiting for treatment in a corridor.

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