Healthcare in UK

Having been getting cancer treatment for the past 15 weeks, and having had an operation a couple of weeks prior to that, I was interested to read in a newspaper article today that when it comes to most types of cancer care, the UK is well below average compared to other developed countries. In fact, in every major cancer, survival chances in Britain are lower than in other advanced European countries. There are various reasons which, when taken together, account for this second rate service. In France, for example, it would be unacceptable to have a cancer patient wait for more than a week between diagnosis and treatment, whereas in Britain, much longer waits are not unusual. The latest drugs are used far more quickly in Europe, and the average use of drugs introduced there is three times higher than in the UK, according to a survey by the Swedish Karolinska Institute. We also have a shortage of modern radiotherapy equipment; a survey of radiologists has shown that three out of four patients who would have benefited from from the use of the most advanced radiotherapy were treated, instead, with old machines. This was brought home to me yesterday – I was meant to be having my first shot of radiotherapy, but having gone in for my appointment, I was told that the machine was out of order, and would not be up and running till the following day. Older technology, of course, means more damage is done to healthy tissue.

This below standard of treatment of cancer patients in Britain is sadly also reflected in the relatively poor treatment of other diseases. We has fewer doctors per thousand of population than other advanced countries, fewer hospital beds for acute care, fewer CT scanners, and only a fraction of the numbers of MRI scanners in say, Austria or Finland. Having said that, I’m sure that many thousands of other patients will agree with me that the nursing staff are excellent, carrying out difficult tasks during their long shifts, although being hampered by having to deal with mounds of paperwork. This is true throughout hospitals in this country – for example, one survey has shown that in operating theatres, less than half the time scheduled for operations was actually used for surgery. Instead, vast amounts of time were spent on administration work.

Of course, it was revealed earlier on this week that more than 9,000 public sector workers in Britain are earning more than the Prime Minister (£142,500), and 38,000 earning above £100,000, with the NHS having the highest number of high earners (more than 26,000 on more than £100,000). If this coalition government really wants to be taken seriously, they should cut back on some of those jobs, and on the salaries, with extra money being given to frontline services, so that the UK could be seen again as a country that cares for those who DO need care.

After the expenses scandal at Westminster last year, it seems that MSPs north of the border still like to buy the odd item with what amounts to being the taxpayer’s money. Enterprise Minister Jim Mather claimed £403 for a number of books, probably not to do with thrift, and Alex Salmond, the First Minister, was short of £180 for a new bookcase, which will presumably be filled with weighty tomes someday. His Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill, has managed to obtain extra panic buttons for his office at a cost of £2,200, as well as further running costs of £550 a year. Of course, it can be argued that his ‘soft touch’ justice policies put the rest of us, the great Scottish public, at increased risk of violence, but I’m afraid that we’ll have to do with using a squeaky toy out of the local cornershop if we’re being attacked and need to draw attention to ourselves.

Workers at Tunnocks of Uddingston, whose caramel logs and wafers, along with other well known biscuits, are world famous, are set to go on strike next Thursday and Tuesday after rejecting a pay offer of 2%. For those of us who love one or other of their chocolate titbits, let’s hope that this proves to be a storm in a teacake, and that it won’t be allowed to snowball.