It disgusts me when our Prime Minister comes out and defends his record on the NHS. The National Health Service is in crisis because of this government and they are simply too weak to admit it. David Cameron is adamant that his government are meeting their "targets" when will he realise that public don't care about his targets, they care about the future of the NHS and patient care. Has the Prime Minister ever asked himself, are his targets too easily achievable and do they really benefit the public?
David Cameron promised that there wouldn't be a top down reorganisation of the NHS. In 2009, David Cameron said: "With the Conservatives there will be no more of the tiresome, meddlesome, top-down re-structures that have dominated the last decade of the NHS." However, we are now facing the largest reorganisation of the NHS in its 65 year history. This government has removed the entire middle layer of the NHS and it just doesn't work. Such a big organisation cannot be controlled by a single commission in London. The abolition of Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care trusts is unjust. Some parents have to now travel up to 50 miles just for their children to recieve medical attention.
We clearly have an A&E crisis but this government doesn't agree. This comes down to another broken promise. David Cameron said: "I refuse to go back to the days of when patients wait hours in A&E." Patients waiting more than 4 hours in A&E is at its highest levels since 2010. The reasons for the A&E crisis are obvious. This government is spending £3 billion on a top-down reorganisation when it should be focusing on patient care. More than a quarter of walk-in centres have been shut down and the government have also scrapped the guarantee of patients seeing a GP within 48 hours. David Cameron has been complacent and has not replaced these mechanisms which kept A&E waiting times steady.
There are now more cancelled operations under this government than ever before. Again there's a simple answer to this, the government have cut the amount of doctors and nurses in our hospitals. 5,000 nurses have been axed from the NHS which is having a detrimental effect on patient care. On average there is 1 nurse per 8 patients. This is a scary thought for anybody who cares for a patient in hospital let alone the patients themselves. Emergency nurses have to be flown in from abroad to cover the shortages in patient care. Is it not blatantly obvious that there needs to be a fair amount of nurses to ensure patient care is at the highest?
It is understandable that cuts have to be made but not when people's lives are in question. The government have offered six-figure pay-offs to 2,300 managers when the majority of them are still needed to play a vital role in the smooth running of the biggest national institution in the United Kingdom. The Mid-Staffordshire crisis was down to bad communication and cutting more layers makes communication more difficult. On the matter of being cost-effective this government has failed yet again, 2,200 NHS staff have been fired and then re-hired under David Cameron.
We need a National Health Service that is fit for purpose. Waiting more than 4 hours in A&E, operations being cancelled and staff being axed is not an NHS that is fit for purpose. If a Tory government is voted in again we can all wave goodbye to NHS. Mr Atlee fought and worked very hard to create a National Health Service that benefited everybody and today David Cameron is destroying it. The NHS is not safe under this governments watch.