ONE of the glowing beacons in my constituency is Swanage Hospital.
It’s the perfect example of care in the NHS, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary.
Matron Debbie Straw leads a dedicated team, who nurture patients nearer to their homes, families and friends.
The principle of the NHS, healthcare free at the point of delivery, continues at this much-loved community hospital and long may it do so.
However, established in the dark, post-war years, the NHS is facing multiple challenges, not least an aging and growing population, ever-more expensive equipment and a shortage of doctors and nurses.
The Government has thrown billions more pounds at the fifth largest organisation on earth, which devours a third of the nation’s day to day spending, soon to rise to half.
Despite this, waiting lists are at record highs, NHS dentistry is thin on the ground and GPs are struggling to cope, as is A&E.
Worse, where outcomes were poor before the pandemic, they have declined further.
Last month, the NHS came second to last in a King’s Fund list of 19 developed countries for saving lives with ‘treatable’ illness, like cancer, diabetes, stroke and heart attack, and third-to-last for ‘preventative’ illness.
None of this is helped by the current industrial action that, without doubt, is placing patients at risk.
The truth is that other countries facing many of the same challenges have better results, often using social health insurance schemes, which still provide for everyone but get faster access to better care.
At present, NHS funding comes solely from the government and any changes are shouted down as ‘privatisation’.
It’s interesting to note that reform of the NHS is now being discussed openly by most political parties, a sign, surely, that we should.