We should love the NHS, and defend it from American attacks

Moaning about the state of the National Health Service is a typically British pastime. Yet, after recent attacks from various US Republicans – Sarah Palin called the NHS “downright evil” – an unprecedented number of angry Twitter users banded together in the website’s biggest ever topic “#welovethenhs”. The fact that over a million people joined this campaign showed an immense amount of support for a health service which generally receives nothing but criticism.

It is easy to criticize the NHS when we are so accustomed to having a “free at point of service” healthcare system. Would a different system give better treatment to a greater number of people? Certain politicians the world over would certainly have us think so. MEP Daniel Hannan, criticized the NHS and branded it “socialist” and a “mistake we have lived with for sixty years”. Sixty years ago, Nye Bevan, the Health Minister responsible for instituting the NHS, countered these arguments, stating, “reproach” of the NHS is only possible “if you view everything from the angle of a strictly individualistic competitive society.”

As someone who has grown up within the structure of free, nationalized healthcare, I shudder at the thought of being part of the American system. The situation is summed up by Liz Cruise, a Californian supermarket worker, “It’s a simple choice: pay my rent, or pay my healthcare”, despite working, she could not afford the $200 a month her employers would deduct from her salary to pay for medical insurance. This story came to light after the charity “Remote Area Medical” set up a free “field hospital” for eight days at a music arena in LA. Despite the US spending $7 290 per person on healthcare annually (compared to the UK figure of $2 992 – WHO/OECD Health Data 2009), around 49 million people in the US have no access to healthcare. Thousands queued around the blocks of downtown LA to ensure they had treatment; some had travelled hundreds of miles across state boundaries to have what would be deemed “simple procedures” in the UK. In the first two days alone, 320 people were given standard issue spectacles and 80 had mammograms – treatments taken for granted on the NHS. By the end of eight days, $2,821,383 worth of treatment had been dispensed to around 15 000 patients who would otherwise have gone untreated.

Scare stories claimed that “Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have a chance in the UK, where the NHS would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.” Professor Hawking himself waded into the debate stating, “I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS, I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.” He received NHS care as recently as last April. Meanwhile, many health insurance companies in America are now limiting their services further, refusing to insure individuals with prior health problems, including acne, haemorrhoids and bunions. Some insurers even treat pregnancy or the intention to adopt as a reason for rejection. It seems completely unfair and undemocratic to block an individual’s access to healthcare, or to increase their premiums, due to a condition as common as acne.

The NHS is far from perfect. Every week there are horror stories of bed shortages and obscene waiting lists, let alone hospital acquired infections such as MRSA and Clostridium Difficile. Yet, the UK’s response to the swine flu threat has been described as amongst the best in the world, with enough anti-virals stockpiled to treat over 80% of the population – even better, should any of us need the medication it will be free. A privately performed hip-replacement could cost up to £8 900, yet, it is one of the most commonly performed orthopaedic procedures on the NHS and costs the recipient absolutely nothing at the point of use.

Perhaps we are complacent about the NHS, safe in the knowledge that we can dial 999 and be quickly ferried to the nearest A&E. Comfortable that we are being cared for by world class doctors and nurses who as we speak are pioneering new procedures which no doubt will help save lives. Detractors will point an accusatory finger towards the “National Institute of Clinical Excellence”, which Sarah Palin implied was equivalent to a “death panel” deciding if our lives were worth the money it would cost to save them. The truth is that this agency simply balances the books in a country where any drug deemed effective and necessary is available to the individual for the cost of a £7.20 prescription fee and is free to those who are already in hospital. Where a potentially unfair decision has been made, such as with Herceptin, a drug used to treat certain types of breast cancer, there is the facility for debate. Indeed, a group of women from Staffordshire succeeded in their campaign to gain access to the drug on the NHS.

We talk frequently of the NHS’s responsibility for patient care, however, what about our responsibility to the NHS? Hospital staff abused by drunken A&E attendees, the number of patients not bothering to turn up to appointments, prank and nuisance calls to emergency services? Whilst much can be done to improve the NHS; waiting lists can be cut further, bureaucracy reduced, hospital cleanliness improved, perhaps we should learn to love the free, egalitarian system which treats a million people every thirty-six hours on the basis that “…no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.”