The pandemic has shown how key the whole apparatus of the NHS is to our society. It has also shown that in the extreme nature of the pandemic we were not prepared with our initial response, and as the time has dragged on and the materials to treat patients have become more available it is the impact on the moral and physical condition of the staff of the NHS has been severe.
As we come out of the pandemic and return to more ‚’normal‚’ service some of the previous issues of the NHS will re-emerge. Funding is key amongst these the proportion of the country‚’s tax take that is spent on this institution continues to rise, and despite successive governments say they are spending ‚’record‚’ amounts of tax payers money in an attempt to fund the every growing demands with new treatments, social issues like obesity, and huge drug costs, the need for cash just grows.
So a possible solution could come from people like me.
With my wife we pay a private company for medical insurance. As fit people in our early 60‚’s this is about ¬£170 a month for average cover. So nearly ¬£2000 a year. Why do we do this? Well not for emergency treatment, there we‚’d go straight to A&E. No this is for minor, or at least not life threatening complaints, that should they occur we want quick action to resolve.
So we pay a company, Aviva in our case, for this insurance.
Now what if we were to pay this premium to a Government fund? I‚’d expect to jump the queue if I need treatment but what if the whole of the NHS benefits if I and thousands of others were to do this?
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