Ealing North
| |
|
Steve Pound MP Ealing North |
|
|
At 60 Years Old, the NHS is looking to the futureJuly 2008 - Ealing Times article My parents’ first son was born and died in 1946, their second in 1947 and I was born with the NHS in July 1948. Sometimes we take this amazing institution for granted but to many people the NHS was – and is – the difference between life and death. This month we celebrated the 60th.birthday of the NHS and for me a great present would be the introduction of polyclinics across the capital and the country. For years people have urged politicians to allow the medical professionals more of a say in the way in which we run our NHS and this has finally happened. Ara Darzi is not only a distinguished surgeon but the first Armenian to sit in the House of Lords and he has come up a series of proposals that will allow the NHS to move forward in a world where people want access to healthcare outside of normal office hours and treatment that a few years ago would have been only available in hospital. A polyclinic will not replace a single GP surgery and patients will still be on the books of their own doctor but they will be able to walk in to a local clinic between 8am and 8pm seven days a week as well as being referred by their own GP for specialist treatment that might not be available at the surgery. GPs provide a vital service and the government has increased investment in general practice from £3bn in 1997 to £8bn in 2007 while GP numbers have increased from 28,046 in 1997 to 33,364 in 2007 (figures for England only).GP pay has rightly increased by over 22% between 2002/2006. Polyclinics replicate the best of the old cottage hospitals but make use of modern medical techniques to bring treatment closer to the patient. It was a Conservative Sec.of State for Health who said to the British Medical Association that “whenever I talk about reform you reach for your wallets”. I hope that the BMA will come to see that polyclinics are no threat to General Practice but a modern addition to the NHS we all value so much. Happy birthday |
|
|
|
| Disclaimer | Copyright | Designed by Bassam Mahfouz. Promoted by Julian Bell, The Labour Party, Ruskin Hall, 16 Church Road, W3 8PP on behalf of Steve Pound MP |
