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It takes real courage to speak out against the Cult of the NHS, particularly for people on the political left who are expected to be the biggest cheerleaders of all
From a brave commenter at Left Foot Forward, reacting to the same piece of sentimentalist NHS idolatry which prompted my article here:
I am disabled and faced horrendous treatment on the NHS when I unfortunately required help, I never once criticised staff individually but still every time I tried to talk about what I faced I was shouted at, told I hate the NHS, that I want to copy the US… I’ve seen the same thing happen to NHS staff whistleblowers. At this point it seems protecting “our NHS” from any and all criticism (that is not crouched in “don’t get me wrong, I love the NHS”) is more important than the wellbeing of both the patients and the staff and the functioning of the healthcare system.
I have since moved elsewhere in Europe to my husband’s country where the PUBLIC healthcare system (health insurance and private doctors are not a common thing here either), though it has flaws as everywhere does, functions as a healthcare system much better. If you want to change the pressures the NHS is under then it needs to become socially acceptable to talk about the NHS without referring to it as the “envy of the world” constantly or being accused of hating it and the staff working for it.
Heretic! Heretic!
BURN THE WITCH!
This statement takes courage, perhaps particularly from somebody who is clearly on the political left herself, and so is expected to be a particularly enthusiastic priestess of the Cult of the NHS. I admire her bravery – I fear that she (and others like her) will continue to be demonised for daring to acknowledge glaring reality.
Postscript: An alternative vision for healthcare in Britain, penned back in 2008 by Professor Karol Sikora, former chief of the World Health Organisation Cancer Program.
This post was originally published by the author 7 October 2016: https://semipartisansam.com/2016/10/07/nhs-heresy-part-2/
