NHS 24/7

Cameron is right to say the NHS should be accessible twenty four/seven. But it won’t be unless it has the money and once again the Tories are re-cycling cash already committed to other parts of their manifesto.

This blog has previously posted that hospitals should run on three shifts of eight hours and never close or go into slumber mode. Healthcare is not a daylight activity like farming. One of the main reasons for waiting lists is that the NHS tries to operate business hours for all routine functions, shifting ever more demand into the emergency corridor.

So Cameron has the right idea in the broad sense but no means of paying for it. This blog has previously argued for a complete re-think of the way the NHS is funded. The present system does not work because it provides a finite budget to provide an infinite service. The more patients needing treatment, the more strapped for cash it becomes. It should work the other way; the more patients and procedures, the more money. But to achieve that would require taxation and funding reform that appears beyond the intellectual capacity of the PR smoothies dominating Westminster.

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