Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Negative headlines about the NHS abound at the moment.
This week alone there has been stories about ambulances queuing, failing GP surgeries and over-stretched maternity units.
But is the health service getting a raw deal?
The truth is the NHS in England is probably the most transparent health system in the world.
Data is available on hundreds of different metrics covering everything from the mortality rates for individual surgeons to how much each hospital spends on food - and they are all just a few clicks of the mouse away.
What is more, this is just the start.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25348924
It's good that poor care is getting attention, but it shouldn't overshadow the fact that most care is good. I read an article yesterday by a US (Republican/anti-Obamacare) journalist who cited every bad report that has come out about the NHS in recent years and spoke as if it was true of every contact of a patient with the NHS, which is nonsense! Plus, you can't tell me that examples of terrible care and blunders don't exist in their system - it's just too vast and complex for it not to happen. Hopefully, the current scrutiny of the NHS will help minimise any future cases, but I don't think we should fool ourselves that any alternative would be perfect.
This week alone there has been stories about ambulances queuing, failing GP surgeries and over-stretched maternity units.
But is the health service getting a raw deal?
The truth is the NHS in England is probably the most transparent health system in the world.
Data is available on hundreds of different metrics covering everything from the mortality rates for individual surgeons to how much each hospital spends on food - and they are all just a few clicks of the mouse away.
What is more, this is just the start.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25348924
It's good that poor care is getting attention, but it shouldn't overshadow the fact that most care is good. I read an article yesterday by a US (Republican/anti-Obamacare) journalist who cited every bad report that has come out about the NHS in recent years and spoke as if it was true of every contact of a patient with the NHS, which is nonsense! Plus, you can't tell me that examples of terrible care and blunders don't exist in their system - it's just too vast and complex for it not to happen. Hopefully, the current scrutiny of the NHS will help minimise any future cases, but I don't think we should fool ourselves that any alternative would be perfect.