NHS - thought 1

The NHS is massive. We have all used it at some point. And we will all call on its services again. It touches every life in so many ways. Few could explain what it does, what the reforms means and what difference the changes to the reform will make. Even the experts that took part in the listening exercise can only really advocate for their part of it.

Most will have a 'Holby (BBC Hospital Drama)' view of the NHS, but the reality is those working in Accident and emergency unit will know little about the work of NHS mental health teams. Does the Heart surgeon really understand how the NHS drug treatment teams work? Can the specialist geriatric consultant tell you how the Sexual Health Clinic functions? Probably not.


Just as the NHS touches every life, it shares pots of funding and resources with many other government bodies. Prevention is better than cure and the work of the NHS links into schools and Youth services. The NHS works in partnership with Probation, Prisons, Social Services, Courts and Social care. A small change in the funding or organisation for the NHS (or any of these bodies) can have a ripple effect.


The NHS has had endless years of reforms, changes. New Labour tried umpteen different ways of trying to measure what was working or not. Managers out number nurses as they try to grapple with the latest name change to the trust or learn the latest IT system that isn't working properly.


The big bang approach to reform was never going to work. The NHS will always be evolving, it has to. Even Labour agree. Ed Milliband wrote in Labour's 2010 manifesto "to safeguard the NHS in tougher fiscal times, we need sustained reform......We will continue to press ahead with bold reforms"


But a revolution was never in the best interests of patients or staff. The NHS is too important to get reform wrong. Just as our NHS is for their patients, Our Government needs to use its patience. Luckily Liberal Democrats have used there influence in Government to slow down the reforms.