I guess Scotland has been able to give a coherent message about the vaccines and mask wearing, etc. So this winter is a huge concern.
In 2015 the government vowed to have 5000 more GP’s in 5 years, the reality has been a drop of 1307 to 28096 in 2021. Thus doctors are increasingly being overworked, stressed and more likely to leave the profession. The governments tax (sorry – charge) will not help matters as it is still less than all experts said was necessary. The figures for nurses and care workers are similarly concerning with 28000 ancillary workers such as nurses and receptionists needed by 2024. Recruiting from the rest of the world would be immoral (so do not rule it out!), and it takes years to train necessary staff. So a Plan B is needed.
With an ageing population this is not simple. each doctor will have approx 2300 patients of whom about 20% will be over 60 (a proportion that is growing), thus 450 patients over 60. This figure will vary greatly between areas with cities having lower numbers and villages higher. yes Geography is again important. I suspect that the illnesses vary geographically too. I am not sure how the health trusts are worked out, but would be confident that they. are not based on epidemiological research!
The privatisation of the majority of care homes would make sense economically and socially. Why pay money to the rich for providing a basic human right? Like education, the rich should be allowed to pay for private care as long as a high standard of care is available to all. Failing that, there should be a law that limits owners/directors salaries to 5 times the basic wage. It would be hard to state that they warrant a higher proportion unless they are washing their residents feet and … I cannot think of anything that would warrant extra?
Perhaps the quango Boards that run the NHS areas could be ditched and a better cheaper more efficient system developed which did not pay £millions to non-medics. Maybe instead of electing ‘so called worthy’ people to the House of Lords, they could be elected to regional health boards to donate their time for free?