The Endless Misery of the NHS: What needs to be done?
The fall of 2015 saw an exemplary rise in the American healthcare, when thousands stood up for the nurses. Kelly Johnson, a former Miss America pageant aspirant and runner-up, got up on stage in a “scrubs” costume and performed a two-minute monologue. The performance was inspired by her experience as a nurse, when she was privileged enough to take care of an Alzheimer’s patient.
One day later, a panellist from a talk show made a comment that said “Why is she wearing a doctor’s stethoscope?”
Minutes later, all the social media platforms started oozing with posts in protests, and nurses sending across heartfelt messages. The nation was educated about what it takes to be a nurse within minutes.
The NHS has been subjected to a plethora of debates in the recent past. Be it funding issues or questions being raised on the quality of nurses, it has been a debacle of some sort. However, the general masses seem to be unaware of what exactly is going on, and why is it so important for the youth of the country to be aware of the issues surrounding the NHS. Let us have a peek into that:
The health centers in universities that make facilities and medicines available to students free of cost are jointly backed by the university and the NHS.
The NHS pays bursaries worth over £430 million to more than 80,000 students all over the country. That ought to mean something. The Chancellor of Exchequer has cut the NHS funding by GBP 1.1 billion in his 2016 budget. Some share of that is bound to go to the students.
Of the total students included, over six thousand were medical student intakes in 2012/13.
The NHS is expected to fund repairs and replace out-of-date or broken equipment. The total funding to be allocated in this area is £4.8bn to cover this area. Considering that the NHS decides against including the student funding in the budget cuts, this figure will reduce to £3.7 billion. The average lifespan of biomedical devices ranges from 7 to 15 years, this is quite a big hit.
Local nurses in the UK are impacted not just in numbers, but also in the quality of services that is expected of them.
The US took offence to a statement made by someone who wouldn’t matter much in the medical field, it is about time Britain did the same with things that would.
On the bright side, from August 2017, students will move onto the student support system and receive an increased support for living costs of around 25% while studying.
We at The Flame Lily, endeavour to keep you in the loop about these changes, and are available at your beck and call to help you with any queries that you may have regarding them.