Articles and Speeches

A Responsive NHS
12-Aug-05, Windsor Express Column.

"I like cats especially the warm and affectionate kind. The health and wellbeing of my cat was always important to me.

If there was a suspicion of ill-health she’d be rushed to the local vet who would see her within hours. She once required an operation; and that operation was successfully completed within 48 hours.

So how is that when we need urgent medical treatment we are left to wait for days for an appointment with the GP or consultant? And we can wait months, sometimes years, for our treatments. Something is seriously wrong when cats are treated more quickly than people.

I am frustrated for our able and dedicated doctors, nurses and consultants within the NHS who want nothing more than to be free to treat patients in the way they know best.

This Government came to power with big promises for the NHS, but things seem to be getting worse. One million people remain on waiting lists, there are more bureaucrats than beds and we’ve seen only a 4% improvement in outcomes for patients compared to a 37% increase in funding.

And we now read that effective drugs are being delayed at the Government’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence. They seem to want to control everything centrally even though this approach is not working.

It is time to give power back to the doctors and nurses to set priorities according to clinical need, not arbitrary Government targets.

Whilst many of us love out pets, we care more about the health of our friends and family.

Our health service used to be the envy of the world. I hope that, some day soon, the Government will once again allow our excellent professionals to deliver an NHS more responsive to people than our local vet is to our pets." 

Adam Afriyie, MP for Windsor.