So, this week we saw our Prime Minister finally talking about the NHS, having disappeared while hospitals up and down the country, including the Royal Sussex, declared critical incidents, asking only people with life threatening conditions to go to A&E and further delaying operations.
I was terrified when I tripped and fell quite heavily the other day, hoping that I hadn’t dislocated my hip again! Luckily, I got away with just some serious bruising.
Mr Sunak is in serious denial if he thinks that the NHS problems do not stem from years of under-investment in staff and services, including our local authority social care services.
The cynic in me thinks that this is a situation not unlike the one we faced in the 1980s under the Thatcher government (yes, I am old enough to have been there).
Public services were run down deliberately so that the private sector could ride in as the knight in shining armour to rescue them.
Already people are desperate enough to book private GP appointments, ambulance transport and minor surgery services that they can’t really afford.
And this is on top of what they are already paying for through their taxes – a service which is free at the point of use and which was once the pride of all of Europe, if not the world.
I’ve read some heart-breaking stories posted by A&E doctors and GPs. These people are not radicals and we should listen when they say that their job has now become untenable and impossible.
Because, without staff, our shiny new hospital isn’t going to be able to function and I‘m really worried about this situation and how it is impacting on residents. Unhappy thoughts for the new year, I know.
More maths for under-18s is quite a wonderful thing – but, Mr Sunak, will you fund the cost of it?
Will you make sure we pay teaching and other school staff properly by funding realistic pay awards that reflect the job they do every day and give the schools enough money to keep classrooms warm?
And where will we get the maths teachers from? I am looking forward to better funding for our schools but I won’t hold my breath.
Councillor Carmen Appich is the joint Labour opposition leader on Brighton and Hove City Council.
I agree with everything you say about the NHS. It’s a disgraceful situation and is so obviously the result of 12 years of party policiy that there really can be no argument about it.
The teaching of maths… Please no. Please offer it, but don’t demand it. Not everyone is academically minded and to insist on any particular learning will disenchant so many that it would be totally counter-productive. In any case, the ability to communicate in English effectively is far more important, as are the life skills of renting or buying accommodation, how Councils represent us, taxes, mortoring…. etc.
Most important is that education should be given to forward the individual’s best chance of a fulfilling career that will provide for a comfortable life.
I would agree that English is more important together with life skills, which should include some element of financial ability (some mathematics there) as well as generally being able to sustain oneself.
The NHS has been in a mess for more than 12 years, in my experience/knowledge it goes back a long way at least into the 1960s. Subsequent fiddling around without proper management and organisation has just made it worse. Throwing money at it won’t cure the problems, it just papers over them for another few months. The NHS is now so huge that I don’t know how it can be sorted out without a complete overhaul.