Hunt chance to take NHS off life-support

Job saved but he must deliver INTERNATIONAL trade minister Mark Garnier first knew he’d been fired when his wiki page was altered. Which cunning fox did that?

AS Aussie flu threatens to put thousands of us down under, be thankful it’s 2018 and not 1918.

A century ago Spanish flu became the worst ever pandemic causing 100 million deaths worldwide, 228,000 of them in Britain.

The Spanish went castanets about being blamed and claimed the flu came from Naples, although China was more likely.

For every 1,000 people, there were six deaths here, 44 in South Africa, and 236 in Western Samoa.

Quack remedies ranged from chewing raw onions, gargling with potash and salt, drinking paraffin, or taking Dr Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People.

Cope

Unsurprisingly none worked, and it took until 1933 and the invention of the electron microscope to discover that a highly infectious virus causes flu.

It’s now dangerous for the very young and very old, but in 1918 young adults were at most risk. Now we have better ways to deal with it.

What we don’t have is an NHS able to cope. Ambulances are stacked up outside A&Es and 92,000 patients have been stuck in the back of them so far.

Nurses spend entire shifts in hospital car parks treating them.

Theresa May planned to replace Jeremy Hunt with a former NHS nurse nicknamed Scary Spice – aka Education minister Anne Milton. There was a government car booked to take her to No10 at 3pm on reshuffle day.

Then Hunt dug his heels in and the PM was too weak to resist.

Now he has two more years as Health Secretary before the next reshuffle to prove he can get a grip. As he celebrates the 70th anniversary of the NHS this year, he might reflect that what worked in 1948 is not fit for purpose now.

To fund elderly care and medical advances would take one or more of three measures – taxes hitting the roof, the introduction of contributory state medical insurance or asking the better- off to pay for more services. The NHS was free at the point of use for only three years anyway. Dentists began charging in 1951 and opticians in 1988.

Hunt must find new solutions or Mrs May should banish him far, far away. The governor-generalship of Australia should become vacant around 2020.