Who selected these NHS managers?
AS an ordinary citizen, I cannot understand the history of the NHS in Britain.
Attlee introduced Universal National Health Care in 1948, on the highest ethical principles, and a huge number of practical, cooperative advantages of now directing money to the most sick, which earlier had been wasted in conflicting directions, at the earliest time of diagnosis, when treatment and surgery are most efficient. We should all agree about that now.
For reasons beyond my comprehension, those senior executives whose thinking controls the NHS, far above consultants and surgeons who have my complete trust, have always had a policy to cut the number of wards, and particularly beds every year, in order to use trolleys instead of beds, and when the places where a human can lie in a horizontal position are all occupied, then the hospital cannot accept another patient.
For what possible reason would any citizen think this was an acceptable plan?
I remember, long ago, talk of mothballed wards, kept at minimum cost, to be available if there was a train wreck or a sudden flu outbreak, as cheap “spare capacity”. I did understand the concentration of complicated medical techniques in huge central hospitals. But, while I applauded that, I deeply regretted the closure of convalescent and cottage hospitals, the perfect place to accommodate elderly, recuperating patients now “bed-blocking” the hugely expensive facilities which had just been extended. These executives created huge problems.
This continued policy of these executives has now led to using ambulances as beds. Who has been selecting these particular executives for 50 years? Is it possible that their plan is to destroy the NHS – the only apparent explanation?