Earlier this week, the Great British populous were made aware that their representatives in government – those allegedly protecting their interests and standards of living – have attempted, disgustingly, to deceive them by trying to keep secret cuts to the National Health Service (NHS), arguably Britain’s most treasured and long-lasting liberal reform.

Health managers across England have been ordered to develop strategies to change services, reduce costs and attempt to improve the service the NHS provides whilst it is currently struggling with a substantial £2.45 billion deficit – although this is nothing compared to the estimated national debt of £69 billion. What makes this even worse is the fact that NHS England had actually instructed these health managers to refuse Freedom of Information requests from the media or the public wanting to see proposals, completely mocking the democracy upon which Great Britain is founded.

I think it is completely irresponsible for our leaders to impose such cuts on an already down-trodden system that is struggling to cope with the demands of health care our ageing, obese and just generally unhealthy population requires. Now, I am not suggesting that the NHS should receive billions more in their budget, but surely the frequent demonstrations by junior doctors, the walk-outs by nurses, and everything else shows the stupidity in imposing further cuts on the Liberal Reform’s crown jewel. It is not yet clear the severity of the cuts, however it has been revealed that there is a proposal to downgrade at least one A&E department in Cheshire and Mersey, whilst southwest London could see their number of acute hospitals being reduced from five to four. Additionally, in northwest London there is the notion that the number of sites offering a full range of services will be drastically reduced, and in Birmingham and Solihull there is a proposal to reduce the providers of maternity care to just a single provider.

Although this may not seem like too drastic a change, the population volume in these areas alone – not considering the multiple other areas that would be affected – would mean a substantial decrease in the quality of care and service we would receive as recipients of national health care. I don’t know about anybody else, but to me this is completely unacceptable.

In Britain, we have the most desired healthcare system in the world, that is actually good quality, so I just can’t comprehend the motives in reducing its budget, quality and cutting invaluable services. The fact that there are also clear anxieties among ministers and NHS leadership over the way the plans could be interpreted by the public, confirms the outright stupidity and selfishness of such people because there is no way they are considering the interests of the people: the people who, without the NHS, would die within months, the people who need the NHS because of accidents, the children who need the NHS for illnesses whilst they are in the vulnerable stage of their lives. Do they not matter anymore or, does money outweigh the cost of living?

Lauren Walker
(Image courtesy of the Healthcare Times)