I was visiting the local NHS hospital with my partner on Monday for her ultrasound scan, we arrived early and next to the reception my eyes couldn't help but avoid this sign which is now pretty much standard across most NHS establishments. My partner who is from Germany was horrified that such signs even need to be displayed here in the UK.
I paused for a moment and considered why these signs are not prevalent in private health care institutions such as my dentist or optician. For a start, these places tend not to resemble derelict concentration camps like Kettering General Hospital does. Any private health care establishment would have a hard time trying to find willing customers if it didn't at least make their environment look clean and professional, and that is where I believe the problem lies.
None of us ever voluntarily paid for the NHS, it's a government service that is paid for by the money that is coerced from us by the state. That means, no matter how much money they squander, or how much they cut through the rampant austerity we have been subject to for almost a decade, you cannot take your money out and put it towards better health care for you and your family.
But what if we could? Would the government suddenly have to up its repulsive health care scam and compete for our money like private institutions? Or would the NHS simply collapse and its staff migrate to a rapidly growing private healthcare sector which would have the resources needed to deliver the standard of care that patients deserve?
I accept that the reality is likely a lot more complex than this, but getting government out of healthcare or at least limiting it as much as possible would be a great first step to improving health in this country.
I do not agree in any way at all with people being abusive towards NHS staff. I do, however, empathise with the anger and frustration here and would like to see this directed more towards the conversation of a post-NHS society and decentralised health care. I hate to burst the bubble of the "save our NHS" camp, but government health care serves the government as a means of social control, far more than it serves the needs of optimising the health of each of us in society, we must strive for something better than this.