52 per cent have temporarily closed wards

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Author: Patrick Crozier
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James Bartholomew links to a survey of NHS managers that includes the statistic that 52% of NHS trusts have temporarily closed wards.

My take:

  • If true, it is difficult to see how this can be a good thing
  • I have no idea if this statistic is true or not. There are all sorts of reasons to doubt its accuracy
  • However, I believe in the underlying truth that all is not well in the NHS
  • I believe this is further evidence that the NHS is getting worse, that it is not as good a system as those found in other countries and that it should be abolished
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Q&A

So, this could be a good thing?

Well, never say never. It is always worth remembering that one man's bad is another man's good. After all, some people like drum and bass. While I can't see how wards being closed - and I don't think this is because we've all suddenly got a lot healthier - can be a good thing... well, you just never know.

So, it might not be true?

Yes, one has to be careful about these sorts of surveys. For starters, it is a survey. I doubt if the NHS Confederation conducted this survey with the intention of issuing a press release entitled "Everything fine and dandy in the NHS". Similarly, NHS managers in an anonymous survey are hardly going to say: "Oh, everything's just fine. In actual fact right now we have just a bit too much money to play around with. Please take some of it back."

But how can you be sure that this means that the NHS is getting worse?

I can't. That's the problem with facts. For starters, there's no (to my knowledge) direct comparison with previous years. However, what you can say, and it is about all you can say, is that it is consistent with the NHS gettting worse. Much the same would apply when it comes to comparisons with other countries.

But, maybe it just proves that the NHS is underfunded?

That could well be true - that the NHS does indeed have less money than it needs to carry out what it is trying to do. But I think that just makes my point (about abolishing the NHS, that is). When was the last time you heard of a branch of Tescos being "underfunded"? It just doesn't happen. The private sector (generally speaking) has a genius for cutting its cloth to fit its coat (or is it the other way round?). "Underfunding" is a chronic feature of certain types of state enterprise. The answer is privatisation.

What makes you think that the NHS is getting worse?

I should point out that I don't (necessarily) mean that treatment is worse today than it was in 1947. Obviously, we have to take into account the fact that medicial technology has moved on and that we live in a vastly richer society. What I am really thinking about here is on the organisational/managerial level. And on that level I think the NHS is getting worse because:

What makes you think that the NHS isn't as good as systems in other countries?

See here

Well, maybe they are better because they have more money to play with

As far as I know that is true but I think much the same argument as with "underfunding" applies here: it's a symptom of the state. Mind you I very much doubt if the NHS would be very much better even if it did have just as much money as the US or French systems

Why's that?

Well, we're back to the state enterprises get worse over time argument. The NHS was nationalised in 1948. That's almost 60 years of decline.
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Comments

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