How To Save The NHS

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 If the government cared about the NHS, or cared about public health in any way, here are some things they would have done:


  1. Ban Smoking. 21% of hospitalisations for any respiratory disease can be attributed to smoking. Plus 14% of all admissions for circulatory diseases, and 9% of all admissions for cancers. If smoking had been banned or even discouraged in the same way that handshakes have been, for example, the covid risk for smokers would have significantly reduced - after quitting, circulation and lung function start to improve after 2 weeks, and risk of heart attack drops after just 2 days! And this in turn would have reduced hospitalisations and reduced pressure on the NHS. So why didn't they do it? 
  2. Keep Exercise Facilities Open. Obesity is a covid risk factor. Boris told us himself: "my friends, I was too fat". Exercise can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes (another covid risk) and cancer by up to 50%. Not to mention, exercise is well known for improving mental health and reducing the risk or severity of mental illness. Some people don't feel comfortable exercising in their neighbourhood, or without their PT, or without certain equipment - so closing gyms would absolutely discourage them from exercise. Also those who attend leisure centres, sports clubs and of course schools were denied their usual exercise. Why would a government that cared about public health do that? To protect the elderly, maybe? Nice theory, except that for seniors exercise reduces the risk of falls (30%), dementia (30%), arthritis (83%), and hip fracture (68%). Often their exercise is a group activity that combats loneliness. Once again it seems the government did not act in the best interests of the elderly, the NHS or public health.
  3. Use The Nightingale Hospitals. Across England, 7 Nightingale Hospitals were built from April 2020 onwards. The costs are estimated so far at half a billion pounds. The ExCel centre in London with a capacity of 4,000 only treated 20 patients. Yorkshire's 500 bed hospital closed without treating any patients. These centres were fully equipped with oxygen and ventilators - so why the drama about "being overwhelmed" and not having enough to treat everyone? Why were infected elderly patients sent back to care homes full of vulnerable people, resulting in 12,565 deaths involving Covid-19, when the Nightingale Hospitals sat empty? 
These top 3 all come from the past year. But the government has never cared about the NHS. Government spending on measures has risen to at least £372billion. Up to and including the 2019/20 budget, the NHS has never been considered worth more than £150.4billion. The NHS has been underfunded for 9 years. It becomes strained every winter. And even with this increased spending, it's not been invested in the NHS or genuine health initiatives. More than £150billion of it has been "grants" (bribes) to keep businesses closed, around £55billion to keep the self-employed at home and the covid communications and advertising spending has reached £184million. 

Motives aside, it is completely and utterly undeniable that the government has not made decisions that benefit public health. They don't care about the NHS. They don't care about the elderly. They don't care about saving lives. How much more proof do you need? 


Sources:
https://www.lifehealthcare.co.za/news-and-info-hub/latest-news/can-you-body-heal-after-smoking/
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/statistics-on-smoking/statistics-on-smoking-england-2020/part-1-smoking-related-ill-health-and-mortality
https://www.statista.com/chart/14061/the-effects-of-quitting-smoking/
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/exercise-health-benefits/
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/deathsinvolvingcovid19inthecaresectorenglandandwales/deathsoccurringupto1may2020andregisteredupto9may2020provisional
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56327214
https://committees.parliament.uk/work/906/covid19-test-track-and-trace-part-1/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/covid-government-response-spending-cost-b1848809.html
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/nhs-budget
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/govt-spent-184m-covid-comms-2020/1708695

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