BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – The new British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has commented on a report he commissioned that found England’s National Health Service (NHS) to be in a bad state. The report’s findings support media investigations in the past that have found long-term unacceptable care, crumbling hospital structures, unnecessary patient deaths, patients on trolleys in hallways because there are no rooms, mental health patients occupying cells infested with pests, and MRI is much less. scanner than in the same size country
Repairing the NHS, which has had much support across party lines since it was created in 1948, is a central theme in Starmer’s campaign to bring back Labor. Starmer announced a 10-year plan to “fix” the system that will certainly include more spending and possibly higher taxes.
Starmer has promised no new funding for the NHS without reform. He cited three areas that needed immediate attention: transitioning to a digital NHS, moving more care from hospitals to the community, and focusing efforts on disease prevention.
The latter – disease prevention – is key not only in the UK, but also in the US and everywhere else. For a long time politicians focused more on treatment than cure.
I am (still) old enough to remember when President John F. Kennedy opened the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, directed by the famous football player and coach Bud Wilkinson. Kennedy did not have the authority to command a national training program, so he and Wilkinson sought to lead by example. He created a curriculum for public schools that supplemented existing Physical Education programs. Beginning in the 1961-1962 school year, the Kennedy board began a national publicity campaign to promote fitness instruction. This includes a fifty-mile-mike-in-20-hours challenge, inspired by the Marine Corps, eating the right foods, and some memorable popular culture tie-ins. Cartoonist Charles Schulz contributed “Snoopy’s Daily Dozen,” a training manual featuring Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang.
It’s suddenly cool and fun to be fit.
Following Starmer’s claim about prevention is what should be the goal of companionship and treatment of disease.
One example. Nearly 7 million elderly Americans are living with Alzheimer’s dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. By 2050, this number is expected to rise to almost 13 million. There are currently estimated to be almost one million people living with dementia in the UK and this is expected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040.
A cure for this terrible and debilitating disease will also create economic benefits, in addition to relief for patients, family members and caregivers. According to ScienceDirect.com: “Medicare and Medicaid will save up to $195 billion annually.” Life insurance companies and unpaid caregivers will also benefit.
I bet people in England and the US will be willing to pay a little more in taxes if they can be sure that reforms will come to their respective health systems and that the money has been spent wisely. Cures may be more expensive up front, but the savings later on in money and pain will be huge and worth it.
Prime Minister Starmer’s proposed reforms are faster than it is known that faster improvements are possible. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration may ease some of the regulations that hold drugs back by promising to get them to market faster. Consent for drugs currently used for other purposes may be granted to those who wish to try them, considering the risks involved.
If Starmer’s reforms work, the new NHS could become a model for the world.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has often proposed “Medicare for all, a type of NHS for the U.S. If it doesn’t work here, what makes Sanders and his fellow advocates think it will work in countries with far larger populations than the UK ?
Readers can email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” ​​(HumanixBooks).
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