Want a little more insight about the United Kingdom health care system – the one that we are supposed to envy and try to emulate?
Excerpted from Paul Kelso’s article at Sky News:
One in four terminally ill people who need expert end-of-life care are not receiving it because of funding pressures, the hospice movement has told Sky News.
Hospice UK said as many as 118,000 people in the UK with terminal or life-limiting conditions are not able to access palliative care from its members.
Hospices offer palliative care to improve the quality of life of those dying, as well as emotional and psychological support to families facing bereavement.
On average, hospices most of which are charities, receive just one-third of their funding from the NHS and rely on donations, shops, bequests and investments for the rest.
Hospice UK said two-thirds of hospices had their NHS funding cut or frozen last year.
It argues that with more certain funding it could treat many more people, significantly easing the pressure on NHS hospitals.
Around 500,000 people die in England and Wales every year, half of them in hospitals despite many of them having no clinical need to be there.
“What we really want to see is more stability and sustainability in funding,” Jonathan Ellis, head of advocacy at Hospice UK, told Sky News.
“If we just look at last year, two-thirds of hospices had their funding cut or frozen, adding more pressure to hospices at precisely the time demand is growing and more people need the care hospices provide.
“At the moment the NHS is spending an awful lot of money and very often not meeting the needs of those at the end of life very effectively. Half of people will die in a hospital bed when they don’t have a clinical need to be there, and hospitals are the most expensive bit of the system, and the part that is under the most pressure.”
Single payer health care, controlled by the government.
Lovely.
Can anyone name anything government is in charge of that does not run better in the private sector? I’m betting you can’t.
So why would we want government, that uniformly runs things less well than the alternative, in charge of our health care – i.e. our health – i.e. our well being – i.e. whether we live or die?
That’s another question I’m betting you can’t answer.
