Vocal Voices

This slogan is wearing a bit thin.
Tory rebels demanded a "cost benefit" document from the government to demonstrate what lockdown was costing the economy.
The government could not, or would not produce one, saying that it was impossible. Instead they just retreated behind the slogan that we couldn't let the NHS be "overwhelmed".
This is pretty poor, in fact it's diabolical. As a government you should have some idea about actions and consequences, and not just the economic consequences. There is the knock on effect of lockdown, the untreated heart attacks, undiagnosed cancers, a spike in mental health problems and suicides, an increase in domestic violence etc etc.
The government has a bunker mentality. Locked int here with middle class scientists whose only concern is the science, they are missing the big picture.
But I am hearing more and more people say that the NHS should be defending us, not the other way around. People may throw brickbats at Laurence Fox for his plain speaking on the NHS but imo he's not wrong.

The NHS has been a victim of the same old thinking that has plagued government initiatives for decades.

Down the years it had become too bureaucratic and inefficient and changes were needed. Unfortunately the changes did not work as intended so rather than going back to a known position changes were made to the changes, and that cycle has continued to this day, hence the current mess. It has been the same in other areas such as transport and education.

What is needed is a moratorium on all the meddling and for a dedicated team to take a long hard look at the problems and possible solutions. It would be best, IMHO, if people from government, the civil service and especially the current NHS management structure were kept well away from the deliberations and the team be left to look at things from all possible angles without fear of favour.

Personally I thought we paid the Government to provide the NHS to "Save Us".

Apparently I was wrong.

We are already seeing, stemming from Covid, a huge movement and change in the way our railways are financed and run. Arguably this was in the pipeline already (the unpublished Williams Review) and has merely been accelerated.

But change the NHS? I can't see it happening, far too monolithic in its structure.