• Question: What are your opinions on the structure of the NHS system in the UK? Do you think it's fair to tax the nation as a whole for individuals' medical care?

    Asked by C.A.Jones to Glafkos, Paul on 18 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      Hmm tricky question.
      I personally think that the management of the NHS should be improved, there are a lot of unhappy on how things are run. I also find some times that there are areas in MRI that could be improved to shorten waiting times but that is another HUGE discussion itself.

      Is it fair to tax the nation? I wonder that myself. If we compare our healthcare to other countries we can be very lucky in some aspects. For example if someone needs cancer treatment you won’t need to spend thousand of pounds on treatment .. while in other countries they do.

      In the end to make things fairer for everyone.. its hard, really hard. And to be honest it’s something I’ve been taking of more interest recently.

    • Photo: Glafkos Havariyoun

      Glafkos Havariyoun answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      Nice tricky one! Love your questions!

      There is a lot of criticism of the NHS out there. Some fair some unfair! I can tell you for a fact that the NHS is one if not the best healthcare system in the world. There is some bad management and there is a lack of support from the politicians. Every other party decides another thing when they are elected and keep changing the fundings, structure etc. How will it improve it this keeps happening?

      Now is fair to tax the whole nation? That’s a big argument. Do you know that the NHS is the 5th largest employee in the world? It has about 1.7 millions employees! Imagine how many unemployed people there would be if the NHS was not so large if the whole nation was not taxed. Of course there are always arguments for and against.

      I would think about it as an insurance policy. I am taxed and I will get free treatment if I get a disease. If i don’t then good! I don’t see how it is different to a health insurance policy. You never know if you will actually need it.

      The unfair thing might be that you have to pay more if you earn more! That’s not the case with health insurances is it ? 🙂

      Great questions by the way!

    • Photo: Paul Booker

      Paul Booker answered on 19 Mar 2015:

      Very interesting question – I’ve had this debate with people from the USA quite a lot!

      It all depends on what kind of society you want to live in! I like the idea that the founder of the NHS had (Aneurin Bevan, an MP after the war):

      “no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means”

      So as soon as you accept that, then you have to have a system that is fair for all. Which means in some cases you are caring for people who haven’t done everything they can to look after themselves, for example smokers, people who are overweight, people who hurt themselves riding horses etc.

      So the answer is yes, I do think it is fair, but that we also have responsibility as an individual to look after ourselves and minimise our impact on the NHS, which has been forgotten about in recent times I think. 🙂

      What do you think?

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