THE problem with the NHS seems to be access. At present it is difficult to see a GP, and even when granted a telephone appointment with one, their purpose is clearly to keep people away from hospital.
NHS24 is a tiresome experience, and A&E – to which many people are driven in final desperation – is equally keen to keep people out of the hospital wards. Indeed, the NHS seems to have shut down.
The time for fundamental change has arrived, and as health is a devolved matter, our government can make that change.
READ MORE: 3000 Covid cases recorded in Scotland – the highest ever daily figure
The mail order and fast food industries provide the profile for a future self-serve rapid-result NHS, with easy and instant access. The CEO of the new NHS would preferably be from a fast food chain such as McDonald’s, or from a supermarket group.
The proposal is that the general practitioner layer of the NHS – presently acting as gate guardian for our hospitals – should be scrapped, and GPs taken into new-style hospitals where someone feeling ill can arrive at any time of day or night on foot, or by car or ambulance, and – most importantly – without need for an appointment.
According to what seems to be the problem, the patient presents at the appropriate symptom entrance, for assessment and examination, before being admitted further for treatment, or moved to a different intake track.
READ MORE: What are the symptoms for the Delta Covid variant and how to they differ?
Further investigation takes place, and the problem is eventually dealt with that day, by means of diagnosis and medication, or the patient is admitted to a ward that day as well. All tests are performed there and then as required. There is no waiting for results, as each new-design hospital will have on-site laboratories for instant blood and other tests.
Whatever treatment is appropriate at each stage is delivered, including admission for surgery or for other procedures. In most cases, however, diagnosis, treatment and discharge will occur on the day of the patient’s first visit.
Recuperation after any surgery takes place on site, with take-home medication provided instantly from an adjacent facility, probably run by a former Amazon executive.
So now we have eliminated delay and duplication, and have probably reduced costs. No long referral procedures. No “come back and see me again in six weeks”. Just a seamless and continuous process that delivers in short order and improves health and saves lives.
The popularity of this revised process, and the comfort it provides, may even encourage people to make a voluntary financial contribution towards the cost. If additional money is needed, this could come from the huge constraint payments being paid to wind turbine owners for not generating electricity. A much more productive use of taxpayers’ money.
Malcolm Parkin
Kinross
MONDAY’S National contained an article about two new “shepherds’ huts” for tourists in “Tulliemet valley” (Luzury Highlands holiday huts open, June 21).
Tulliemet is, in fact, in Strath Tay/Strathtay. “Tulliemet valley” is an invention of Atholl Estates in its press promotion of the “shepherds’ huts” which are themselves normally called bothies or shielings in Scotland.
Hamish Scott
Tranent
A SLEEVE note on Kenneth McKellar’s 1964 Decca LP Folk Songs from Scotland’s Heritage reads: “The Scottish character was an enigma to many great men, among them Edward I of England – later known as the ‘hammer of the Scots’. But, by his diligent hammering, Edward unwittingly welded the wayward people of Scotland into an unbreakable unity, at the same time igniting that first fiery cross of patriotism which has been carried by Scotsmen to the four corners of the earth.”
May the present “diligent hammering” likewise “weld the wayward people of Scotland into an unbreakable unity” of purpose: INDEPENDENCE!
Valerie Waters
via email
WELL said, John Jamieson (Could this explain our pupil’s fear of failure?, Letters, June 23). The systematic denigration of the performance of Scottish pupils by Unionist politicians and much of the press is a disgrace and is bound to have an adverse effecton the mental health of many.
READ MORE: Is the denigration of Scotland by politicians bringing down our pupils?
However, it is not only in education that this happens. Our health service and hospitals are regularly criticised by the same people, as are construction projects, such as the second Forth bridge – some people apparently could hardly wait for it to be closed because of high winds so that they could complain.
Why do such people feel it necessary to talk down anything Scottish, often when similar things happening in England, such as deaths of babies in hospital are accepted as things which, unfortunately, can happen? By contrast, in Scotland some unfortunate minister is told to resign on the front pages.
Ann Rayner
via thenational.scot
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