YESTERDAY we passed an important milestone in our fight against Covid-19. The Scottish Government announced that half of the population has now had two doses of the vaccine. The rollout of this vaccine programme is testament to how crucial our NHS is and how incredible the people who work in it are.
The First Minister also announced that from Monday anyone over the age of 18 will be able to attend drop-in clinics to get their first jag if they haven’t already had it, or their second jag if it’s been eight weeks since their first. You can go to one of these drop-ins even if you’ve got an appointment letter for a different time, or you can wait for an appointment if that is more convenient.
I encourage everyone who either hasn’t had their first jag, or has been waiting more than eight weeks for their second jag, to go out and get it as soon as possible. The Delta variant continues to spread rapidly throughout Scotland and mass vaccination is the key to continuing the steady march we’re currently making towards normality. Keep yourself and your loved ones safe. Please, get vaccinated!
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As we reach the amazing milestone of having 50% of the population vaccinated, it’s important to remember that without the NHS this entire crisis would have played out much differently, and frankly much worse.
As we first locked down, New York was in the throes of its first wave. I remember watching the American news and being struck by the number of people commenting that American hospitals were simply not built to have large numbers of people in them.
The privatised nature of the American healthcare system meant that hospitals were built with a service mindset rather than a capacity mindset. This is why the American military had to send hospital ships to New York. They don’t build their hospitals for the public, they build them for customers.
The odds are that the majority of people who read this don’t need to be reminded why having a public health service is critical. We already understand that our lives are immeasurably improved by the knowledge that if we get sick, we will get the help and support we need, no matter how much money we do or do not have.
However, I worry that we often take the NHS for granted. For almost all of us, the NHS has been there our entire lives, and so we assume its existence is a given. Be of no doubt that public healthcare which is free at the point of use, could disappear if we allow it to happen.
Would it disappear in one fell swoop? No. The NHS is beloved, and any government that attempted to abolish it in one fell swoop would be chased out of office the next day. However, they could get away with chipping away at it. We know this because it has already been happening. Slowly but surely, bits and pieces are taken out of public hands and put into the hands of businesses and corporations.
The health service was a massive part of the discussion during the 2014 independence referendum. As with “the Tories may force us out of the EU” and “Boris Johnson may become the prime minister”, “the NHS may be privatised” was cast aside by many as a scare story.
And yet, this week the Tories announced changes to prescription charges that will force thousands to pay for the medicine they need.
In Scotland, because of SNP Scottish governments, all prescriptions are free. In England, they’re only free if you’re aged 60 or above (plus some other exemptions). Now, the Tories are pushing that up to 66.
READ MORE: Warning for Scots as Tories propose 'alarming' prescription charges in England
Thankfully, health is devolved in Scotland, but thanks to the Barnett formula, the amount of our own money we receive back from Westminster is based on Westminster’s spending.
If the Tories continue to chip away at the English NHS, we will eventually see ourselves struggling to fund ours.
The pandemic as a whole has shone a light on why the NHS is so precious. It is there for us when we need it. The staff are fantastic, and do everything in their power to keep us healthy and to help us when we’re not.
It is one of the greatest achievements in the history of public policy. At times of personal health crises, and public health crises alike, we all rest a little easier knowing that the NHS is there. We must protect it.
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