FEATURE:
Platinum Bond: Seventy Years of the NHS
For Musicians; For Everyone…
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WE keep hearing about the NHS…
PHOTO CREDIT: Unsplash
and how perilously underfunded it is. This is true, indeed, but I wonder if there are solutions and whether, alarmingly, the National Health Service will survive in its current state: a free enterprise that has helped millions and has done immeasurable good for Britain! Budgets are getting tighter and workers are being stretched to their limits. It is the seventieth anniversary of the NHS and, whilst we celebrate; one cannot help look at the financial burdens and how little the Government are doing right now. Plans have been mooted to freeze duty on alcohol and fuel to allow some extra money to go the way of the NHS. Looking at this article and it seems like an important debate will bubble tonight:
“That will be the question tonight, when on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the NHS, Sky News hosts a live debate about the system's future from Guy's Hospital in central London.
Sean Worth, a former health adviser to David Cameron when he was prime minister, and Sonia Sodha, a policy adviser to Ed Miliband when he was Labour leader, will present two different arguments for how the NHS should be funded.
We give you an outline of the case each of them will make during tonight's debate.
Sean Worth will argue:
"The NHS is under unbearable pressure, with staffing shortages, financial deficits and over 2,000 operations cancelled every week.
"The service is doing a great job, but is constantly pressured to do more for an ever-growing and ageing population.
"We can keep pouring more money in, but it will never be enough.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
"The big change we need is to allow more outside experts in to deliver more NHS services, including from the private sector.
"There is so much extra capacity, innovation and amazing technology there, but only 7% of NHS services are delivered through outside organisations.
"The trade unions' rage against the private sector delivering NHS services is preposterous - especially as many of their senior NHS members are moonlighting for private firms on the side”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Unsplash
Other reports suggest the Prime Minister, Theresa May, is ready to inject financial support into the marrow of the NHS:
“Theresa May has decided to give the beleaguered NHS a “significant increase” in its budget to coincide with the service’s 70th birthday in July, the health secretary Jeremy Hunt has revealed.
The prime minister intends to ramp up spending in order to show that the Conservatives can be trusted to run the NHS and because it needs extra cash to tackle chronic understaffing, cope with the ageing population and improve care, Hunt said.
May will fulfil her pledge of a “long-term plan” for NHS funding by ditching the austerity-era 1% annual rises it has received since 2010, the health and social care secretary told the Guardian in an exclusive interview.
“She is unbelievably committed. You should not underestimate how committed she is to the NHS. So she is absolutely 100% behind getting this right,” Hunt said”.
Whilst these words might balm and soothe the furrowed brows of those deemed with guiding the NHS forward; it will provide small consolation to those NHS workers who have committed so much of their lives to the jobs they love. I wonder why it has taken so long for the Government to find money to put the way of the NHS. I am sure education and other areas have been funded. The thing is this: nothing is important as the health service and the NHS’ survival. If you cannot live, operate and go about your day then you cannot teach or be educated. The NHS supersedes everything and is at the top, one would hope, funding totem pole! This article argues why the money promised by the Government might not be enough. We hear about aims to support those with mental-health issues: the reality is not enough is being done and there is a long way to go. I wonder how the NHS will change when Brexit finally happens; will certain people have to pay and will others be excluded?! Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been urged to think his position on the NHS when outlining the party’s Brexit plans. Labour are, as he says, the party of the NHS: the interests of those who rely upon our healthcare system is top of his focus.
PHOTO CREDIT: Unsplash
If we get a hard-Brexit then the fate of the NHS could be different were we to have a soft-Brexit. It seems, even though the P.M. has pledged £135bn by 2023-2024, a £20bn increase on this year’s budget, and equivalent to an average annual increase of 3.4% - maybe that is only going to keep the NHS afloat as opposed expanding and improving it. There is a lot of stress and uncertainty when it comes to the amount given to the NHS; whether social care and healthcare will be on a level footing – so people are not pushed from one to another – and how Brexit will affect plans going forward. When Welsh Labour minister Aneurin Bevan created the NHS on this day in 1948; he would have no idea what it would do and how many people it would help. From those who have worked/work in hospitals to those who have had their lives saved – the importance of the NHS cannot be understated.
IMAGE CREDIT: Gruff Rhys
Musicians are celebrating the seventieth anniversary in their own way. Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals) has released a song, No Profit in Pain, to mark the anniversary; pay tribute to the NHS and show why we need to keep it alive and accessible-for-all. He was writing in The Guardian and explaining why he, and many people he knows, have come to rely on the NHS’ great work.
“The NHS is something that we can too easily take for granted. I’ve twice toured with musicians in America when they’ve had broken limbs and not been able to afford treatment. Each time, they had to continue touring in pain in cramped vans, using homemade splints and slings. It’s a precarious way to live if you don’t have insurance.
The NHS has been there for me throughout my life and has saved many of my family members’ lives. It means more than anything I could ever hope to convey in a melodramatic synth-pop power ballad. For the song (recorded with Kliph Scurlock on drums and Llion Robertson producing), I focused on the battle to keep the NHS as a free service in public ownership. There’s loads of swearing in it”.
I have been lucky (touch wood) enough not to have to rely too heavily on the NHS but, looking around, and one cannot quantify the number of musicians who have been saved and helped by the NHS. I know so many people with mental-health problems and psychological issues who have been for counselling and been hospitalised. Receiving that care and attention has not only kept them alive but has led them to create music and turn their lives around. Many other musicians suffer strains and muscular distress; some injury themselves whilst performing and others incur pain during their careers. Whether it is something as minor as a cut face or a broken leg; the fact they can go to hospital, be seen and fixed is vital. It means they can continue to play/earn and do not have to break the bank. We all know there is a mental-health epidemic that means more musicians are self-harming and depressed; many suffer psychological illnesses and it is worrying to see.
PHOTO CREDIT: Unsplash
Waiting lists are increasing – to see a counsellor or psychiatrist – and those available do a sterling job. It is the psychological side of the musician’s life that makes me feel the NHS needs more money to do what it does. The number of people seeing mental-health professionals is at all all-time high. Throw into the mix all the physical risks of being a musician – back and neck problems to injuries and falls – and the value of the NHS cannot be measured. I guess Gruff Rhys will not be the only musician paying tribute to the NHS today. There are gigs around the country and today provides a chance for people to think about the NHS’ longevity and changes and pay thanks. It is not only musicians/creatives who have benefited from the NHS: families, friends and those we rely on have also had their lives saved/prolonged. If the NHS did not exist, or was to privatised, then there is a concern some would not be able to afford it or there would be alterations that would negatively impact the way it is run and operates. We have a committed body of professionals who put in extraordinary hours and energy to enrich and preserve the lives of millions in the country. Musicians rely upon the NHS as much as anyone else out there.
We are all very lucky to live in the U.K. – in respect of our healthcare – when you look at the U.S. Whilst Gruff Rhys has revealed why the free health service is valuable to him; fortunes are not as bright and stable in the U.S. – as this article from 2010 shows:
“Josh Homme has a pertinent piece of advice for any musician hoping for help from the American medical system. "If you want to live," says the leader of Queens of the Stone Age, "you better be rich."
Two years ago, Homme's Queens bandmate Natasha Shneider died from cancer, aged just 52. She was put on chemotherapy pills – two a day at $500 a time. Schneider had health insurance that split the cost, but that still left her paying $500 a day for essential treatment. Now Brian O'Connor, the bassist in one of Homme's other bands, Eagles of Death Metal, has been diagnosed with stage-four colon and lung cancer as well as tumours on his bones.
"This was a 6'3" guy," Homme says. "He went from 230lb to 180lb in six months. None of us could understand it. It's just heartbreaking. I'm 37 now and I've been beating myself up my whole life, but I'm insured, I know the status of my own health. Brian is only 44 and his insurance is sorted now, but even when you're insured you still get slow-rolled. The bureaucracy of insurance has become its own problem. Brian's cancer is incredibly aggressive. He needed surgery immediately, so we paid for four days in hospital with a brilliant anaesthetist and one of the best surgeons in America. That was $25,000…”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
Many are looking forward to another seventy years (and more) of the NHS and what it can become. There is one part of the mind that worries whether enough money will be allocated to ensure services can continue and the NHS can be sustained, expanded and strengthened. Those who work tirelessly are doing their best but we are all aware how much they sacrifice – it is unfair we should ask so much of mere mortals. Every person alive has exposure and experience of the NHS and the good work that is being carried out every day. Musicians, as I said, would not be able to create and continue were it not for the NHS. It has been a long and hard road for the nation’s most-loved service and a shining example for the rest of the world. I hope my fears around funding and long-term survival are unfounded and premature. It would be upsetting to see the foundations crumble or people suffer because there is not enough resourcing or staff. Rather than dwell on the bad; let’s all, as we have been today, celebrate and mark a wonderful anniversary. Seventy years strong and the NHS continues to patch up and help those who need them. From musicians struggling with mental-health issues and the inevitable gig injuries; musicians are as grateful and full of respect for a platinum-gold service…
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
WE all rely on and cherish.