There are currently some 6m people on waiting lists for NHS care.
This list will grow even more in the coming weeks and will include cancer, cardiac, orthopaedic and respiratory patients, many of whom will have seen appointments for consultations, diagnosis and treatment cancelled many times.
According to Cancer Research UK, more than 2.4m people in the UK have been left waiting for cancer screening, further tests or cancer treatment due to Covid-19. The overall waiting list is now around 6m.
It is time to reflect on the six core values in the NHS Constitution, living by those values the NHS should ensure the best possible care for patients:
- Working together for patients.
- Respect and dignity.
- Commitment to quality of care.
- Compassion.
- Improving lives.
- Everyone counts.
Those being denied access to treatments could view this constitution applying only if you have Covid.
'Everyone' certainly does not count anymore.
Respect and dignity went out the window with the treatment of the elderly along with compassion. Lives are being made worse not better, and, many actually getting Covid in hospital when they eventually got admitted for care, Covid-free.
Even the lawyers are lining up. One firm I met this week fired this warning shot: “We believe everyone has the right to access healthcare when they need it. According to Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the government has a systemic duty to have a properly functioning healthcare framework in place to protect patients’ lives”.
A clear national plan is needed urgently to support the effective recovery and restoration of NHS pathways to diagnosis, treatment and after care, ideally before the ambulance chasers run out of ambulances to chase.
Why not give those self-paying or funding PMI a fiscal pat on the back?The last 12 months have been interesting times for those on the lists. I was one of those, needing two operations to deal with hip replacement and atrial fibrillation.
Neither condition, in my case, could result in an NHS consultant initial appointment for months and for anyone who has had similar issues, they will understand delays will only see worse pain or in the case of AF a stroke, even death.
I was fortunate, my medical insurance could create a solution and more importantly I can still afford to pay the eye watering premiums that age brings. Others are not so fortunate.
With the seemingly continuous mantra that we should be protecting the NHS instead of it protecting you and I, surely now is the time to have rethink about how the NHS serves us and more importantly how those in a position to pay can help support the NHS by taking away some of the burden.
Latest data shows that UK hospitals have cancelled at least 13,000 operations over the last two months as they struggle to cope with record demand for NHS care and people sick with Covid-19.
A read of this interesting pledge in the NHS constitution is enlightening, I am sure the lawyers have read in detail.
But as with all constitutions, it sometimes cannot work as you may intend.
As my own experiences confirm, if you want or need medical care or treatment, it is readily available privately but not on the NHS. Parking the morality of that to one side or even the logic, why is that even possible in such a crisis?
If the NHS is so hogtied, for all sorts of reasons, and with so many having to self-pay their way to good health, surely a big rethink about how private medical care is delivered and treated, as far as tax is concerned, is needed.
After all, there is no discount for NI contributions if private care is chosen and anyone self-funding or paying for private medical insurance is in fact paying twice.
The cost of a hip replacement is significant, as is a cardiac ablation. From what I can see from my cover, the combined claim cost will soon be £25,000.
In 1989 the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, John Major, argued that PMI “tax relief was well-targeted toward need".
He said: “It is true that the general presumption is in favour of fiscal neutrality, but in practice there will always be room for some carefully-considered and limited tax incentives to meet particular needs.
"The new relief that we are introducing for health insurance is fully justified on merit, as it is well directed at a particular problem.”
In 1997 the then Labour Government abolished this relief on the grounds of cost.
So, here’s a simple thought, if only for a year or two. Revisit the past, Rishi.
For those that self-pay, tax relief at higher rate should be available on the spend.
For those with PMI, premiums should be tax relievable up to the highest rates, borrowing from the old MIRAS model and not taxed as a benefit in kind.
This may be seen by the ‘progressive left’ as jumping a queue, but this is no ordinary queue, it is a Covid queue that has created even greater degrees of delay on top of those already there.
Why not give those self-paying or funding PMI a fiscal pat on the back for doing that?
After all, the positive way to look at my suggestion is that those who can afford to self-pay or fund PMI are taking away a workload from the NHS so that they can deliver to those most in need, those without the money or PMI option.
I think the suggestion above, when considered against the plight so many find themselves in today may see a very different take up.
Derek Bradley is founder and chief executive of PanaceaAdviser.
This op-ed has also been published in the latest PanaceaAdviser member newsletter
