INDEX
Friday January 19, 2018
NHS can get cheaper and better
We are constantly being told that the cost of the NHS must always rise; the implication being that something has to give and we will have to accept the privatisation of at least some health care, a poorer quality NHS, or both. In reality the truth is exactly the opposite and this is simply a political case being put forward by people with an extreme right wing agenda. Take just one recent announcement, the amazing discovery that eight cancers can be detected by a simple blood test carried out once a year. Early detection of cancer almost invariably drastically reduces the cost of treating the disease. It also makes it more likely that the eventual outcome will be far better for the patient, therefore reducing long term health and social care costs. It is true that drug companies often want to charge a lot more for new treatments and so costs may rise in some circumstances; but this is not the general rule. Take, for example, the amazing advances being made in diagnostics. These may eventually de-skill the roles of consultants (or at least considerably reduce the amount needed, another cost saving). But the real point is that computerised diagnosis learns from its mistakes (and from the mistakes of other systems operating elsewhere) offering the prospect of significant improvements in accuracy and better (usually cheaper) treatment models. Computerised diagnosis is not going to be reserved for complex and life threatening conditions. It will also be available for the everyday ailments that keep GPs busy, with the real prospect of a phone app taking much of this caseload. It will be better and it will be much, much cheaper. This is just one of many examples of how the zeitgeist gets it wrong. And why do you think that is? Is it an inherently flawed system, or is it that there are people out there with a political agenda that is not in your interest who want you to be like turkeys voting for Christmas?
	Posted by Jonathan Brind.
INDEX
Friday January 19, 2018