Express & Star comment: NHS waiting times are disgraceful
The waiting times patients experience at A&E departments in this country is a scandal that would shame a third world nation.
At New Cross Hospital, one in four patients are forced to wait for four hours or more before they are seen.
Remember, this is supposed to be a modern and efficient NHS.
This should not be tolerated. The problems of the NHS are manifold.
It is not a simple issue of throwing more money at it and hoping for a miracle cure. Yes, there are undoubtedly administrative inefficiencies and misplaced priorities that have dogged the service for years.
Unfortunately, the country and its politicians do not seem mature enough or pragmatic enough to have a sensible discussion over the future of the NHS.
Whenever the issue is raised, it usually swiftly descends into a game of name calling and political point scoring.
Not every ailment is down to ‘savage Tory cuts’, as Labour would have us believe. Conversely, the NHS is clearly not safe in the dithering hands of the Tories.
But was it running like a well-oiled machine when Labour was in power?
People have short memories, because under the most recent Labour administrations all was most certainly not rosy in the garden.
The nation needs to have a grown up, sensible debate about the future of the NHS, centring on how it is funded and maintained.
There are tens of thousands of dedicated staff working in the NHS who deserve our praise for the incredible work that they do.
All too often they are being led by donkeys from the world of politics.
Anyone who thinks Jeremy Corbyn would wave a magic wand and cure the ills of the NHS probably needs some sort of medical help.
Meanwhile, the Government moves from one review to another, all the while failing to consider all of the possibilities for the NHS moving forward.
It has become little more than a political vehicle, while as usual the poor patients are stuck at the back of the queue.
Hard choices need to be made.
This can only happen if the political back-biting is removed from the equation. Until then, all that is left for patients is the grim reality of lengthy waiting times.
