It's Not Fair

So at least the headlines will run today as the new NHS reforms and the Health and Social Care Bill come into effect. Goodbye NHS, farewell to the welfare state; the Coalition has sunk us all and just so that the rich can get richer and the vile Tories can once and for all eradicate the poor from our land. Utter tripe.

Let's take a look at how Britain came to this position, shall we? Starting with the creation of the welfare state, under a postwar Labour government, which saw that there were those in Britain who genuinely required a lot more state support than was available. Already there was some old age provision in the form of the state pension created a generation earlier. This was a laudable idea; a safety net would be created in which those who had genuine needs would be caught. Food would be put on the table and the concurrent NHS, brought online in 1948, would help keep household healthcare bills down. Additionally, new social housing would be built, clearing the slums and thereby reducing the burden on the new healthcare service because the diseases contained therein would be reduced significantly. For a while this seemed to work, until the social housing became unliveable and the baby-boomers began to have children, thereby requiring more welfare to be made available.

What happened next? Well social security payments continued to be made, the state pension went through some increases and universal benefits were made available. This, too, seemed to work, until the advent of child benefit. For struggling people this was again something of a boon, the kids would be clothed and shod and middle-class people had more disposable income to dispose of. This system was largely unchanged, even during the Thatcher and Major years, although social housing was largely sold off and councils never thought to rebuild in order to maintain supply. Then came the real bombshell.

There were already a small but growing number of families who were growing up on welfare; grandparents retiring and parents who were finding it easier simply to claim, claim, claim. After May 1997, this became exacerbated by New Labour. New Labour, which claimed that it would provide for families, which would reform and improve education and the NHS so that the British people would have world-class services began the systematic wholesale growth of those who were rendered totally dependent on the state. Then the stories of the abuse of the system began to become more apparent and more abhorrent. Families who were spending their welfare on luxury items, such as holidays, massive TV screens and top-brand clothes. Stop me if this sounds familiar, but it has now culminated in some being offered custom-built houses by their local authority, with right of refusal if it doesn't match specifications. Is it any wonder the taxpayers are irate? is it any wonder there must be reform? Yet where is the taxpayers' righteous indignation? Where are our protests at these vile parasites, who leech from us?

In summary on this point, I say this. Those of you who are angry about the so-called "Bedroom Tax" (it isn't, it's a benefit reduction to stop under-occupancy of social housing (you know, the ones Labour never really seemed keen to build), direct your anger at Frank Dobson and Bob Crowe, both of whom are paid handsomely and have never moved from their council houses. Council housing was designed to help those who could not find housing in the private sector and thereby meant to be a temporary solution until an individual's circumstances improved. Benefits are being cut because more jobs are being created, so the work is there for those who want it I take with a pinch of salt the figure of the nearly 900,000 who will not undertake a medical in order to prove unfitness for work. I believe this is two-fold; firstly because there will be people who are genuinely in need and are scared the stringency of the tests will be too great for them. There will also be those idlers who have been continually signed off by a lazy GP for years and who may be in danger of finding their so-far "cushy" lifestyle somewhat impugned.

Now to the NHS reforms. I was at first sceptical when the plans were announced, particularly on the commissioning front. One cannot simply allow GP's to take control lock, stock and barrel of NHS service commissioning without the proper controls. Commissioning boards ought to have membership widened to include other healthcare professionals and ensure that there are GPwSI's (GP with Special Interest) sitting on them.

What is clear, particularly from the Francis Report, is that the NHS is in dire need of an overhaul. Management is too complex; certain wards in hospitals are managed differently to others and thereby the messages coming through seem to be incoherent. The problem with the NHS, of course, is that it is now treated as a sacred cow and should not be given to the private sector to run at all. However, the reforms are intended to help give professionals clear guidance on the best treatment and patients better information on each hospital. After all, this is how society operates; word of mouth. People are more likely to listen to their friends and neighbours when it comes to experience of the medical profession. Which would you trust; an impersonal leaflet, or a friend or relative who will have an anecdote to attach about a particular hospital and how it is run?

There is also hype that the NHS will not survive much longer under the Coalition and it will simply be yanked away. In the case of Mid-Staffs, that's surely a good thing. No, don't misunderstand me, I'm not in favour of privatising the NHS entirely; just the bits that don't work. They did it with the Hinchingbrooke in Cambridgeshire and it posts regularly about good patient satisfaction levels. There are now more private healthcare companies advertising their services publicly, so the system is beginning to work. Once you subject the state to market forces, it becomes less bloated and idle and will begin to shape up with the view to keeping its pole position. That is what the reforms are designed to do; provide the taxpayer with a top-quality, value-for-money service. Get them charging for missed clinical appointments and then we'll really see the difference. I'm still going to use the NHS, because it isn't going anywhere.

To summarise in full; I make no apologies for the views herein expressed, I've decided that if people are going to be offended, then good. This is a democracy after all, I'm entitled to say these things without fear of a lawsuit. I believe in the state and I believe in the Conservative Party, the two are not mutually exclusive. The reforms coming into force today are good, they will make Britain fairer. Nobody has the right to live off the state when they've no need or good reason to do so. We must continue to support our most vulnerable and make example of those who shirk responsibility. Do not get caught up in the hype today; make your own judgements with a cool and clear head. Britain is changing and it will be for the better.