Healthcare is now a very technical business. This means that a lot of machinery is involved and a lot of specialised medical staff is needed.
The problem in Wales is that we are not attracting enough highly trained doctors and nurses to realise the healthcare objectives of a modern society. Privatisation is creeping in from across the border, and with it the demise of the cherished principle of universal healthcare, free at the point of delivery.
Wales Green Party Leader Pippa Bartolotti said “Of course I see Wales as a wonderful place in which to live and work, but it’s clear that this message has not been communicated at all well outside the country. Most doctors love and respect the principles of the NHS, so the Wales Government should step up to the plate and work hard to promote a true NHS, founded on the principles of the Beveridge Report, free of privatisation and in democratic public ownership. I am quite sure this freedom from privatisation would attract many of the highly qualified people we so badly need.”
In the heady days of the Welsh Development Agency Wales attracted all kinds of high level skills, but along with the demise of WDA, the momentum to create a vibrant and sustainable NHS has floundered. It has long been known that Wales spends more on healthcare per patient than other parts of the UK but the outcomes are proving to be remarkable only in their failure. Even the Health Minister says that 20% of healthcare interventions are pointless.
Pippa Bartolotti added, “There will obviously be the need to set up centres of technical excellence, but that should not in any way prevent local care from being available, and excellent in itself. The emphasis on local hospitals surely has to concern itself as much as with prevention of illness, as cure, so that we can have a truly National Health Service, and not the National Sick Service people are forced to tolerate.
“I would like the Wales Government to concentrate properly on attracting the best skills available to the NHS in Wales. Without them Wales will be forever shortchanged.”
The Green Party believes that compassion and illness prevention must underpin our healthcare system. By supporting healthier eating, exercise and access to nature and by reducing pollution and social inequalities, a Green government will support mental wellbeing while minimising healthcare needs and costs. Greens will maintain a publicly funded, publicly provided and decentralised health service.
http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/he
Pippa Bartolotti is also the Lead Green candidate for the European elections in Wales