It is said that your health is the most important thing - in other words, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything. Most people accept the truth of this statement, even if they can't or won't live up to the challenge when it comes to daily self-care. However, what is really quite astounding is that despite the fact that this collective belief has gone unquestioned for generations, you would not think this was the case when you consider the appalling lack of strategic and innovative thinking applied to the NHS by both the authorities and Joe Public.
The Mid Staffs crisis is testament to the appalling problems which besiege the NHS organization or shall we say NHS disorganization and I believe are down to the fact that the whole thing is a haphazard configuration of dilapidated sites - the operations of which can never be properly mapped nor measured and thus efficiently managed. Put another way, the very essence of a system of measurement is to afford numerical comparison and thus it defies belief that we can put a man on the moon but no adequate facility of comparison can exist across NHS sites. There is quite simply no logic to the NHS layout - it developed in a similar manner as to how most towns and villages evolved and this innate and dangerous disparity is never properly recognized nor addressed. In fact, one can draw uncomfortable parallels between the NHS's problems and the breakdown of the European Union - one simply cannot compare apples and oranges, nor efficiently manage them as one entity - it is against the laws of nature.
However, it goes without saying that whereas countries must maintain their identities, it is clearly NOT practical nor even humane for health authorities which could so easily be furnished with state-of-the-art facilities to be permitted to continue operating in their current state. The ONLY option is to knock the whole thing down and build brand new hospitals to a similar spec across the UK. The NHS would then be afforded the necessary 'brand operating qualities' through which accurate and fair qualitative and quantitative comparisons and necessary improvements can be made swiftly and to the highest standard. The NHS will then adopt the perception of a huge, publicly-held scientific corporation where health authorities are viewed as high tech scientific sites constantly sharing valuable medical information and performance data through which massive medical research, financial and operational strides would be possible. Health Authorities could then shed the outdated, scientifically limiting and local-minded perception that the work of our splendid Doctors and Nurses represents that of isolated, parochial and plodding medical personnel of a bygone era and perhaps more in keeping with life on the TV series 'The Royal', rather than those featured on the likes of 'Tomorrow's World'.
The work of Dr Phillip Lee who is the MP for Bracknell and his Parliamentary Researcher & strategic healthcare analyst, Eva Kagan, has gone a long way in attempting to achieve such a vision, which is outlined in their plans for a new healthcare system in their constituency. This model 'chunks up' acute services into one state-of-the art super hospital from which equally state-of-the art community facilities will fan out. On a local level, such a system will save massive amounts of money through economies of scale and save massive amounts of time in terms of patient transportation. The model also affords optimum communication between clinicians, which will enhance standards of care, save lives and through which massive strides in medical research can be achieved.
In addition, I believe that this neat, hyper user-friendly structure will optimize accessibility for the sick and disabled - a necessity which, in my opinion, is sadly lacking across the NHS bearing in mind the organisation's central purpose. Furthermore, Dr Lee's model will ensure that those who CAN be treated in the community ARE treated in the community and as an ex-carer of a Mother with dementia, I cannot stress the importance of this enough. In other words, where possible, those who are already stressed, confused, frail and in pain require easy access to treatment in a friendly, personal and comfortable environment.
Finally, once Dr Lee's model is up and running and duplicated across the country, then tragedies such as that of Mid Staffs will be a thing of the past because the state-of-the-art systems of measurement which would have averted this truly horrific situation will be an innate feature of a high tech, super-integrated national healthcare structure.
Dr Lee's Super Hospital plan document can be found at:
http://www.phillip-lee.com/wp-content/uploads/the-royal-thames-valley-hospital.pdf
There is also a petition for the Super Hospital, which can be found at:
http://www.right-angle.org/campaigns/we-need-a-super-nhs-hospital-for-the-thames-valley