Can the NHS ever be fixed before it inevitably collapses?

A cartoon posted over at Guido’s place caught my eye this morning – while amusing it is also depressingly apt:

Despite the UK having a coalition government, with both parties involved having promised in their election materials to reform the NHS so that it finally serves the customer, it looks like nothing will happen. What’s particularly frustrating is the fact that I was naive enough to believe that anything (even these confused, compromised reforms) would actually happen.

A good summary of the major reason for this can be found over at The Commentator:

As things stand, the NHS isn’t far off needing intensive care all of its own. There is nothing healthy about a shoddy monopoly being sustained by borrowing. Despite being the third largest employer in the world — behind only the Chinese Army and Indian Railways — the NHS places only 25 percent of its staff in any meaningful front-line role.

The trouble is that though horror stories emerge all the time about the appalling service received, overall the NHS is supported by the public with a quasi-religious fervour. Any perceived criticism, even from those who want to protect the principle and practice of healthcare that is free-at-the-point-of-use, is simply shouted down.

On the back of this public support, the NHS’s back-end bureaucracy and managerial rump, facing the axe, have whipped up enough scare stories about the reforms to begin to turn the battle regardless of the true interests of the organisation they profess to care about.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in the UK clearly get taken in by this propaganda – result: the vested interests in the industry will win the day once again, and we shall continue on our merry way to complete system failure.

Something needs to change, fast. Just don’t hold your breath that it will do so any time soon…

“Three’s a charm” – Ron Paul for President 2012

So, Ron Paul has just thrown his hat into the ring for the US Presidency 2012.

Is the American public finally ready to hear the Libertarian argument…? I doubt it, but remain hopeful nevertheless!

Manu elsewhere…

Posted on my employer’s blog: The Pharma Comms role: what it often is, and what it should be

There needs to be a paradigm shift within Pharma to ensure that Comms Managers can contribute fully to all aspects of the brand communication plan. In order to be able to do this effectively, they will need support from people with the breadth of experience and skills to be able to come up with and deliver fully integrated, strategic communication programmes for all audiences and across the entire life cycle of the product