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The State of Medicine: Keeping the Promise of the NHS
The NHS is the closest thing the UK has to a national religion.
No it unites people across social and class divides. But it is also under pressure, underfunded, and unravelling at the seams. When the NHS was founded, children died of whooping cough and tuberculosis, and the average person lived less than 50 years. Now childhood deaths are rare and we expect to live almost twice as long. Many of us swallow dozens of daily medications, and the NHS promises to keep treating us, rich or poor, according to need. But as social care budgets are slashed, the pressure on
the NHS has reached a critical level – along with accusations of high death rates, lazy, uncaring sta , and unnecessary deaths at the weekend.
Margaret McCartney, author of The Patient Paradox and Living with Dying, argues that the last few decades of short-term political policies have caused lasting damage to the NHS, wasting money, time, harming patients, and damaging staff morale. Instead, we need a new realisation of the founding principles of the NHS, one where patients and professionals work together to create an evidence based – not a party political – NHS. It is the only future it can survive in.
No it unites people across social and class divides. But it is also under pressure, underfunded, and unravelling at the seams. When the NHS was founded, children died of whooping cough and tuberculosis, and the average person lived less than 50 years. Now childhood deaths are rare and we expect to live almost twice as long. Many of us swallow dozens of daily medications, and the NHS promises to keep treating us, rich or poor, according to need. But as social care budgets are slashed, the pressure on
the NHS has reached a critical level – along with accusations of high death rates, lazy, uncaring sta , and unnecessary deaths at the weekend.
Margaret McCartney, author of The Patient Paradox and Living with Dying, argues that the last few decades of short-term political policies have caused lasting damage to the NHS, wasting money, time, harming patients, and damaging staff morale. Instead, we need a new realisation of the founding principles of the NHS, one where patients and professionals work together to create an evidence based – not a party political – NHS. It is the only future it can survive in.
333 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 25, 2016
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About the author
Margaret McCartney
9 books13 followersMargaret McCartney is a GP in Glasgow, and has three children. She started writing for the press after being infuriated by an article in a newspaper which claimed that CT body screening was the way to stay well. Since then she has written for most UK newspapers, as well as the British Medical Journal (BMJ), other magazines such as Vogue and Prospect, has had columns in the Guardian and the FT Weekend, and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Inside Health. She has won prizes from the Medical Journalists’ Association and the European School of Oncology, as well as the Healthwatch award.
She has a strong interest in evidence, professionalism, screening and risk. She blogs and tweets. The Patient Paradox is her first book
She has a strong interest in evidence, professionalism, screening and risk. She blogs and tweets. The Patient Paradox is her first book
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 11, 2022
A good read, interesting in terms of how political decisions have impacted the NHS and therefore patient care. The interviews with various healthcare professionals, researchers and a patient were nice to read too. Quite repetitive at times but got the point across very well that the NHS is an extremely valuable, but underfunded institution that often falls prey to poor decisions (with no evidence to support them) made by politicians instead of healthcare professionals and patients. 3.4/5 stars
April 28, 2021
Interesting viewpoint but not very balanced
May 25, 2017
My review of this book (and of two others), published in 'The Sociological Review', is available here:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/...
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews