The UK National Health Service was a foreground election issue for both major parties, more in voters’ minds even than Brexit. Wild and extravagant promises were made about funding though it remains to be seen whether much will change for an overloaded system creaking badly.
It was founded 5 July 1948 giving a caring Cancer Sun square a healing though not always practical Neptune; a tough and enduring Saturn Pluto in Leo; and an adventurous and overly hopeful and scattered Mutable T Square of Jupiter opposition (Moon) Venus, Uranus Mercury in Gemini square Mars in Virgo.
The chaotic and tumultuous tr Pluto square tr Uranus has been battering on the NHS Sun and Neptune in recent years; and tr Neptune will start undermining the T Square from 2021 – first by squaring Jupiter and opposing Mars in 2021/22 which will bring disappointments about failures/lack of money and of direction. Tr Uranus will also square the NHS Pluto in 2021/22 so there may be an attempt at a revamp and rethink. But tr Neptune will continue on almost to mid decade squaring the Moon, Venus, Uranus and Mercury – so it’ll be a swampy path ahead.
The problem with a free state health service as most countries are discovering is that they are economically unsustainable – plain too expensive to run. Even France which had a glittering reputation in this regard can only run theirs with stupendously high taxation and individuals in France don’t even get 100% free. Everyone has to take out a top-up private insurance to cover the difference. The UK has become over-entitled about the NHS doing everything for everyone with trivial emergencies overloading the system so patients in real need don’t get sufficient attention; and people are unwilling to pay for anything.
‘As winter bites NHS Scotland A&E is still massive 13%* better even though NHS England fiddles the figures!’
https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2019/12/24/as-winter-bites-nhs-scotland-ae-is-still-massive-13-better-even-though-nhs-england-fiddles-the-figures/
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‘Official measures ‘hide the true scale’ of 12 hour hospital waits.’
..”The RCEM’s data measures the number of patients waiting over 12 hours from the moment they arrive at A&E, whereas NHS England, unlike the NHS in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, start the clock at the point at which a decision to admit is made – meaning that a patient could already have been waiting hours before this.”..
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/official-measures-hospital-waits-1335856
If tax evasion were attacked vigorously without fear or favour there would be enough money around to take care of the NHS. If the big corporations, we all know who I mean, as well as the corporate fat cats ( all of whom donate to the Tory Party by a strange coincidence) were held to account, life for most of us in this regard would get better. UK 8th house issues as you have referred to Marjorie will need to be addressed, but don’t imagine the sleazy wideboy in number ten currently is the man to do it imo.
Alex, For sure and the EU were always better at battering the major corps than Osborne – not that they are shining examples of fiscal common sense and efficiency but at least they get the tax thing right.
So the big global Tax evading multinationals are paying tax in Europe? Wonder what’s stopping the Conservative Party levying a fair and reasonable whack of tax against the in this country?
When you read this you just know that something HAS to be done. Turn the situation around and cut out the privatisation cr*p. Eight hundred cases of babies dying or being left with brain damage is under review now with investigations highlighting that the hospital was short of 50 midwives (both points .. 800 and 50 .. not to be found in this particular article) and that the equipment was outdated. This had been going on for years now. In other words practically every area that impacts on society in England was basically turning to sh*t, such as rape cases being downgraded, terrorist monitoring a non-event, the education system crumbling, policing negatively impacted upon and of course the NHS in its death throws and yet the Tories decided that their priority was to drag us all out of the EU. In doing so, compounding the NHS crisis through losing thousands of EU health professionals, with even more of an exodus to come.
Why on earth didn’t they choose to clean up their own mess before throwing the UK hoi polloi to the wolves?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/shrewsbury-maternity-scandal/shrewsbury-maternity-babies-safety-clinical-negligence-a9255556.html
I hope you’re feeling better Marjorie.
It’s really depressing to see the NHS being run into the ground when it’s been there for all of us for more than 70 years. Saturn/Pluto during 1948, when the post-war country was on it’s knees, bringing us what is not just a healthcare service, but a symbol of hope and equality.
For what it’s worth, I have a less conservative view on this, I don’t think entitled attitudes from British people are the problem, but rather politics, deliberate underfunding, corporate greed and privatisation. Inequality rather than the NHS is what is unsustainable.
The years between the Saturn/Pluto conjunctions from the end of World War II through the 1970’s were ones of substantial economic growth and broadly shared prosperity – and the NHS was absolutely fine.
As we got to the end of the 70’s and approaching the early 80’s conjunction, economic growth slowed and the income gap widened. Income growth for households in the middle and lower parts of the distribution slowed sharply, incomes at the top grew strongly – conservative government, first start to get stories in press about NHS woes.
I think the world between WW2 and the early 80’s could be framed with those conservative, protestant, anglo-saxon type values because they worked in that time. The American dream. “Work hard, you get somewhere, it doesn’t matter where you come from”. “Spend what you have and be prudent for security”. During times of growth, these values work and pay off. During times of huge income inequality, they do not. It’s hard to tell working people, paying a lot of their income in tax, that they’re too entitled about healthcare when half the nation’s wealth is held by 12%. However, those pre 1980’s conservative values still sound plausible and “common sense”. Saturn/Pluto seems to act like a hard barrier here, our values need to catch up with the world as it is, even if it feels scary and counter-intuitive.
One point that needs mentioning is that as I’m a taxpaying adult living in England, not everything is completely free to me, although it is heavily subsidised. I pay for medicines and dental examinations, which I believe are free in Scotland and Wales. I pay £9 per item on prescriptions. My last visit to an NHS dentist was about £100. When a relative needed a crown I think it was a few hundred £’s. I know that’s absolutely nothing compared to what people in other countries pay and maybe that is more generous than even Scandinavia, but just making the point that it’s not 100% free to all.
Thanks, getting there mouth-wise.
I suppose I have a tendency to see it from a viewpoint of personal experience. When my stepmother was alive – reasonably well off in a middle-class way – she insisted on using the NHS for physiotherapy etc after a hip replacement though she could perfectly well have gone private and taken strain off the system.
I read of people tearing their hair because of the lack of mental health provision. I self-funded years of therapy and it wouldn’t have struck me to do otherwise. People happily chuck chunks of money at smartphones, holidays, clothes etc etc but resist furiously taking responsibility for their own care.
Means testing raises all manner of problems but given the expansion of the population in recent years if there was some way of funnelling the resources that are available to those who genuinely can’t foot the bill it might help.
And while the depredations of the NHS are due to everything you mention – cuts, privatisation etc – it doesn’t explain why countries like Sweden and France are struggling mightily to provide the same service they used to. It is a widespread problem.
I can understand you point somewhat about people’s expectations. For example, the recent Labour manifesto policy for free broadband access – my telco background tells me that that is not quite as bonkers as it sounds. People think these companies are full of technicians, they are not – they are 90% lawyers and marketers, the business is basically 99% contracts and 1% tech. If people knew how little of their monthly direct debit went on technicians and infrastructure, I think they’d be shocked. But the policy was always going to be a disaster because people are used to paying a certain amount, so they were never going to believe it.
I don’t doubt that healthcare funding is a widespread problem, but I think it is perhaps linked to those patterns that also show up in economics and astrology. Rather than start limiting access and developing a two-tier system, perhaps figure out why so much money is flowing to wealthy corporations and individuals while the healthcare system is being choked? A larger population and more consumer goods being sold should also equal more tax revenue to keep up.
I think we sometimes judge people for what they spend their money on based on former values as well (until, I think, a Saturn/Pluto reset comes along). I remember what a big deal consumer electronics were when I was a child, they were seen as a luxury and still today a hell of a lot of money is spent on getting people to buy consumer tech; it’s a huge industry and big cog in the economy in many ways. However, it’s hard to work, find a job, access government services and so many other things without being online now. For example, I can’t even book a slot on parents evening at my child’s school without using an app or pay for her to have a school meal. Many people will do their banking on their smartphone as their local branch shut down years ago.
”Nicola Sturgeon and her government are making a pig’s ear of the NHS in Scotland, Shirley.”
Are you really trying to say that Nicola Sturgeon is to blame for the issue that we have in relation to one of our hospitals, Suzy? The fault / s seemingly lies with the company that designed and constructed the hospital. It’s tragic to be honest as it has the largest hospital campus in Europe and treats 750,000 patients every year with the VAST majority being delighted with the service.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/17/glasgow-health-board-takes-legal-action-against-hospital-contractor
As to making a pig’s ear of it, Scotland has the best performing NHS in the UK. You don’t see hundreds of patients lying in stretchers in hospital corridors or sitting outside in ambulances waiting for treatment. It has the best A&E track record in the UK and our social care service is second to none. Compare and contrast to hospitals in England, Wales and N Ireland. That’s not to say that one can remain complacent as the NHS across the board has been negatively impacted upon by Tory cuts.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7209187/The-shocking-state-hospitals-revealed.html
Nicola Sturgeon and her government are making a pig’s ear of the NHS in Scotland, Shirley. Expensive hospitals which have never been used, patients dying from infections caused by contamination, etc. It’s going down the tubes.
Thank you Marjorie. I agree with you. The NHS is a wonderful thing, but under terrible strain. Yes, funding is an issue of course. But the system is overloaded – there are not enough GPs, for instance, so people go to A&E instead when they want to see a doctor straight away. Often, they are not “emergency” patients. Emergency rooms are therefore bursting at the seams. There is also a lot of waste, and yes a sense of entitlement from some patients. I have spent a lot of time visiting someone dear to me in hospital over the past few years, and have friends who work in the NHS as well. I’ve seen the dedication of staff, and the chaos surrounding them. We will have to pay more, as individuals – either through taxation or by paying something directly towards our care/procedures when we need it. The population is much larger than it was when the NHS was launched, it cannot cope.
The thing is I think if you asked most British people who could afford it, they would be glad to pay a bit more tax for the NHS. I would absolutely hate to have America’s system.
Yes VF I agree with you. The US system is mad and very cruel. I’m sure there’s a way to fund our health service, or various ways in combination. I would be happy to pay more tax for it, but would be happier to know it was specifically for the NHS and not just some general money grabbing that didn’t end up funding the NHS! Somewhat wary of general taxation…..
Sorry, I usually enjoy your commentary but you are so, so out of order here. ‘Uneconomic to run?’ The alternative is unlimited inflation of the cost of the most essential of services, gobbling all the resources of a country into the pockets of giant pharma systems. The NHS is an economic boon the the country, and indeeds holds down the cost of medicine across the globe by its buying power. Before the deliberate running down and privatising, which has been going on for over a decade, the NHS was (and possibly is) the most efficient healthcare provider in the world.
I realise I am not at my most amiably tempered what with teeth and an under-exercised dog being more yappy than usual. But where did I say I thought a privatised health service like the USA which is obscenely expensive for users was a good thing?
The point I was making is that all countries even Sweden with universal healthcare funded by very high taxation are finding it difficult to keep up the kind of service people want and expect.
Yes, there are problems in the UK with ‘management’ and ‘management consultants’ spending liberally and making the system less efficient; and not jumping all over big pharma when they rip the NHS off.
The French system, with basic minimum health care provided free and some costs topped up by private insurance which everyone pays, seems more sensible. It won’t cover 100% of certain treatments if they are non-essential so it stops people being irresponsible – or at least forces them to pay if they are.
From the astrology I suspect the NHS will continue to limp along, though with the possibility of a major shakeup come 2022/23/24.
PS. Big pharma have always been beyond the pale and it’s well beyond time the EU or other major governments tackled their greed and corruption.
“Too expensive to run?”
Everyone should make a point of watching John Pilger’s film, “The Dirty War on the NHS.”
Well seeing that the BBC decided not to broadcast it and that ITV waited until after the General Election to do so.
Never mind, it’s coming to a cinema near you soon and that should see the sh*t hit the fan for the Tories. Too bad, too late to have ensured that they didn’t get control in the Commons. Meanwhile Nicola Sturgeon, in Scotland, is pushing through legislation in an attempt to protect the NHS in Scotland.
http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-dirty-war-on-the-nhs-trailer