THE Herald's NHS "Time For Action" campaign has shone a light on problems and is giving a much-needed voice to those professionals and patients who care about the health service.
Scottish hospitals in the 21st century should not be treating patients in cupboards or leaving elderly people on trolleys for 12 hours.
Despite it reaching the grand old age of 65, I believe the principles on which it was founded are just as relevant today as in 1948. However, the challenge is shaping a service for the new demands and pressures of the 21st century. To make real progress we need a system that is integrated, transparent, promotes honesty, welcomes input from patients, families and staff and – most of all – tackles our challenges head-on.
One of the fundamental problems is a regulatory regime that is confusing and toothless. Inspection reports highlight the same problems time and again, yet very little changes. The scandal over fiddled waiting times is an example. Alarm bells were overlooked and it took an independent inquiry to prove that we were right to have little confidence in the figures produced by politicians and bureaucrats.
We need a truly independent body that will sound the alarm on failures and take tough, decisive action.
We could improve our systems by merging Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate and handing them real power. This new body – Care Improvement Scotland – must be independent of government, connect to staff and families, speak truth to power and be given the ability to enforce change by having access to measures like troubleshooting change teams to turn services around.
Government needs to stop being in denial about the real pressures in the NHS.
We need to provide independent scrutiny and take politics out of the process. Perhaps a similar role to the Office for Budget Responsibility could sit within a new Care Improvement Scotland to create more openness, improve scrutiny of care services and find out if politicians are making things better.
Crucially, we need one place where patients, families and staff can express concerns and be confident action will be taken.
The present system is confusing and immensely frustrating. Care Improvement Scotland would empower patients and staff by ensuring that they have a clear forum to be heard and that action is taken when things go wrong.
We can build a service that welcomes, accepts and acts on constructive criticism.
This alone will not bring about the change we need to protect patients from future failings of over-stretched hospitals wards, mismanaged care homes or tick-box community care. But by handing power to independent experts as well as patients, their families and our staff, we can avoid the vested interests that hold back progress in our NHS.
Like most people, I celebrated the 65th anniversary of our NHS, an institution to which, as a doctor, I devoted my working life. But we cannot rest on our laurels; not when we see the failings The Herald has highlighted. It is time for a new approach.
When Nye Bevan set about launching the NHS in the face of huge challenges, he was prepared to be brave and bold in a time of austerity. We must be equally brave and bold if we are to achieve our ambitions for a healthy Scotland and to create a service fit for the next 65 years. A bold place to start would be offering our staff, patients and families more honesty.
Richard Simpson is Scottish Labour public health spokesman
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