IT’S been a long haul for us all – and a longer haul for those who continue to need to shield. Perhaps when the virus began to unleash itself upon us we didn’t fully realise the true scale of – and duration of – the devastation it would deliver to everything we hold dear.

The impact on the economy is already coming into view like an unwelcome winter storm of epic proportions. The impact on many thousands of families who have lost loved ones continues and the longer term effects on our mental health and educational impacts on our children have yet to be fully realised.

We’ve all been anxiously awaiting some light at the end of this long fearful tunnel – a light that is very quickly evaporating with every health and economic prediction that comes our way. But perhaps most pressing is the concern that our NHS – although coming through the last four months of incredible challenge – is about to face an even stiffer test. Waiting lists are growing at an alarming rate – even the most serious of life-threatening conditions such as cancer have gone undiagnosed and life-saving early interventions missed.

There were concerns about growing waiting times for treatments before this virus struck and since then the NHS has had to pull even more financial levers to divert resources away from frontline services to cope with new demands.

I won’t go into all the details here but more than a year ago when I was first diagnosed with lung cancer my waiting time guarantee for treatment was missed and by the time my left lung containing an isolated malignant tumour was removed the cancer had spread through the lung wall and into a lymph node in the chest wall.

There will never be any real proof that a more timely intervention would have delivered a different result – but we are all told that early intervention can make a huge difference and that thought remains with me as I now undergo treatment for a terminal condition.

So what chance for cancer victims in the months and years ahead…and for all those who fall victim to other such life-threatening diseases?

It’s not just a second wave of Covid-19 that threatens any chance of new NHS resilience and capability to restore what we once enjoyed – but always complained about. There’s the affordability of massive NHS investment in a country where millions are unemployed and instead of paying tax are relying on dwindling state resources.

Having spent almost 20 years in the boardroom of Scotland’s largest health board as director of communications it’s hard to see how the funding model for the NHS could ever satisfy the huge landscape of healthcare that is listed on the current menu of responsibilities. There are clearly going to be some hard choices about priorities and how services are organised.

Winter 2020 isn’t far away and with it will come seasonal flu, norovirus outbreaks, and severe weather related pressures, this at a time we fear a second wave of Covid-19 which, we are told, thrives in cold damp conditions.

Perhaps this is the time for a reality check about the way we use our NHS and what we should expect from it. Throughout Covid-19 we’ve been talking about “save lives – protect the NHS”. This mantra may be one we need to live with for the rest of our lives.

Ally McLaws is managing director of the McLaws Consultancy, specialist in business marketing and reputation management. See www.mclawsconsultancy.com

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