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
Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here