MAYBE it’s an age thing in that I was actually born in the 17th-century or I’ve developed a penchant for bizarre sounding children’s names and a desperate need to have a nanny with me at all times to function.
Regardless, I have found myself agreeing with Jacob Rees-Mogg when he said that the NHS exists to serve the people, not the other way round.
He was referring to this week’s decision to delay the easing of lockdown for a few weeks to allow more of us to get fully vaccinated against Covid.
It is a legitimate point, as after 16 months we are still being repeatedly told that we must remain under restrictions to protect the NHS.
The question is – what exactly are we protecting the NHS against? The NHS, after all, exists solely to treat patients, a role that the staff normally perform at the highest level every single day.
But after months of running at a reduced capacity, the NHS is about to become swamped with an influx of patients with ailments that have been caused or made far worse by lockdown.
Thousands of people with easily treated conditions are about to emerge with heart conditions, undiagnosed cancers and other ailments that will need urgent attention. There are now genuine fears about the long term impacts once lockdown is over, if indeed it ever will be.
Yesterday, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf donned surgical scrubs as he announced £20 million will be spent on robots to help treat cancer. That doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence.
Last time Mr Yousaf got dressed up for a work photocall, he was in a train cab, resplendent in a driver’s uniform. We all know how ScotRail subsequently turned out under his watch.
But it’s not just the NHS that will suffer, as every sector in the economy will also face more pain.
I was recently in the Highlands, an area in Level One, and while I enjoyed my time in the soft play centre immensely, despite there being too many kids in the ball pool for my liking, it is far from normal.
Due to social distancing restrictions, it was very hard to get a table for dinner or even just for a drink – in summer and in the midst of a so-called staycation boom.
If the restrictions are indeed ended in July then there will be time to recover, but history shows us that the so-called public health experts seem in no rush to step away from their time in the limelight.
Last October, the Central Belt was put into a two-week long circuit breaker to protect the NHS and combat the rise in cases, a fortnight that actually lasted until the end of April.
Now a three-week long extension has been announced and emergency powers will be in place until next year.
We are told the vaccine has reduced the link between Covid and hospitalisations – if that is the case then we should open up fully, if not, then we must be told.
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