The NHS wobbles from crisis to crisis. The political debate at present focuses on the structure of the NHS, and the future involvement of private for-profit companies. What is not in doubt, we are told, is that reform of the NHS is a given - it has to happen.
The problem with the NHS debate, as usual, is that the on-going funding problems has to do with an important monopoly that is alive and well within the NHS.
This blog focuses on the safety of medicine. But equally important is effectiveness, and cost. The NHS has put all its eggs (and £110 billion per year buys a lot of eggs) in one basket. And that basket is the least effective, least safe, and most expensive of all. So for over 60 years we have been investing in failure - the failure of conventional, drug-based medicine. The investment causes a triple whammy:
1. Pharmaceutical drugs, and related treatments, are the most expensive available.
2. Pharmaceutical drug treatment is ineffective; that is, it does not resolve illness; people take the drugs, don't get well, and are therefore forced to come back for more treatment.
3. Then there are DIEs, or disease-inducing-illness. The drug bonanza of the past 60 years has seen the enormous explosion of 'chronic' disease of all kinds - and it is not difficult to realise that conventional medical drugs have played a big part in this when you examine the 'adverse reactions' they cause - which are all basically chronic diseases!
Until the NHS decides to offer patients other medical therapies, which are more effective, safer, and less expensive, the ongoing crisis of the NHS will stumble on. For a more detailed analysis of this argument, go to my e-book, 'The Failure of Conventional Medicine.
The problem with the NHS debate, as usual, is that the on-going funding problems has to do with an important monopoly that is alive and well within the NHS.
The monopoly of conventional medicine.
This blog focuses on the safety of medicine. But equally important is effectiveness, and cost. The NHS has put all its eggs (and £110 billion per year buys a lot of eggs) in one basket. And that basket is the least effective, least safe, and most expensive of all. So for over 60 years we have been investing in failure - the failure of conventional, drug-based medicine. The investment causes a triple whammy:
1. Pharmaceutical drugs, and related treatments, are the most expensive available.
2. Pharmaceutical drug treatment is ineffective; that is, it does not resolve illness; people take the drugs, don't get well, and are therefore forced to come back for more treatment.
3. Then there are DIEs, or disease-inducing-illness. The drug bonanza of the past 60 years has seen the enormous explosion of 'chronic' disease of all kinds - and it is not difficult to realise that conventional medical drugs have played a big part in this when you examine the 'adverse reactions' they cause - which are all basically chronic diseases!
Until the NHS decides to offer patients other medical therapies, which are more effective, safer, and less expensive, the ongoing crisis of the NHS will stumble on. For a more detailed analysis of this argument, go to my e-book, 'The Failure of Conventional Medicine.