Natural election
Released 06/11/2008
With all the excitement from our colonial cousins, Matthew Jane wonders if the NHS should also accept change
The dust is settling on one of the most important election victories of recent years, the electoral propaganda and patriotic banners are being turned into tomorrows hot dog wrappings.
Obama is all set to take his seat in the Whitehouse, but he has a lot of work ahead of him if he is to make the American health system as effective as our own NHS.
I was reminded of a recent conversation with American GP Dr David Hibberd, who was envious of our system and almost apologetic of the healthcare delivered in his native land.
He described how private companies were stealing the compassion, effectiveness of care and equality from their services.
We may not have the Whitehouse, but behind the famous white cliffs, the government is doing it's best to dispel fears of commercialisation and inequality when it announced that it would not be withdrawing NHS treatment for people who choose to pay for additional drugs.
Health Secretary Alan Johnson was keen to stress that any services that people choose to pay for would not be subsidised by the NHS, and they must not be carried out in NHS settings.
It was an attempt to calm fears that the NHS was about to embark on a slippery slope to commercialisation.
Perhaps it is time we embraced some of these changes to our NHS. After all, if the Americans can accept change, surely we can too?