Saturday 12 May 2012

Crohns and the NHS

A slight tangent today, this blog has been attempt to look at the implications of getting crohns, living a life with the illness, and the realities of living that life.
Today, it struck me that, though i have mentioned the dedication of the doctors, nurses and staff who have and are caring for me and my welfare, i have been remiss in identifying the role they play and the NHS in their care for people like me.
This is against a backdrop where the NHS as we know it is seriously being compromised. This will have significant implications for patients with chronic illness and their wellbeing.
Firstly, the NHS is not perfect, mistakes are made and on occasions some people do not get the care the NHS is noted for.
All that said, from the day i walked onto an NHS ward to date, I have been indebted for the institution  for allowing me the chance to be treated by, cared for and given support by such dedication and expertise.
Doctors and Nurses have played such a significant part in my life both in and out of hospital. I have had occasions where the fear and desperation i have known has been shouldered by NHS staff and they have been responsible for setting me on the road to remission and some comfort in my mind and body. I couldn't do adequate justice to the many occasions when a nurse has helped bring me back from the brink, or doctor offered knowledge to keep medications balanced and appropriate to my crohns and secondary problems.
Surgeons have had to remove disease from me when medicine has failed after all has been attempted and not succeeded.
It has been the structure that has allowed me to get to this place, which, whilst chronic and complex and neverending, provides me with the confidence of my treatment and if necessary surgery.
It hasn't always got things right,but i am here, i am alive and i am still battling what i get thrown at me.
I am fearful for the future of my care with the destabilising of everything about it as a National Health Service. It seems increasingly less likely that people like me with crohns will be viewed solely as a patient. Its alarming  for the large numbers of patients who endure chronic illness, whether crohns or some other condition, that we are rapidly becoming customers.
With that comes the spectre of cost, viability of treatments and general concern for how we will be seen in a future health system not secure in the original philosophy of the NHS.

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