Medical facilities

Although the NHS as a free public service is good healthcare in principle, it has come under some major criticism. One such criticism is the ‘paying twice’ issue for people who choose to purchase private healthcare. The argument being that they shouldn’t have to pay for the NHS if they are paying for private healthcare. The government counter argues that change this system would be unfair to the poor and vulnerable in society and undermine the very core basis of the NHS. Waiting lists have also come under attack with patients waiting months and sometimes years for treatment due to the hospitals priority system. Currently a program is underway to target waiting lists to all be reduced to a maximum of 18 weeks by December 2008.

‘Superbugs’ have become a major problem in NHS healthcare with antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria infecting patients with fatal outcomes. The main cause of concern has been inappropriate cleaning and miss-prescribing of antibiotics. There are other problems which have been clearly identified in the healthcare system of the UK such as lack of available dentists, hospital debt and scandals reducing faith in services.