I support the free NHS in the
United Kingdom. I understand the economic arguments in favour of
contribution-based healthcare systems but I am simply not convinced that, in the
countries where they exist, they provide adequate healthcare provision for the
poorest and most vulnerable.
The free NHS has become a
cornerstone of what it means to be British. I'm very much open to look at ways
of reducing bureaucracy. I'm open to considering different ways to improve
efficiency and ensure that every extra pound put into the NHS actually funds
patient care. Just because the NHS is 'national' doesn't mean that it has to be
bureaucratic. Perhaps we should consider options where funding very clearly
follows the patient.
I am concerned about the cost to
the NHS of 'self-inflicted' problems: those who repeatedly find themselves in
hospital after a night of heavy drinking leave the taxpayer to pay for their
actions. I would like to explore ways that this misuse of the NHS can be
discouraged without leading to more deaths.
I believe that our NHS doesn't
do enough to help those with serious mental health issues. The murder of Jo Cox
MP should have served as a wake-up call to everyone in politics - the tragedy is
that it was hijacked for political reasons, yet nobody bothered to consider the
actual fundamental issue. UKIP was clear at the last General Election that we
wouldn't sweep mental health under the carpet.
I dislike the current moves
towards over-regulation of e-cigarettes. Very few non-smokers move to
e-cigarettes, but very many smokers do, cutting the potential harm to their
health. The move from cigarettes to e-cigarettes will save many lives, and I
don't want us to discourage that.
I don't support the various
lifestyle taxes, the 'sugar tax' and so on, which will disproportionately hit
the poorest in society.
I do support positive moves to
make our society healthier, for example promotion of physical exercise, cutting
trans fats, and healthier diets, but these must be optional. (And actually, as a
chess player, I may point out that there are benefits to keeping the mind sharp
and active too!)
We also need to start thinking
now about some of the long-term health issues that haven't really been addressed
yet. When there are no votes in something, politicians often don't talk about
it. But there's a desperate clinical need for new classes of antibiotics to be
found - or there'll be a major public health crisis around the corner. We should
be prioritising that research.
With an ageing population, we
should be starting to plan for how society is going to cope in the longer
term.
Healthcare
is going to be one of the major issues of our future: we need to be prepared to
begin to address that now.
