IT’S rather cynical for the NHS spokesperson to concede that there was inadequate consultation about the closure of the Okement Surgery, whilst the salami slicing of health services in West Devon continues.

Another masterpiece of NHS misdirection, no ‘bidder’ came forward to run the MIU at Okehampton Hospital. Who do these people think they are kidding?

Until they were abolished by the last Labour Government, community health councils gave patients a strong voice in the running of their local health services. It’s notable that CHCs still exist in Wales. In England no equivalent structure exists, which is convenient for the NHS bigwigs who seem to single out services for closure on the basis of spreadsheets and pivot tables. The mantra ‘lack of demand’ is often a catch-all excuse for a well-paid but unaccountable and unelected bureaucracy to asset strip community medicine.

The current Conservative Government has promised to safeguard funding for the NHS. But that is very different to safeguarding the interests of patients or communities. Add to this a culture of anti-Tory political militancy among junior doctors and one can only conclude the future is bleak.

We are always told the NHS provides better care than America. Oh really? Well what about the models of health care that operate successfully in countries like France, Holland and Germany and rank better than the NHS?

For example, if one was to compare Okehampton to Carhaix-Plouguer, a town in the middle of Brittany of equivalent size. In Carhaix, you’ll find a good choice of smaller GP surgeries and a local hospital that provides emergency services 24/7. Why? Because the French don’t have a centralised monolithic NHS. 

The ‘Bismarckian’ model of state supported compulsory mutual healthcare insurance in many European countries often produces better local services and promotes responsible use of those services. You get what you pay for because you are insured, as is everyone else. How much money is lost because of ‘Did Not Attends (DNAs)’ in the UK? People not turning up for appointments and costing the NHS money? Do that to your GP in France and it’ll cost you 19 euros for not turning up.

Allegedly, the great advantage of the NHS is healthcare that is free at the point of delivery. Well, if some official decides to close the place where it’s been delivered and then puts you on a waiting list or denies treatment because it cannot be afforded, then nothing is being delivered.

It’s time for a fundamental rethink of our healthcare system. If the NHS is a national religion, call me a heretic. We can do better than this. Other countries do, why not us? 

It’s time for our politicians to stop ‘weaponising’ healthcare, set aside ideology and begin work on a better system to deliver affordable local healthcare when it’s needed. Under such a system a bureaucrat trotting out mealy mouthed excuses for betraying the needs of local community would not even exist.

Mark Slater

Okehampton