Lord Bethell says ministers should pay more attention to prevention. Photo: Paul Grover for The Telegraph. The former Health Minister warned that resorting to “rationing” of vital services such as operations, the former Health Minister warned.
Lord Bethell said that the Health Service “cannot cope” in the future if the British do not change your lifestyle to become healthier.
He also criticized the approach of simply investing more money in better care, saying that ministers should pay more attention to prevention.
Former minister of health who served in government during during the pandemic, said the NHS was becoming a “scapegoat”. for the problems of society.
His remarks came after Downing Street announced a new campaign to recruit more doctors and nurses to fill the gap in the service.
Let's make the country healthier
Rishi Sunak made reducing waiting lists one of his five key promises in office by which he says the public should judge him in the next election.
At the same time, the Prime Minister has abandoned some health initiatives, such as plans to ban “Buy One Get One Free” supermarket promotions.
Lord Bethell expressed concern that the government “had received the wrong doctrine” focusing on curing rather than preventing disease.
“The doctrine is that we can quickly optimize the NHS, something like yo-ho-ho-ho, the last push, and we we can get a little better. ,” he told the BBC.
“I think there needs to be more focus on things like obesity to try and make the country healthier, things like mental health and the problems our kids have with the internet.
“We have to prevent disease. The goal should be to make the country healthier, not cure the disease faster.”
“It's rationing”,
Lord Bethell said that while the NHS provides high quality health care for many Britons, “it's just Does not help”. not deliver to everyone.
Responding to the case of one man named Kevin, who said he had been waiting for kidney treatment for almost a year, he said, “This is rationing. This is not a logical clinical decision.
“If someone needs surgery and you simply don’t have the resources to give them what they need, then you go beyond the important protocols of distributing limited resources in the best possible way.” possible ways, and you are determined by the amount of resources available to you.
“There's a difference between wisely allocating resources and making difficult decisions and having to deal with an overloaded system.”
Lord Bethell said the UK has “blamed the NHS for too many of the problems in society”, in particular people's unhealthy lifestyles.
He said: “The government must do more to change the environment in which people live.
“We need an environment where we get rid of dirty air, unhealthy food, gambling, toxic jobs so that people are healthier. The National Health Service is unlikely to cope if we do not.”
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