• Question: do you think NHS should provide EVERY medical treatment required for a patient to get well?

    Asked by mgenah to Laura, Lily, Mark, Paul, Sarah on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Mark Roberts

      Mark Roberts answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Oooh that’s a difficult one. I guess for me it comes down to what you mean by well –

      There is a difficult issue of the fact that money isn’t unlimited and also sometimes the medical treatment can be terrible too so it also comes down to the quality of life you the patient gets with the treatment

      I guess the NHS has to balance these two things to make as many people well with the money the government has chosen to give the NHS

      If there was infinite money then I would support every medical treatment

    • Photo: Lily Asquith

      Lily Asquith answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      No. There isn’t enough money. Sometimes we just have to die.

    • Photo: Laura Maliszewski

      Laura Maliszewski answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      It’s an interesting and important question. The key is really finding out what the treatments are that will help someone get well rather than just trying everything available.

      Cancer Research UK is starting a program to help diagnose people better within the NHS so they get the RIGHT treatment faster.

    • Photo: Sarah Bardsley

      Sarah Bardsley answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Interesting question. I think money is the key issue here. There is an unlimited amount for the NHS to provide medical treatments to people. I think they need to prioritise need so the majority of people get what they need.

    • Photo: Paul Roche

      Paul Roche answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      In theory yes, but in reality it simply can’t afford to – the NHS would be vastly more expensive if it tried to use every treatment available, and it’s already a hugely expensive thing. Sadly, that means that people (sometime scientists, sometimes administrators guided by the medical scientists) have to make very tough decisions about where they can afford to spend the limited funds that they have. This can seem very harsh if you or someone you know is denied treatment, but unfortunately it is a reality of the free health service that we have – sometimes, some things will just be too expensive, and the chances of success too low.

      The NHS is a great thing, and it was really annoying to hear all the rubbish that was being talked about it when the US was debating giving free healthcare to the poorest people. But there will always be financial limits to what it can do – and people simply aren’t willing to pay much more tax in order to give the NHS more money. Sadly, science is often limited by politics and finances, but that’s just life unfortunately.

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