The social embroidery looked at from a distance

 Subject: The social embroidery looked at from a distance



Are the forces we see at play around us progressive or reactionary. Do they seek to progress human-kind or inhibit it with opposition to progress or reform and why for many is reform a dirty word.

People fear change especially if the change leads you into unknown territory and taking you out of your comfort zone can act as a stimulant, particularly in the way you conceptualise things. The social embroidery we carry with us from childhood comes under stress as our environment changes and pressure grows to re-examine previously un questioned beliefs. Some would call it a learning curve others the ever changing process of selling out of our values.

With the news this morning that funding has been withdrawn from a number of projects including developing an artificial intelligence hub in Edinburgh for which £32 million has already been spent on a building to house the computers.

The growth of AI is one of the key areas to sharpen our research capacity but  once more we have failed at the last hurdle to define whether we continue to spend on the social burden we have or change the emphasis on where we spend our limited resources.

Perhaps given the complexity and expense  of present day medicine we have to consider charging those who can pay. As  nation we are in a very different place from when the NHS was conceived to treated people in 1947 (when it came into being) and the present day. The diagnostic tools including AI have become so sophisticated and costly that a charge might be necessary to offset the spiralling cost of the overall medical package. The Pharmaceutical industry for-instance  is wholly run by private enterprise for gain with shareholders who expect a handsome return by exacting a high charge for drugs and is a major component in the final account.

For those with “the ability to pay” it covers most things in life. The comfort of your long distance flight, to the comfort and opulence of your hotel. The size and splendour of your home, to the food on your table are all a direct function of your disposable income.

Why should medical  treatment be different, should your life chances, when, you are sick be different to everything else which rates the depth of your pocket as the most important element.

Means tested medicine would drastically reduce our national imbalance to income, even a small charge to perhaps a larger one if treatment is self induced. In every other area of our lives we pay appropriately but it’s not considered appropriate if a person is struck down with cancer or hit by a car. You have to have insurance to cover others if you have an accident, why not a small insurance premium if you set off to climb or walk in a remote part of the country. The protesters would claim it’s a tax on the universality of our open spaces but at least it would fund and equip those who we rely on to come out for free when we get into trouble. From lifeboats to helicopters we assume a deaf ear for the service we receive and it’s part of growth in the number who now flock out each weekend the extra stress we place on rescue. When it was a small group of people who experienced and properly equipped and responsible the cost was minimal.

The growth in identifiable disease and mental disorders has expanded the diagnostic range for which the medical practitioners try to treat and clearly “free at the point of need” is unaffordable.