A Short Conversation About Doctors In Rome
Everywhere I’ve been in Europe this year the people have been a worried lot. In Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Greece I’ve seen worry and concern on virtually everyone’s face. The growing financial crisis and the debt worries have scared everyone. However the most interesting conversation I had in recent months happened in a bar I was in when passing through Rome. I was with some friends I’d met up with who live in Rome and we all got talking about the health care systems across the continent. Despite its faults, my friends and many more people have nothing but admiration and envy for the NHS.
I don’t normally like having serious conversations when I’m travelling but you know what it’s like after you’ve had a few glasses of wine in a nice cafe during the summer time. It was my friend Emilio who got us all started on the health care comparisons between countries. We covered topics from Locum GP work in Italy to the poor state of public health care in Greece. Considering what’s been happening in Greece in recent months I find it hardly surprising that their health care is in a bad state. There is virtually no money left in the economy for food let alone medicine.
When we got onto the subject of Britain however everyone around the table began asking me about whether or not it was true that the government was planning on scrapping the NHS altogether. At first I didn’t really know what they were talking about, but thanks to my trusty iPad (picked up for a bargain in Spain) I was able to quickly scan the news and see what could have given them the idea that the NHS was being done away with. Thankfully the BBC were able to give me all the information I needed and I have to admit I was a little shocked at what I read.
The health care bill seems to allow for private companies to tender for services that the NHS usually provides. When I looked at this on face value it doesn’t seem that bad. After all hasn’t everyone in Britain been moaning about the poor quality of some hospitals for years now? I should take a few people to some hospitals in Italy – they wouldn’t complain about the hospitals after spending a night in those! Anyway I was able to explain to Emilio and the others that the NHS wasn’t being done away with. In fact from what I could see more GP jobs then ever are being advertised on the internet everyday.
What I was concerned with was the potential for private companies to enter the NHS and have an interest in it. By allowing companies to compete for providing services usually provided publicly could open up a very large Pandora’s Box that no one would be able to close. I can understand some of the reactions from doctors and nurses I’ve been reading about on the web. That said I was able to assure Emilio and the others that for now at least, the NHS isn’t going anywhere.
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