Cost-cutting exercises in the NHS are risking lives - including mine

This blog is written by John*, a Just Treatment supported based in London.

When I was born, my parents didn’t realise that my whole life would become immersed in the NHS, and not just because they worked in it - I too would later work in the NHS, but it hasn’t stopped me encountering challenges as a patient.

As someone who was diagnosed with complex endocrine related issues in my youth, I would come to spend a lot of time engaging with health professionals. In short it has meant that I have been closely monitored by a hospital team throughout much of my life to manage my condition and where possible, prevent things from getting worse.

I built up positive and understanding relationships with staff in the clinic which helped to manage my condition and meant that I didn’t have to spend an age rehashing my medical history, or bringing them up to speed on what did or didn’t work for me. It reduced the risk of unsuitable treatment options being offered and meant that proactive measures could be taken to manage my health.

Over the last fifteen years, as waves of austerity and cost-saving measures kicked in, the clinic gradually became destaffed and the relationships I had built up were gone. Like many people with health conditions that need monitoring, I have been put in a position where getting the care I need has become increasingly more challenging. Without prevention and early intervention, my condition will only get worse and put me at risk of developing serious illness.

Previously, I would have had regular scans and these were extremely important in the early identification of the development and re-development of issues. I no longer have regular scans and am at risk of being discharged from the clinic.

It means that when something does happen, I won’t know until it has become more progressed and my symptoms are severe. Even then, I will be subjected to the challenge of trying to get a GP appointment and waiting months on end on a referral waiting list. I know that I am not the only person in this position.

Cutting back on regular scans might save the NHS money in the short term, but in the long run it costs them more, with more serious issues occurring and people like me having their lives put at risk.

The NHS should be fully funded and free at the point of use, and patients like me deserve to be treated with dignity and to have our conditions managed responsibly and proactively. Unfortunately, this isn’t what we’ve got. Instead we have a health care system that is being grossly mismanaged by the government, with cost cutting and privatisation putting us all at risk.