Bed Blocking · 9:12am May 7th, 2017
As we are currently in a general election campaign in the UK, I am going to take Fluttershy Leans In as a parable of NHS bed blocking. A story which plays out as follows:
- Central government cut funding for local government, while saying they will preserve funding for core National Health Service functions.
- To balance the budget, local government cuts funding for social care for elderly and vulnerable adults.
- Hospitals find they are unable to dismiss vulnerable patients, unable to care for themselves, as there is nowhere for them to go.
- The health service is pushed to crisis point.
- The public vote to leave the European Union and instead spend £350 million a week on the NHS, a promise which then mysteriously evaporates.
We really need a new government. I imagine my non-British readers are very relieved to live in a country with a well-managed system of health care, free from political controversy.
Fluttershy’s problems also bring to mind this old report from The Onion: Renovations Force Yosemite National Park To Temporarily Relocate To Sacramento Office Space
Finalement – amis français – n'oubliez pas de voter aujourd’hui… à moins que vous avez l’intention de voter FN… en ce cas, ne dépêcher vous… faites un bon déjeuner… lisez quelques histoires…
Ahem.
Allow me a sad laugh, seeing how medical "funding" looks like in the Czech Republic.
Where there's money and budgets, there's always politicians looking to screw everyone over.
I am British but I'm fairly sure no such place exists anywhere on the planet (and maybe beyond :)) Heathcare is a big issue everywhere, no one is ever happy about what is being done and there will always be some political issues with it.
<Laughs ironically in American>
That said, I am not really seeing the parallels. Maybe I am still looking at it too literally?
Speak for yourself, I'm a Tory.
Sounds pretty bad right now, tbh. From what I am being told, Theresa May, bad as she is, is basically the only viable option on the ballot. Labour and Lib Dems don't really sound very palatable at the moment.
Blocked beds are strong and stable.
I enjoy Canada very much.
I love my single-payer health care. But I am an internationalist and I fear that disruptive events in other countries will, sooner or later, drag us all into the maelstrom.
Actually, Pineta, I live in the United States, where we not only have a poor health care system, but the United States for some reason seems dead set on not having a universal health care or welfare system. I have actually been called a communist because I want there to be both. I am not a communist.
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I'll just be over here..... in the United States..... doing the exact opposite of this.
Je suis incertain... the future possibility of a fascist France attacking a democratic Germany, is très amusant.
4523390 Yeah, I'm also on the Stay Well or Die plan, otherwise known as Kaiser.
Congratulations, and thank yous, to France.
I made a rather cynical comment elsewhere that is relevant here, so I'll repeat it. As this episode strongly lends weight to the idea that Fluttershy is the government's version of Animal Control around Ponyville, what we have here is a story where a government bureaucrat causes a crisis for another branch of government (local animal NHS) by encouraging patients she has contact with to all visit Fauna.
Fluttershy then uses the resulting crisis to gain political momentum and funding for a project she has long been planning anyway, which results in an expansion of her duties and therefore power.
Now I'm not saying Fluttershy did this deliberately, but it sure worked out for her.
I'll just leave this here.
Jonathan Pie, a strong and unstable reporter.
Well worth three minutes of your time.