UKIP are as divisive as their policies. Many feel an intrinsic distrust over the new party du jour, who are viewed by detractors as being ‘more Tory than the Tories.’ One of the greatest bones of contention that incur deepest enmity towards UKIP is their view on the NHS. Today, Nigel Farage extended such a phenomena and exacerbated their air of sinister ambiguity towards the NHS with Mr. Farage’s statement.
Excerpts from the UKIP leader’s memoir has been revealed in The Daily Telegraph recounting how doctors apparently “fobbed him off” during his twenties. NHS doctors failed to spot signs of his testicular cancer at the time and it was only the result of a scan at a private clinic that revealed his condition.
His book: “The Purple Revolution: The Year That Changed Everything.” He details his visit to a doctor regarding a swollen testicle, aged 21:
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“To say that this consultant was disinterested would be an understatement; perhaps he had a round of golf booked for the afternoon. ‘Keep taking the antibiotics,’ he preached, and that was that.”
“I have now had three near-death experiences – cancer, an accident and a plane crash – and I’ve seen the best and worst of the NHS. I am better qualified to criticise and defend our health care system than most politicians.”
“When I had cancer, the incompetence and negligence of the NHS almost killed me, but it has also saved my life. I am certainly not taking any flak from gutless politicians who claim that I am no fan or supporter of the NHS.” – Nigel Farage.
Farge further goes on to attest that the car accident in his twenties and the subsequent plane crash – occurring amid the 2010 General Election, as part of a UKIP election stunt – has left the 50-year-old with (in his own words) “the body of a 70-year-old.” Said air accident made the UKIP leader allegedly partially disabled, yet he vows that a blue badge will not let him “concede defeat.” Was there an underhanded metaphor lurking amid that remark, per chance?
Nigel Farage is planning to stand in South Thanet in May and his growing party and their burgeoning support may as of yet hold some clout when it come to post election jumble that is pessimistically – though realistically – being forecast by everyone, political or not, alike. He knows that he is riding on coat tails of success, an almost antithesis of Nicola Sturgeon south of the border. He has many trump cards close to his chest and the NHS may yet prove to be one of them and unlike the opposing flavour of the month party, the Greens, their ideas of where to assign public funds and how to distribute them are more detailed than prolonged silences.
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He promises us that his party is committed to a free NHS, paid for by taxes. Yet he has insisted that anyone who can pay for private treatment, should pay for private treatment. He also pledged to end hospital car park fees, raise nurses salaries and force migrants to prove they have their own insurance in order to curb ‘Health Tourism.’
Much of this may seem fair and noble on the surface, those who are wealthier should pay for their own healthcare. On the surface it appears to bear the righteous stance of freeing NHS time and resources for those more needy in society without the financial resources to help themselves. Although if the past has taught us anything, such as with the Right To Buy, it creates tiered systems where those who can afford better, get better, whereas the poorest in society flounder. Private Doctors often are NHS doctors who work in private clinics in extra curricular work, to supplement their income. So the paymasters will dictate the tides of change here. If a private patient can offer a doctor more money, they will swiftly abandon their NHS duties for the promise of greater financial reward. Much in the similar vein to how the Right to Buy drove up the amount of private landlords, rent costs and housing prices. Additionally, it overlooks the key tenet of healthcare in itself, if money is the overriding caveat entitling one to treatment, while another is denied, it is the very negation of the Hippocratic Oath doctors take. It is denies healthcare as a fundamental human right to everyone, as it puts a price tag on lives based on bank balance. Personal bad experiences cannot fog one’s mind on this issue. Surely the intention, if one has come off bad from the NHS, is to dedicate yourself to it’s improvement? This will be the first step towards total privatisation… may it be opposed in all it forms. It is a blow to the burdened organism of our health service, leaving an aching purple welt. Just perhaps what is needed to a party that may align themselves to the Tories come the muddy waters of a Hung Parliament in May?
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