THINGS THAT MATTER: Letter from Britain – Part 2
In last Sunday’s Letter from Britain I wrote about the current troubled times of political crisis, introspection, anxious debate and a wide spectrum of opinion on many controversial issues. I mentioned the confusion and confusing politics of Brexit, the fascination with the tragi-comic turmoil in Washington, and the sexploitation of young teenage girls by gangs in Yorkshire. Another big concern has been the massive immigration into Europe (half a million migrants into Italy in the last two years) and the perceived threat of too many migrants into Britain … thousands camping at Calais … all of which influenced the outcome of the Brexit vote.
Other big issues include education: the dumbing down of A levels, with the lowering of standards or “grade inflation”; outlandish salaries for CEOs and University vice-chancellors – for instance “Head of poor university earned £1.7 million” (London School of Economics, over four years); huge pay differences for BBC senior staff, with men earning scandalously more than women; clever scams – for example phony “Socrates Awards” offered for huge sums by a group called Europe Business Assembly claiming to be part of Oxford University; corruption in high places - for example, the Royal Mint’s executive director of bullion allegedly claimed £45 000 in hotel bills and luxury items, while Sir Philip Green made an outrageous fortune and outraged an entire nation. He drove British Home Stores, one of his many retail businesses, into bankruptcy, sacrificing hundreds of millions of dollars in pensions for his thousands of dislocated staff, while he luxuriates on his several yachts in the Mediterranean. Such is life for the fat cats with no conscience.
There’s been continuous monitoring of the cholera outbreak in Yemen, and intensive reporting of modern day slavery, including, to the shock of many people, extensive modern slavery in Britain itself. Human bondage today involves hundreds of thousands of people across Europe, living hidden lives of servitude and / or prostitution. And then there’s the gender issue, and the British government’s illogical plan to allow anyone who feels they are of a different gender to their biological sex to simply declare their new gender! The implications are mind-boggling, with political correctness seeming to hold sway at the moment. (Another interesting feature of political correctness is the announcement of the removal of the busts and portraits of founders and early deans at King’s College – “bearded white men” (apparently threatening to today’s students), “to be replaced by more diverse figures”.)
But there are many health issues occupying the British media, with wide discussion, strong opinions and not many easy solutions. In fact, Britain’s famous National Health Service (NHS) seems to be in as severe a financial crisis as our Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Here are some distressing headlines:
“Millions more are made to wait by NHS – four million patients stuck on waiting list.” “Urgent surgery cancellations hit record high in ‘summer crisis’.” “Stroke survivors ‘dumped by the NHS’.” “Hospitals ‘put PR before complaints’.” “Hospital chiefs call for end to pay cap as vacancies top 86 000.” “NHS to recruit 21 000 mental health staff.” “NHS abuse of mental patients ‘endemic’.” “Unsafe mental healthcare exposed.” “A new dark age in caring for the disabled.” “Six years in a care home can cost more than raising a child.” “Care home elderly being dressed in each other’s clothes.” “Axing grants for nurses is an act of self-harm.” “Pollution blamed for lung cancer in people who never smoked.” “Loneliness more deadly than obesity.” “Austerity has deepened inequalities.” “UK lags behind everyone but the Danish (in life expectancy).” “NHS wastes too much money.”
The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine says bluntly: “The National Health Service is in crisis: Some call it a humanitarian crisis. Others a political crisis. Whatever your interpretation it’s still a crisis. A crisis of funding. A crisis of bed shortages. A crisis of under provision in primary care. A crisis of crippling demand. A crisis in social care that creates a bottleneck. A crisis of flow. A crisis of common sense. Too much demand and too little funding .., The crisis will only be stopped by politicians and civil society agreeing what we want from our health service and how we pay for it. That will take some discussion.”
Does this all sound familiar?
The Daily Express and Daily Mail, and the other newspapers broadly labelled populist rags, love sensational headlines with two-inch-tall letters on health matters, such as “HOW TO SLASH DIABETES RISK – AVOIDING MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD.” I think we’ve been saying that for nearly forty years here!
On the positive side we read: “Drinking wine can fight diabetes – experts say a regular tipple can slash your risk by a third”. (This was a report on a Danish study of a cohort of 70 000 people.) And – wait for it – “Wine is key to a longer life: Daily drink can slash the risk of an early death.” (Again, the data is from a large US National Health cohort of 233 000 people followed for many years … and the dose is light-to-moderate or no more than two drinks a day for men and less than one for women.) And a British study shows: “Nation at a standstill with millions never taking a long walk.”
With an ageing population and a serious increase in dementia, this is of consuming interest. New data suggests that coffee drinkers live longer and have better memories; that drinkers are less likely to suffer dementia – again the dose is that of moderate drinkers – 7 to 14 drinks a week; healthy foods (whole grains, fish, veggies, nuts and berries) help dementia, while snoring, divorce or stressful loss of a parent raise the risk of Alzheimer’s. It also seems that the arts – pictures, singing and even keeping a diary or journal – help, while spending time with toddlers helps quite dramatically.
Two other topics hotly debated are the right to die and alternative health care practices. There are many bids to change the law so that if terminally ill “we can all be free to choose how we die.” The other wide- ranging topic is the beriffle of alternative health myths – old regurgitated ones and new ones popping up. Lots of attention has been given to a vegan movie claiming that eating eggs is as bad as smoking; no evidence is needed or proffered for such claims! An even more amusing fetish is “grounding” … where an actress called Naomi Harris suggests that connecting with the earth barefooted “for a good 20 – 45 minutes” will cure you of jet lag, insomnia and chronic pain. And she’s supported by the more celebrated Gwyneth Paltrow ...
On the other hand, there is finally recognition that “homeopathic medicines offer nothing but false hope and placebo effects” (which admittedly can be quite powerful), and the NHS is to save cash with a ban on homeopathy, because “it’s a misuse of scarce funds”.
Finally, a few minor observations: Britain is untidy; the 200 yards between our hotel and the mini-mart was littered with plastic bottles, polystyrene, beer cans and other detritus. Secondly, traditional British courtesy is no longer a tradition, when crossing paths, going through doors or into lifts – it’s like New York, where eye contact is avoided. Thirdly, walking can be risky, as cycles share the sidewalks and bells are never rung, so close calls are a constant danger and a frequent fright. And finally, Britain doesn’t always have a summer. A nippy spring and a bracing autumn tend to meet with a few days of sunshine, which we took with us when we went in July. But it’s a beautiful country and as Samuel Johnson said: “He who is tired of London is tired of life”; but give me the gorgeous countryside. It’s almost as beautiful as our Bathsheba in Barbados!
Postscript: We mourn the passing of two wonderful people: Sydney Simmons, teacher, broadcaster, project officer, author and poet, who passed away on Emancipation Day, August first; and Warren Alleyne, former Royal Air Force wireless operator, historian, researcher, author and dedicated preservationist, who departed quietly at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Thursday morning. Sincere condolences to their family.
(Professor Fraser is Past Dean of Medical Sciences, UWI and Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology. Website: profhenryfraser.com)