Between Life and Death
This program on BBC1 last night, was not the sort of television I usually watch, as I jokily say I’m allergic to hospitals. I suppose, that as I’ve seen the inside of them so much in recent years, what with the death of C and our youngest son, and now my strokes, it is quite understandable.
But for some reason, I didn’t turn the program off last night. Partly because it was Addenbrookes, I suppose and I do have a respect for the place after what they have done for my family. I’ve also played tennis with several of the doctors and know the cutting-edge ethos of the hospital, which is pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
In the end I found it very uplifting and almost supportive of my recovery, albeit from a very minor problem to those shown in the program. I could relate to all the people in the program on various levels, as a scientist, a father and a patient.
If there is one lesson we should all learn from last night’s program, it is that we shouldn’t stop funding units, such as this at Addenbrookes, in these times of austerity. You can’t put a price on human life and with this units, there must be much they are learning that can be applied across the NHS and the wider world. There are also other lessons to be learned by us all and let’s hope that someone, who watched the program last night, is moved to improve his behaviour or driving skills, so that he avoids the need for going to hospital. That would be a positive benfit for everyone and everything.
We might all learn that human life is precious!
The Anonymous Widower 
I have yet to watch this programme, but it brings up the issue of how these specialist units are funded, and how that will change under the new scheme put forward this week for health service funding. A specialist hospital in which I worked a long while ago, when local health authorties bought in to services actually treated far more patients than it was funded to treat.
Comment by Liz P | July 14, 2010 |
I agree with what you say, but the funding of Addenbrookes is unusual in some ways. For instance, research is high priority and that is probably funded by the niversity or outside agewncies. It’s not your average general hospital. Perhaps, other hospitals should look at the Addenbrookes model. In addition, doctors come from all over the world to do research there, so they get the pick. These doctors then go home and make a fortune in countries like the US, Hong Kong or Australia. The trouble is that many hospitals in the UK don’t have this pull.
Comment by AnonW | July 14, 2010 |
I used to work for a hospital with the same pull, and with a very large and internationally recognised research lab on the premises, and many patients were on trials related to that research. The research was funded by large charities mainly. Another source of funding, which I suspect Adenboorkes has too, is the fees from private patients. Most NHS patients do not have a private wing and private clinics. We did. There is a private inpatient wing, and if beds are not filled from private patients with cancer, the surgeons are able to admit other insured patients of theirs who need surgery. And all the profits from that go into funding the NHS side of things.
Nevertheless, each NHS area covered by the hospital had to negotiate a service level agreement with the hospital as to how many NHS patients it would send there each year. And some regularly sent far more, but werent willing to pay extra, and specialist units dont like to send patients away untreated for financial reasons. It was a constant issue.
Comment by Liz P | July 14, 2010 |