REBECCA BAIRD: NHS Tayside waiting lists could make a hypocrite out of me

The Courier

2 days ago

We've all heard the expression 'a hill I'm willing to die on'.
It's for those arguments you just won't give up on, no matter the personal cost.
I always thought universal free healthcare through the NHS was a hill I was willing to die on.
But here's the thing – you only get one body.
And when it comes to declining health, there's no extra time, no saved checkpoint from which to respawn.
There's only that body getting more and more damaged by illness as it waits for help.
In Dundee, Perthshire and Angus, NHS Tayside patients are waiting far too long for desperately needed treatment.
I am one of them.
I am currently 14 months into a 24-month waiting list for endometriosis investigation.
My first appointment to discuss my chronic – often debilitating – pain with my GP was in 2022.
Over the last three years, I have been comparatively lucky.
I've been listened to (eventually) by doctors, I've been given medication to help manage symptoms, and I've been put on the referral list for specialist investigation.
Unfortunately, I've also gained weight as a result of the medication, which makes me less eligible for the surgery I suspect I'll need once I get to the top of that list.
The lingering fatigue and pain levels make consistent exercise difficult, which will make losing this weight more challenging than it would have been a few years ago.
And already, in the time it will theoretically take to get help, the decline of my health has become a bit of a downward spiral.
I'm not alone – just last month, The Courier revealed the shocking extent of gynae waiting lists in Dundee and Angus.
In Fife, heart patients are waiting more than two years for care.
And five-year waiting lists for childhood ADHD diagnoses have pushed some Tayside parents to the brink.
For some people in our communities, 'dying on the hill' of NHS loyalty means literally dying.
So I completely understand why hundreds of local NHS patients are opting to pay thousands of pounds for private healthcare, rather than watch their health worsen while they wait.
I admit I've thought about it seriously a few times in the past three years.
But what sticks in my craw is the idea that by going private, I'd be contributing to the very two-tier system I hate so much.
I can't help but think that if all those who could opted for private healthcare, it wouldn't magically free up NHS resources; it would be an excuse for governments to cut them further.
And what about those for whom private healthcare is simply not an option?
Do we really want to buy into a system like the US, where the poor struggle for access to decent healthcare?
Disease does not discriminate, but money talks.
If we want the powers that be to be responsible for national health, we can't let them off the hook by each paying someone else to look after our own.
Future generations deserve the access to the free-at-point-of-use healthcare that we've all enjoyed until now.
But that's easy for me to say; I'm not staring down the barrel of a life-threatening illness.
Yet.
The truth is, I'm not saying I'll never opt for private healthcare, if I need it and can afford it.
Turns out I'd rather be alive and a hypocrite than dead and principled.
But for as long as I can, I'm going to make my health the NHS's problem.
It might be the best way to keep it in business.