NHS deaths

I am very reluctant to get any medical treatment that involves going to hospital. I don't mind needles, the smell of antiseptic, and don't mind looking at the sight of blood, even my own, I've even watched a few minor operations being performed on me before. What worries me now is that there is such a high chance of catching a potentially fatal hospital-induced infection from a filthy ward, or having a doctor or nurse kill me through negligence or incompetence. I know they are taught not to build emotional bonds with their patients in case they kill them (or they die for other reasons) so they mightn't even feel any more guilty than I will if I make a typo while writing this. So I would only go to hospital for stuff that is in itself life threatening. Doctors bury their errors, and many nurses have become lazy and arrogant on the back of misplaced public worship.

The Times today quotes a figure of 40,000 deaths a year attributable to mistakes by doctors. I've seen previous figures of up to 70,000 so it sounds reasonable to me. Additionally, between 5,000 and 10,000 more deaths are reputed to arise from hospital acquired infections due to inadequate hygiene. My personal experience of filthy hospital wards, doctor errors, and nurse negligence makes me perfectly happy to accept such figures, or worse.

So why are we spending so much on trying to reduce road deaths from already the lowest in the world, when the best that could ever be achieved that way is a few lives saved per year? Or better still, why waste billions on health and safety outside hospitals when it would save far more problems if spent improving the NHS. Surely, it would be far better to spend the same amount cleaning wards, or encouraging doctors and nurses to be a little more professional, or even to train them better? Given that public funds are limited, it would be better to spend them where they can achieve the best result. It is normally difficult to compare expenditure, e.g. health with social security, but where the motive is a straightforward one of reducing deaths, then it shoul,d be a very simple decision indeed. A 5-10% drop in deaths caused by the NHS would more than make up for all UK road deaths, numerically speaking at least (though of course not necessarily on an individual basis). 

And the future? Well, if we can't spend money sensibly now, even where evidence is abundant, we can only expect more waste, more unnecessary deaths, more incompetence and negligence, and more targetting of any area that can distract people from the real problems. Not much to look forward to, but any real change will need major changes at government level first.