What the UK general election means for people who use health and care services (all of us!)

An often used expression in healthcare goes: “people might know what they want from a doctor, but they don’t necessarily know what they need.” This sentiment is illustrative of the medical paternalism that still runs through healthcare services and affects decisions ranging from severe access restrictions in mental health services, to efforts to divert people away from the emergency department.Patient advocates naturally push against such beliefs, pointing out that only the person with the health problem fully understands the impact that a condition or disability has on them.The recent UK general election, and the preceding campaign, should have been an opportunity to clarify what we as patients, and as a society collectively, want from our healthcare services, and what we are entitled to expect. It should have set out clearly—to the NHS, to those who work in it, and those who use it—what resources will be available, and what standards…
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