Wider and more informed health care debate needed
MANY thanks to the Guernsey Press for publishing the letter from Mike Read about equity and equality in health care (Tuesday 18 June 2019). The letter raises important points of principle and practice that should underpin any decision-making process. Just health care decisions need to include evidence of the lived experience, wellbeing and quality of life of the individuals and their families. We need a wider and more informed debate about these issues.
Many people now understand that equal treatment dispensed to people who are not equal is unfair. Equal rations of health care do give some people the chance of a life worth living. For others, that ration is inadequate and does not meet their needs. One size does not fit all. The present system ignores the specifics of an individual’s case. As a result, many people are isolated, and, because of their illness and a lack of professional advocacy, are often unable to put forward their case for treatment.
When I joined this hidden world, I was shocked and heartbroken to discover how many people – across a wide range of conditions – are struggling to maintain their health in the most adverse of circumstances. Do any decision-makers stop to consider what it is like to know that there is treatment available, but that you have been refused it? Does anyone stop to consider the impact on family and friends? Is money the only thing that is allowed to talk?
Is cost the only thing that is listened to?
Social justice is about the recognition of human value.
At present some people are deemed worthy of treatment and some are not, based on a crude measure of the cost of treatment. Social justice is also about the fair distribution of ‘goods’ in a society. Health is a ‘good’ in this sense, a ‘good’ to which we should all have access if we are to live as well as possible.
LORRAINE PANNETT
ADDRESS SUPPLIED.