European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 8, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Britain s tax funded health care by Robert Glass associated press socialized health care oilers britons everything from flu shots to Hearl transplants without the painful aftereffects of medical Bills Yel. More than 700.000 people Are waiting a gel into slate hospitals for surgery. Some have been wailing for years is Britain s National health service inns a jewel in Tho Crown of the welfare state As supported contend or is if a mangy looking sacred cow As a writer Lor the financial times London s business daily suggested recently the fan funded nos created Atler world War ii to give the entire British population free health care is a constant source of debate among britons ninety percent of the nation s 66 million people use the Mammoth system. During the election Campaign in june opinion polls consistently put the nos among the voters lop three concerns along with education and unemployment. Prime minister Margaret Thatcher easily won a third consecutive term but had to endure slinging attacks on her conservative government s record on health care. Britain tit not Lati on health care than any other major Western nation and opponents accused Thatcher of starving the nos of Money causing Small shortages and Hospital closures. Thatcher countered thai the conservatives have improved efficiency and raised spending on the health service by 13 percent in real terms since she came to Power in 1979. Criticism during the Campaign invariably focused on the degree of government support Lor the health service not on the principle of socialized Medicine itself. The nos has been popular since its founding by the postwar labor parly government in 1943, and remains so despite its problems. Under the was a pal enl is assigned a doctor and Hospital bed on the basis of availability. People willing to pay or covered by insurance can choose their doctors and when and where hey want to be treated Bui since nos doctors Are allowed to maintain a limited private practice and Many nos hospitals Hava private wings paying lot treatment is no guarantee of a higher Standard of care. The nos receives 84.5 percent of its funding irom general taxes and 11.3 percent from Matching employer employee contributions. The remaining 4.2 percent comes mainly from nominal patient charges and donations. Thai works out loan annual contribution of about 370 pounds $590 a person. With 1.2 million worker the nos is Western Europe s biggest employer. Ii treats about 8 million Hospital patients a year and dispenses about 400 million Iree drug prescriptions. In 1985, nos doctors carried out 174 heart transplants including 3" combined hear Munro procedures and 81 liver transplants. But the health service has been a victim of Ila own Success and medical triumphs in general with cures being discover. Body scanners detecting earlier tutors and work a drugs prolonging life each Advance creates More demand. At Las count 724,350 people were wailing for surgery across Britain at the end of september 1986, according to figures supplied by the government among them were 47,561 cases classified As urgent including suspected cancers in England atone. The government does not keep statistics on How Long people wait Tor Hospital admission but a Survey published by the College of health a patients lobbying group found that in some regions people were waiting a least tour years Lor non urgent surgery such As hip replacements Lor the elderly. Or. William b. Schwartz a professor of Medicine at tilts University school of Medicine in Boston says British doctors Are being forced to ration Basic health care. There s no question that there Are Many beneficial services thai Are being denied British citizens said Schwartz co author of a 1984 comparative study of the British and . Health systems. Eric Moon Man chairman of he Islington health authority which runs two big general hospitals in North London said his authority has managed to meet demand without serious wails. Bui he said the whole system could be thrown Inlo turmoil by aids acquired immune deficiency syndrome which destroys the body s immune system had claimed 444 lives in Britain by the end of May. The health department has reported 791 cases of aids since 1982 and is projecting 500 new cases this Yeai and 4,000 deals by 1990. Or John Havard Secretary of the British medical association has said that the nos will need an extra 22 million pounds $35 2 million in 1988 and 51 million pounds $81.6 million in 1989 just Lor aids realm enl. It is unclear whether the government will be prepared to spend such sums on the in Catmint of a single fatal disease when doctors in nearly every speciality Are clamouring for More Money. Government spending on the nos last year was 198 billion pounds $31.7 billion. Figuring in Privalo treatment total spending on health care was 22.4 billion pounds $35.8 billion in 19b6. According to the office of health economics a research censer funded by the drug Industry in terms of health spending As a proportion of Gross National product the local value of a country s goods and services Britain ranks Well below he United slates and most Western european countries. The research Center estimates thai in 1985, the last year for which comparative figures Are available Britain spent 5.9 percent of its Gopon health compared with 10.5 percent for the United Stales and 92 percent Tor West Germany. Tho figures include Public and private expenditure. Government of Licals contend that the numbers indicate How much More Felicien the nos is than other health systems. Or. Tony Delamothe assistant editor of the British medical journal agrees. An annual tax contribution of 370 pounds $590 per person yields Access to primary health care and treatment in some of the world s most advanced hospitals he says. Does t that mean that the nos is doing quite Well if it is providing Lor All not just some an impressive level of health care Delamothe asked. Having a baby in Britain by Robert Glass associated Pressw Hen my wife and i both americans decided to entrust the birth of our third child to Britain s socialized health care system. We knew there would be no Choice of doctor and no Plush Hospital room with a Telephone and color television. Bui or. Susan Dukes who has been our family doctor for the six years we have been in London assured us of a High Standard of care under the Nasonal health service with no Bills to pay. So it was in May last year that Mary Jane and i round ourselves at Middlesex Hospital a major London leaching and research Complex that dates from 1745 and has ils own medical school. The Hospital has Aboul so Beds most of them on austere open wards for 30 or so patients the big red Brick building with res drab wailing rooms and Clunky elevators was rebuilt in 1935 and appealed overdue Lor Alace Lill not that we noticed the surroundings All that much Al the Lime. Mostly. I watched alternately my Wile and a Lelal Monitor that registered the baby s heartbeat with a mesmerizing display of numbers on a screen and squiggly lines on a graph but communal Ward do allow some diversion we were entertained Lor example by a Man incessantly snapping photos of his wite going through labor and Hen Inere was lha i tyke who Kepi kicking a soccer Ball just outside our cubicle once Mary Jane was wheeled into the delivery room. There was Complete privacy of course except for three midwives who look turns checking her Progress and monitoring the baby the fetal Monitor and constant attention of midwives. Who Are nurses specially trained in obstetrics Weie typical of the nothing left to chances approach of the Middlesex. During her pregnancy Mary Jane had three ultrasound scans to track the baby s weigh and position and two glucose tolerance tests o Rule out any possibility of maternal diabetes in the late stages of labor she had two epidurals delicate procedures in which painkiller is injected in the spinal Cord. A senior anaesthetist arrived from Home shortly before Midnight to give the first epidural and the second several hours la Ler. Although we had no Choice of doctors we left Lucky to be assigned surgeon Peler Clarkson one of the Hospital s senior gynaecologist obstetricians Attar Mary Jena had gone through 16 hours of labor Clarkson decided on a caesarean directing a cast of some 20 surgeons Pei patricians. Midwives technicians and possibly a Lew medical students. Around g a Clarkson deftly brought our third daughter Kathenne. Into the world a healthy 41 kilograms 9 pounds i ounce Mary Jane and the baby stayed in the Hospital Lor seven Days. Later they received what rediscovered were Standard House Calls irom a mid Wilc a social services nurse and our own or. Dukes for the past year Mary Jane has been taking Kal Heune for periodic checkups Al the local Well baby clinic " our total medical expense to Dale one Large Box of Candy Lor he midwives and nurses at the Middlesex. Saturday augusts 1987 the stars and stripes Page 17