One of the founding principles of the NHS was that health care should be free at the point of delivery, if I remember my history correctly.
Kevin Barron certainly seems to think that the NHS should hold true to it’s founding values – according to this blogged report, one of his problems with excess alcohol consumption is that ‘treating people spilling out of pubs was not what the NHS was set up for’.
The last post about ID cards got me thinking – if I need to pay £60 or £90 for an ID card to access NHS services, it is no longer free at the point of delivery.
I wonder why Kevin Barron is so happy to concede that principle, but the idea treating ill people who have beceome ill because they have been drinking upsets him? I wonder if he feels the same way about people who have any sort of accident?
“Sorry, we can’t treat you for the injuries that you got from falling off your bike. If you’d been on the bus you wouldn’t have had the accident, so it’s your own fault”
