For Want of a Shilling
“In a tiny grave in a churchyard cemetery rests a 4 year old boy called Frankie. He died in 1929. Today the cause of death would probably be recorded as Peritonitis and Sepsis brought on by a ruptured appendix.
Back in 1929 there was no 999. There was no 111. If you needed a doctor it cost a shilling just to see them before any treatment. And some families just did not have a shilling. There was no Internet. So as Frankie carried on saying his stomach hurt and vomiting, his Mammy and Dad thought he’d just got a bad stomach ache. Probably from eating something out of a bin because he was hungry. And they hadn’t got a shilling to gamble on a stomach ache. And by the time they realised it was something serious, it was too late. Antibiotics were only a year old, and that was medicine that would have to be paid for. Along with the Doctors fee. And the treatment. And the morphine that they no doubt gave to Frankie as his little body was torn to bits by the pain. And so he died. Like so many others. For want of a shilling.
The NHS is not broken. It is overwhelmed, and under siege, underfunded, under-resourced, and under-staffed. But the idea that Nye Bevan brought into reality in 1948 is still very much in one piece. Universal health care for everyone, regardless of whether you have a million shillings or none. Because the alternative is privatisation. The same people that are allowing the energy companies to hold the country to ransom, are the same ones that will be selling your health to the highest bidder. They don’t care, they can all afford and probably already have private health care.
We need another tide that raises all boats. And we need it now. For the sake of Frankie and all the others gone and all the ones to come, be that tide.”
Thank you to our NHS, shame on those who are destroying & dismantling it!
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