- Conference
- 2022 National Retired Members Conference
- Date
- 12 May 2022
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
The number of people who can remember what health provision was like for ordinary working
people before Aneurin Bevan created the National Health Service diminishes year by year.
His vision of free medical treatment for everyone “from the cradle to the grave” is as powerful
now as it was in 1948. Obviously as time has moved on so the cost of the NHS has grown
because medical science has evolved and new treatments are available. However this has
been offset by the improvement in the general health of the nation. In recent years one group
of folk – the elderly – have been gradually side-lined in Government thinking. Elderly people
are the group most likely to rely on fixed incomes, have health problems and to lack the
opportunity to supplement their incomes. They rely more than most on the NHS. Elderly folk
are also the most likely to suffer from what some politicians class as minor issues which affect
their well being, such as cataracts, joint problems, podiatry and blocked ears and of course
dentistry. These are not minor problems to elderly folk because they affect their ability to live
happily and socially interact. They are however exactly the types of problem that the NHS
once treated and now effectively delays or disregards; simply adding names to a waiting list.
This is not the fault of the staff but of Government policy forcing cuts to be made in free NHS
services. Clearly the Coronavirus pandemic has made things worse but this trend was
apparent before the pandemic started.
Some pensioners choose to spend their savings or economise in other ways so as to afford
private health care. Knee surgery can cost £8000 or more, cataract removal up to £5000,
podiatry £40 a month, ear wax removal £70 a time and dentistry £25 a month; sums that are
hardly affordable on a pension.
Private health care is welcomed by the Government because it “takes the load off the NHS”,
but this is a fallacy because it also takes staff away from the NHS. The answer of course is to
properly finance the NHS but this seems very unlikely at present. Another option might be to
devise something similar to a Pensioners Insurance Policy which for a small contribution from
the state pension would allow pensioners to build up a sum which they could use to put
towards NHS treatment.
Conference therefore calls on the National Retired Members Committee to liaise with Labour
Link, the NEC, the National Pensioners Convention, Age UK and other relevant organizations
to develop methods of reinstating comprehensive pensioner health care