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The NHS is championed as the pioneer example of a healthcare system which provides services to all. It is intended to provide equitable health for the whole country but is this true in practice? Are our efforts to ‘Save the NHS’ appropriate? Our speakers will show how inequalities in the NHS may suggest that we need to be more creative to achieve equitable health for all. An interesting discussion is bound to follow and Pint of Science prizes can be won! This event will be held on the first floor and there is no step-free access.
How I fell out of love with the NHS… but not publicly-funded healthcare
Hannah Cowan
(PhD Candidate)
The 2012 Olympic opening ceremony celebrated the NHS as a national treasure. Nurses in white pinafores looked after patients with Mary Poppins, while doctors danced on the outside. This is the NHS I fell out of love with.
Having started my journey as a campaigner to ‘Save the NHS’, I found that so-called objective, medical knowledge is in fact infused with many class and gender biases which cause inequality. I propose that the 1950s is not the place to look to make things better and invite the audience to discuss what a more equality-minded, publicly-funded healthcare system might look like.
Having started my journey as a campaigner to ‘Save the NHS’, I found that so-called objective, medical knowledge is in fact infused with many class and gender biases which cause inequality. I propose that the 1950s is not the place to look to make things better and invite the audience to discuss what a more equality-minded, publicly-funded healthcare system might look like.
No leg to stand on? Inequalities in NHS hip and knee replacements
Dr Belene Podmore
(Research Fellow)
Surgery to replace hips or knees is common: not only common, but also effective, particularly for those suffering from the pain and discomfort of osteoarthritis. But there are areas of England in which this simple, life-changing surgery is being restricted. Why? Because doctors and managers refuse it to patients according to the severity of their joint problems and to patients who have long-term conditions or are overweight. Are they justified in doing so or can patients who are not otherwise in the best of health still benefit?
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