Yes, the NHS is supposed to protect us. Where this ludicrous idea that we were supposed to protect the NHS gained ground is anybody’s guess. However, it has gained ground but, not unusually, the goalposts have been shifted.
At the start of the pandemic everybody was locked up as far as possible to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed with Covid patients. That was largely a success; the service was not overwhelmed, the “Nightingale” hospitals that were built cared for virtually nil patients (and they were hardly likely to as there was no staff available to run them). However, during the last eighteen months or so the NHS has become the NCS (National Covid Service) and treatment of most other ailments was largely abandoned.
Things have now moved on. Yes, infections are rising but, thanks to vaccination, serious illness, hospitalisations and deaths have all been much less prevalent. But there is now a new kid on the block. Hospital waiting lists for trivial matters (you know, cancer, heart defects) and the really trivial stuff (hips, knees, the sort of thing that leaves patients with long term debilitating pain which doesn’t kill them, but which many of them wish it did) are now at record levels. So now the emphasis has changed. Originally you were “encouraged” not to contract Covid because it would fill up the hospitals; now you’re encouraged not to contract it (or anything else) because there are now waiting lists for treatment the likes of which the NHS has never seen. A by-product of this is that lockdowns and other restrictions are likely to persist for the foreseeable, once again to “protect” the NHS.
The NHS was woefully unprepared for the pandemic. It is awash with directors and managers, trusts, committees and study groups. But none of them thought to have the service prepared for nationwide incidents such as this. Instead, we saw the “managers” singularly unable to manage, flapping around blaming the government for their inadequacies.
So, I’m afraid the public will continue to have to shelter the NHS from too many patients. This government seems determined to micro-manage people’s lives to reduce the chances of them needing medical treatment. But they should bear in mind that the NHS exists to treat the sick and injured, it does not exist so that we can all prevent it from having to do so.