Not many people can say they have been a doctor in the NHS for almost 50 years, two-thirds of the 75 years of life in the NHS, but Dr Hasmukh Shah can.
Dr. Shah was trained at Baroda MS University, Gujarat, India and has worked for the NHS for the last 48 years. For the past 36 years he has worked as a general practitioner in the Ronda Valley. He is also secretary of the British Indian Physicians Association and champions the work of Indian doctors based in Wales.
In his own words, Dr Shah looks back on the NHS’ achievements over the past 75 years and looks to the future for health services.
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NHS increases Welsh life expectancy
“The Welsh NHS cares for 3.21 million people. Based on the latest data, life expectancy in Wales is now 82 years for women and 78 years for men. Life expectancy has increased since the NHS was founded in 1948. Our patients, the NHS, are now facing health needs associated with an aging population, largely as a result of eradicating infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and increasing cancer survival.
“We are stepping up screening for cancer, congenital diseases and other medical conditions. Very high childhood vaccination rates are reducing infant mortality. CT, MRI, US, etc. “We are doing more testing for the disease, which allows for earlier diagnosis and better outcomes.”
Our NHS stands on the shoulders of doctors abroad
“Today more than 30% of the doctors working in the Welsh health system are qualified abroad, the majority of them from India. They have made a valuable and important contribution to the NHS and they bring diversity.” They are a very talented workforce.
“Many services in Wales would have struggled to provide care to patients in Wales if it had not been for doctors from abroad. Our NHS is built on the shoulders of doctors abroad and they are the core of the Welsh NHS.Many of them have survived personal hardships and rejections along the way.’But now they offer their expertise in Wales.
“Overseas doctors often work in fields that no one else wants to go to. There is a historical shortage of UK-trained doctors in secondary care, particularly in emergency medicine, hematology and geriatrics, in consultancy positions. There have been many years of foreign doctors working in primary health care who have worked in high poverty areas of Wales where they were forced to work because of poverty, poverty, drugs and mental health problems. The volume is high and patient needs are very complex.
“In 2016, I worked with the Welsh Government to recruit a doctor from India to work in Wales, saving us more than £500,000 in operating costs, despite the disproportionate impact of the pandemic. Doctors abroad have worked on the front lines and saved the lives of many patients.” People of black and minority backgrounds have lost their lives.
“Welsh people are warm-hearted and make you feel right at home here.”
The future of the NHS
“Over the last decade, the UK NHS has received the lowest amount of funding compared to the average European country. The number of MRI and CT scanners is the lowest.” In other EU countries as a result, health services are under great pressure, people are unable to see specialists on time, and hip replacements There are very long waiting lists for elective surgeries such as surgery, making the pressure on primary care services unsustainable.
“In the future, I believe the NHS will introduce a digital-first model of care within the next few years. By 2030, the vast majority of people will access healthcare via apps. I think we’re going to use intelligence as well.” There’s a lot more going on in the medical field.
“This will make our IT systems faster, making the whole system more technology-friendly and potentially lessening the burden of medical activities on our employees.
“We may be able to get better diagnoses from imaging, genomics and structural digital data as a result of machine learning technology, unsupervised machine learning. It gives us a much better diagnostic framework that we can do.” Again providing input from employees.
“But the main question is, can everyone really afford to provide all that is available to them throughout their lives?”
