A heart transplant typically costs the NHS between £80,000 and £120,000 per patient, with the sum increasing further when post-operative treatment and follow-up are included. Prosthetic arms can typically cost between £25,000 and £80,000.
Meanwhile, the base salary for a newly qualified midwife is between £28,000 and £35,000 per year. The RCM has calculated that a full-time midwife cares for an average of 26 to 34 births per year in a hospital setting.
On these figures, four full-time midwives could be employed for a year and deliver 120 babies in lieu of a single heart transplant, or two midwives in lieu of a bionic arm. One can only speculate how many lives these midwives might be responsible for saving.
In a state-funded healthcare system, such as the NHS, there is a need for certain basic standards of care to be met. In an emergency, such as following a heart attack or stroke, the public should expect to be seen and treated in a safe and timely fashion.
During pregnancy and childbirth, women should be able to attend their local NHS maternity units, safe in the knowledge they will receive high-quality, dignified care. In both these areas – emergency and maternity care – the NHS is presently failing.
Repeated failures of political leadership regarding these issues leave the UK embroiled in a perpetual cycle of inquiries. Why are babies and mothers continuing to die? And why are vulnerable patients left on trolleys in emergency department corridors?
It is becoming increasingly clear our health service needs to find a way to focus on providing the basics safely. Endless inquiries are not good enough – eventually something will need to change.