Blog: Glory years of our beloved NHS have gone

That is that the NHS we've known and loved all our lives is officially on its knees, sagging further by the second.

It may have sounded like yet another of my regular rants, but my frequent reports about the state of our local hospitals, outpatient clinics and other NHS services have not all been just yet more gripes from this somewhat jaded frequent–flier.

As a one-woman NHS deficit (to coin a phrase) of our once glorious NHS services, I've been genuinely worried for ages now about what the future of our healthcare holds.

But now a think tank has been honest enough to admit that the future of our NHS service, funded as it is currently, has a finite lifespan unless we all start coughing up in the same way other nations have had to do for years, you can be sure that it's span is a lot less than your life will hopefully be.

At the same time, there is talk of one of the county's A&E services being closed down.

The unlucky hospital has not been named as yet but the result would be a swift reduction of services leaving a mere backwater with residents in the area missing out on vital, swift treatment when needed.

It doesn't even matter which site is closed, Shrewsbury or Telford, each would leave half of the county in a potentially sticky situation.

And local NHS services are not the only providers for vulnerable people affected. I'm marooned in my electric wheelchair now and though I'm well set up and have plenty to do with friends and family around the house, it would be nice to go out in my power-chair, under my own steam.

But after trawling the internet for a wheelchair-accessible bus service, instead I found a virtual service graveyard out there in cyberspace – or rather, right here in my own back yard.

It was a rose-tinted window onto what looked like a lovely time to be elderly or disabled. Though most of them were dated just last year, there were services all over the search results. Handyman service, Dial-a-Ride service, day centres, respite care services, shopping services – funding cut, all gone yet weirdly immortalised in internetland.

These are all our emergency services, not just the A&E departments. I count myself extremely lucky that when my own crisis occurred last summer, I happened to be waiting for transport at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Had I been at home, I would be dead. But much more scary, had I been at either RSH or Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, after the talked-about A&E shutdown, I would be equally dead. There wouldn't have been time to get me somewhere suitable.

So what's the answer? Many expert brainboxes have got together over this and haven't come up with any valid answers.

It's time to face facts folks, private health care is not on its way, it has already arrived in many small forms. We need to start working on how we are going to pay for it; the glory years of Aneurin Bevan's free service for all are already well and truly over.

Read Emma's blogs online at www.emma-suddaby.co.uk