The new British government has been crystal clear that in their view, the National Health Service – a state-run socialised system which is quasi-worshipped by most Britons – is in long-term crisis. Services from family doctors to cancer treatment to A&E in hospitals are struggling and failing to hit targets, and constantly underfunded. In this episode we discuss the reasons why healthcare services across the developing world and especially in the UK are buckling under the pressures of keeping our older and sicker populations healthy. Is the fabled ‘free at the point of use’ taxpayer-funded NHS really the best system to be facing the challenges of the 21st century? Will modern technology from overseas inevitably begin to take over, and will that be a good thing? And should we be enthusiastic about the new class of anti-obesity medication which seems to be having remarkable success in tackling the chronic conditions which bedevil Western societies and cripple our healthcare services? Or is the idea we can make people more virtuous and less addicted simply by mass prescribing new pills a foolish delusion?
Our previous episode going into more depth on Ozempic and the new GLP-1 anti-obesity drugs
In each episode of Matters of Life and Death, brought to you by Premier Unbelievable?, John Wyatt and his son Tim discuss issues in healthcare, ethics, technology, science, faith and more. John is a doctor, professor of ethics, and writer and speaker on many of these topics, while Tim is a religion and social affairs journalist. We talk about how Christians can better engage with a particular question of life, death or something else in between.
The new British government has been crystal clear that in their view, the National Health Service – a state-run socialised system which is quasi-worshipped by most Britons – is in long-term crisis. Services from family doctors to cancer treatment to A&E in hospitals are struggling and failing to hit targets, and constantly underfunded. In this episode we discuss the reasons why healthcare services across the developing world and especially in the UK are buckling under the pressures of keeping our older and sicker populations healthy. Is the fabled ‘free at the point of use’ taxpayer-funded NHS really the best system to be facing the challenges of the 21st century? Will modern technology from overseas inevitably begin to take over, and will that be a good thing? And should we be enthusiastic about the new class of anti-obesity medication which seems to be having remarkable success in tackling the chronic conditions which bedevil Western societies and cripple our healthcare services? Or is the idea we can make people more virtuous and less addicted simply by mass prescribing new pills a foolish delusion?
Our previous episode going into more depth on Ozempic and the new GLP-1 anti-obesity drugs can be found here: https://www.premier.plus/matters-of-life-and-death/podcasts/episodes/new-obesity-drugs-the-morality-of-food-and-has-neuroscience-killed-off-free-will
• Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173
• If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John’s website: http://www.johnwyatt.com
• For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com