{"id":46137,"date":"2019-11-26T17:04:55","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T16:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=46137"},"modified":"2019-12-02T17:03:59","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T16:03:59","slug":"julia-simons-why-i-challenged-boris-johnson-on-the-nhs-and-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/11\/26\/julia-simons-why-i-challenged-boris-johnson-on-the-nhs-and-climate\/","title":{"rendered":"Julia Simons: Why I challenged Boris Johnson on the NHS and climate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A couple of weeks ago, Boris Johnson visited Addenbrookes hospital<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">telling almost none of the staff he would be there. I encountered him entirely by accident, as I was leaving clinic. On speaking to his staff, I was told that he would be taking no questions, but I decided to take my chances anyway. As a young person, frustrated by a government whose actions betray them as unconcerned about the long term sustainability of the NHS and climate change, it was a rare opportunity to make a plea for evidence based politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unexpectedly, I was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge-news.co.uk\/news\/cambridge-news\/student-doctor-boris-johnson-cowardly-17180585\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">caught on camera by the media<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and found myself going viral on twitter over the next day. A clip showed me discussing cuts to the NHS. While <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/340\/bmj.c1724\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">cuts <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">are a key issue, the crux of my concerns is actually the disregard for facts and evidence, in favour of catchy slogans. Without evidence for decisions (including the lack of<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.parliament.uk\/business\/committees\/committees-a-z\/commons-select\/treasury-committee\/news-parliament-2017\/economic-analysis-brexit-chairs-comments-19-20\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> rigorous assessment of the impacts of the \u201coven-ready\u201d Brexit deal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, or any informed discussion of the practicalities of the Brexit process) politicians can never gain truly informed consent from the electorate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As is the way in elections, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/367\/bmj.l6375\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NHS has already become a focus point<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for pledges and promises. The NHS is currently facing \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bma.org.uk\/collective-voice\/influence\/key-negotiations\/nhs-funding\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">unprecedented financial pressures<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d and a staffing crisis. I imagine for the Conservatives this focus must cause a degree of discomfort, the evidence doesn\u2019t paint them in an attractive light. Doctors have seen first hand the result of funding gaps. There has been a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kingsfund.org.uk\/projects\/positions\/nhs-waiting-times\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">falling performance across a number of indicators<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: increasing waiting times for A&amp;E, cancer services, and elective treatment. It seems obvious that increasing pressure on the service results in increasing pressure on individuals: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.org.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/upload\/publications\/2019\/A%20Critical%20Moment_1.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NHS staffing issues and NHS funding streams are inextricably linked<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The evidence that funding gaps affect service provision and staff retention seems clear, but the action taken by the government appears inadequate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Demands on the NHS, and therefore a need for increased funding and staffing, will <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/ourwork\/clinical-policy\/older-people\/improving-care-for-older-people\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">continue to grow as the population ages<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. One of the greatest tragedies over the last decade has been cuts to public health funding. Last year Matt Hancock published a document \u201cPrevention is better than cure.\u201d I would say this approach is bang on the money when it comes to ensuring the NHS is able to cope with an increasingly ageing population. Only he\u2019s not got the money. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bma.org.uk\/-\/media\/files\/pdfs\/collective%20voice\/policy%20research\/public%20and%20population%20health\/public-health-budgets-feeling-the-squeeze-briefing-march-2018.pdf?la=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Public health funding has continued to fall.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Nevertheless, neither Brexit nor the NHS define the biggest threat to public health: overwhelming evidence demonstrates that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(17)32464-9\/fulltext#seccestitle290\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">it is climate change.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For this reason, my final attempts to question Johnson weren\u2019t about Brexit or the NHS at all: they were about heath and the climate emergency. I tried to ask \u201cHave you read the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/report\/ar5\/syr\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">IPCC report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">?\u201d For clinicians who practice evidence based medicine this report is the most important scientific consensus of our time. While politicians continue to discuss Brexit and focus on the NHS, the International Panel on Climate Change warns us we have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/sr15\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">11 years to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to give a 66.7% chance of keeping warming below 1.5 degrees.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The timing is suboptimal, but the climate won\u2019t wait for Brexit negotiations. It doesn\u2019t surprise me that these most important questions were unheard and unreported by the media. Climate change is not as politically attractive as the NHS\u2014even though ultimately, in my life time, our NHS will have to cope with the catastrophic health implications of climate change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To stop the NHS being used as a political football, perhaps the medical community should be pushing the focus elsewhere. The week before I applied to medical school <em>The BM<\/em>J published an article which said <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/347\/bmj.f6095.abstract\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cwe should be shouting from the rooftops that climate change is a health problem\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Since then, the evidence from climate scientists has only grown <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/bioscience\/advance-article\/doi\/10.1093\/biosci\/biz088\/5610806\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">more alarming<\/span><\/a>.<span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yet, when talking to senior clinicians my environmental concerns are often laughed away. As highlighted by the Lancet Countdown, \u201cclimate change and human health are interconnected in a myriad of complex ways.\u201d The use of fossil fuels is one of the drivers of climate change and already results in levels of air pollution that affect children in particular (in the UK and across the world): it has been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com\/articles\/10.1186\/s12889-018-6307-7\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">linked to preterm births<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/365\/bmj.l1767\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">asthma deaths <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanpub\/article\/PIIS2468-2667(18)30202-0\/fulltext#seccestitle200\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> reduced lung volume.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The children born this year will be 80 in 2100. If the calls from the IPCC report for \u201crapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society\u201d are not heard, and business as usual (BAU) continues <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(19)32596-6\/fulltext\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cthe life of every child born today will be profoundly affected by climate change\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Our global collective inaction poses an existential threat to humanity. Brexit does not.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Climate change is happening faster than scientists predicted and global greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to rise, posing a major threat to global health. It is our duty to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmc-uk.org\/ethical-guidance\/ethical-guidance-for-doctors\/good-medical-practice\/duties-of-a-doctor\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cprotect and promote the health of patients and the public\u201d.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> If we are to be true to our duty of care we must recognise that climate change is the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(18)32594-7\/fulltext\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">biggest threat to public health<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> humanity has ever faced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If we want to solve the problems facing the NHS, and effectively deal with the health and societal implications of the climate crisis, then we must vote and advocate for evidence based politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span class=\"il\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/11\/IMG_4771.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-46139\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/11\/IMG_4771.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong><span class=\"il\">Julia<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"il\">Simons<\/span><\/strong> is a final year medical student, member of Doctors for Extinction Rebellion and member of The Doctor\u2019s Association UK.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Competing interests<\/strong>: None declared<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple of weeks ago, Boris Johnson visited Addenbrookes hospital\u2014telling almost none of the staff he would be there. I encountered him entirely by accident, as I was leaving clinic. [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/11\/26\/julia-simons-why-i-challenged-boris-johnson-on-the-nhs-and-climate\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,236,224],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-change","category-nhs","category-students"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Julia Simons: Why I challenged Boris Johnson on the NHS and climate - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/11\/26\/julia-simons-why-i-challenged-boris-johnson-on-the-nhs-and-climate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Julia Simons: Why I challenged Boris Johnson on the NHS and climate - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A couple of weeks ago, Boris Johnson visited Addenbrookes hospital\u2014telling almost none of the staff he would be there. 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