来源：《每日电讯报》
原文刊登日期：2022年12月12日
本文适合2024考生
Wes Streeting is being hailed as a Labour politician brave enough to challenge the notion that the NHS is untouchable. The shadow health and social care secretary has made several recent pronouncements that most people would find unexceptionable but which few politicians dare utter, let alone those on the Left.
韦斯·斯特里廷被誉为是一位敢于挑战NHS不可改变这一观念的工党政治家。这位影子卫生和社会保障大臣最近发表了几项声明，大多数人都认为这些无庸置疑，但很少有政客敢说出来，更不用说左派政客了。
His interview in The Sunday Telegraph suggested that here, finally, was a leading Labour figure prepared to accept that fundamental reform of the NHS is needed, not just more money. Mr Streeting has personal reasons for taking a jaundiced view of the NHS since his own care following treatment for kidney cancer left much to be desired.
《星期日电讯报》对他的采访表明，终于有一位工党领袖愿意接受NHS的根本改革，而不仅仅是增加资金。斯特里廷对英国国民医疗服务体系(NHS)持有偏见有他个人的原因，因为他自己在治疗肾癌后的护理工作还有很多需要改进的地方。
But his experience is replicated across the country by that of thousands of others. Everyone seems to have a story about failings in the system, either affecting them directly or causing difficulties for relatives and friends. The irony of the planned strike by ambulance drivers is that it is difficult enough in normal times to get an emergency vehicle. The system is broken and everyone knows it, but none of our politicians has been prepared to concede the fact. The Conservatives fear a backlash if they do.
但他的经历在全英各地被成千上万的人所复制。每个人似乎都有一个关于NHS失败的故事，要么直接影响到他们，要么给亲友带来困难。救护车司机计划罢工的讽刺之处在于，在正常情况下很都难找到一辆急救车。NHS已经崩溃，每个人都知道，但我们的政治家都没有准备好承认这一事实。保守党担心，如果他们这样做，会遭到强烈抵制。
Mr Streeting says that if more money is to be pledged to the NHS it must be on condition of reforms that bring about better results for patients. He is prepared to stand up to the health unions and says the demands were unaffordable.
斯特里廷说，如果要向NHS承诺更多的资金，必须以改革为条件，为患者带来更好的结果。他准备与卫生工会对抗，并表示卫生工会的要求是无法承受的。
Nonetheless, he used an urgent question in the Commons yesterday to urge ministers to negotiate with nurses and paramedics who are demanding a 19 per cent increase. He said the power to stop these strikes is in the Government’s hands. Actually, it’s in the hands of an independent pay review body whose recommendation for a 4.75 per cent increase was accepted. Mr Streeting himself has said the demand is unaffordable but cannot resist parroting the unions’ criticism.
尽管如此，他昨天在下议院提出了一个紧急问题，敦促部长们与要求加薪19%的护士和护理人员进行谈判。他说阻止这些罢工的权力掌握在政府的手中。实际上，它掌握在一个独立的薪酬审查机构手中，该机构提出的加薪4.75%的建议被接受了。斯特里廷本人也表示，医护人员的加薪要求是无法承受的，但他忍不住要重复工会的批评。
Beyond the immediate pay dispute, wider reform is essential and yet political leaders refuse even to contemplate bringing the NHS more into line with continental Europe. In his report on the constitution last week, Gordon Brown said free access to the NHS should be made a statutory right. Any reform of the service towards a health insurance model would be outlawed.
除了迫在眉睫的薪酬争议，更广泛的改革是必不可少的，但政治领导人甚至拒绝考虑让NHS与欧洲大陆接轨。在上周的宪法报告中，戈登•布朗表示，免费享受NHS服务应该成为一项法定权利。任何趋向健康保险模式的改革都是非法的。
This is precisely the sort of short-sightedness that has brought the NHS to the brink of collapse. The constitutional right that people should have is a health service that works.
正是这种短视导致NHS濒临崩溃。人们应该享有的宪法权利是有效的医疗服务。