What is it about the NHS????

[Squaredy]

16 hours ago, Saw-sick Steve said:

Carefull what you wish for...

 

 

You forget the NHS is not free!  It costs an average of £167 per person per month.  
 

Anyway, surely by suggesting the NHS is imperfect is not the same as saying we should adopt USA style healthcare?  I have several relatives in the US and they do get really good care.

[Squaredy]

Update on the thread I got home 6:30 this morning and had a kip, then I went and gave my mum a lift home about 2pm today.  Such a relief to be out, and they think she is fine.  So in reality she prob could have stayed at home, but when your frail old Mum is in a lot of pain after a fall you have to do something.  Such a shame it was Sat afternoon.

[joshuatree]

5 hours ago, Gary Prentice said:

One paramedic commented towards the end of her shift, that although they'd been non-stop all night, I was the only patient that actually needed an ambulance!

 

When my missus was pregnant she had and awful time with hyperemesis. Needed an ambulance from st Michael's to Bristol royal infirmary once due to dehydration. I asked the paramedics what's been you're stupidest call out. Without thinking he said someone called because they had seen a ghost!

 

He also said I was the first tree surgeon without an Irish accent in his ambulance. Make of that what you will. 

 

My mums an occupational therapist I asked her the other day what she thought was wrong with the NHS. She said it went wrong when hospitals got to decide their own budget. She has more managers than they know what to do with. 

 

I also think if you really couldn't afford a tenner then they should do it like brighthouse when they sell stuff to the feckless. A finance kind of system.

 

We all want and need an nhs but something has to change. As people have stated poor diet,substance abuse, smoking takes it toll. Also a lack of education in how to deal with minor injuries and ailments. 

 

How about pe for adults and scales on McDonalds doors. If your x weight no big mac fatty. 

?

[spuddog0507]

2 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Update on the thread I got home 6:30 this morning and had a kip, then I went and gave my mum a lift home about 2pm today.  Such a relief to be out, and they think she is fine.  So in reality she prob could have stayed at home, but when your frail old Mum is in a lot of pain after a fall you have to do something.  Such a shame it was Sat afternoon.

Hi good to hear your mum is ok but its as the saying goes, better to be safe than sorry, a lot of us have all these issues to come in life and at times i would think they can be quit worrying,

[Squaredy]

12 hours ago, Rough Hewn said:

Look at the French system.
It's state funded and private.
State pays 70%, your private medical insurance covers the other 30%.
And it bloody works.
Both my parents are elderly and frail.
Specialist...
Can't do today, but 10am tomorrow?
Brilliant.


I had a tumour growing in my left index finger some years back.
Got dicked around by NHS for over 18 months.
Ended up performing the surgery myself.
I'd rather lose a finger than a hand.

You should publish a list of surgery options you offer with costs.  I did hear years ago that the Welsh rugby legend JPR Williams sewed up his own lip on the pitch once!  He was a surgeon mind.

[Mark J]

NHS is mint. I've just had a scan on my knee. 1800 on a Sunday.

[Squaredy]

I personally don’t think the government should be trying to run health services, or education or indeed a host of other things they have taken over.  
 

Can anyone think of a service that is government run that is genuinely top class?  I can name a few top class services (eg RNLI) but not government run.  I have no wish to get into politics but really interested in others experience and views.

[scraggs]

Our local main hospital is a disaster area, even the staff think it's going into melt down, there is so much building going on in the area, along with people having more health issues that it truly is bogged down, they have no room to expand because they sold a lot of their future expansion land for building, but they have room to have an M&S and Costa put in.
We waited over 8 hours for an ambulance for my mum, my friends dad just broke his hip and he waited 5 hours for an ambulance,  go in on foot and you are in for a hell of a wait.
however we have 2 local hospitals with minor injuries units and they are absolutely superb, I had a piece taken out of my eye earlier this year and was in and out in 30 minutes, but the powers that be have been trying to shut them for years to save money, they actually need more people to use them to warrant them keeping them open.
The local private hospital now takes on a lot of NHS paid patients, and the quality of that hospital is slowly sliding.
We need education on diet and lifestyle, a health tax on fast food outlets, and a stop to some of the operations that are not essential or even necesary, a large proportion of the population are eating themselves into poor health, and that is putting a huge burdon on the NHS.
We also have doctors prescribing drugs that really aren't necessary and they need re educating about it, the NHS keep going on about antibiotic over use, but people can't get them unless a doctor prescribes them.
That said I had a new medical procedure (guinea pig) done a couple of years ago and couldn't fault the service I got.
I think a lot depends on how busy they are at the time.
 

[skyhuck]

5 hours ago, Pete Mctree said:

Let's be honest, the NHS is being run down, dismantled & sold off, like the railways etc were.  I looked on the gov.uk tender site the other week and there were approximately 30 million pounds of NHS contracts up for bids including those directly relating to patient treatment.

Soon it will be so poorly underfunded that it will barely function and people will start getting private medical insurance if they can afford it. It will reach a point when the government will "sadly" say that they are going to have to privatise it as it is so underperforming that it is no longer viable. People will accept it as the alternative will look so much better. Then we will find out how expensive medicine can be!

 

(sorry for the rant, but I can see it happening already) 

I can never understand the way people equate privatising of parts of the NHS with privatising the railways, water, gas, post office etc?

 

I don't ever recall not being charged for a rail ticket, water, gas, post etc, etc......

 

Surely the important principle regarding the NHS is that its free at the point of delivery. I really don't care who's providing the care, so long as its good. Much of the NHS has aways been provided by private contractors, most doctors are not employed by the NHS, they are self-employed and run their own Co's, contracted to the NHS. I think any government will have great difficulty trying to charge people for their health care, other than through taxation. Most folk just won't have it, IMHO.  

[Squaredy]

29 minutes ago, skyhuck said:

I can never understand the way people equate privatising of parts of the NHS with privatising the railways, water, gas, post office etc?

 

I don't ever recall not being charged for a rail ticket, water, gas, post etc, etc......

 

Surely the important principle regarding the NHS is that its free at the point of delivery. I really don't care who's providing the care, so long as its good. Much of the NHS has aways been provided by private contractors, most doctors are not employed by the NHS, they are self-employed and run their own Co's, contracted to the NHS. I think any government will have great difficulty trying to charge people for their health care, other than through taxation. Most folk just won't have it, IMHO.  

Yes indeed, GPs are self employed businesses and have never been NHS employees.  So they are all private already.