Our NHS (n/G)

[Buddha]

I had to visit the local UTC this morning and they were just great. The nurse practitioner who saw me was so kind, understanding and caring.

I was already impressed by the way I was treated but then shortly after I got home she called me up. She"d done some further reading and was able to give me some additional advice. This seemed to me to be above and beyond her duty and I'm so knocked out by the experience I felt compelled to post about it here.

I don't usually have much contact with the NHS but in the last twenty years they have saved both my son's and my father's lives. We really are so lucky to have it and when I start to think about how the Tories have done their very best to dismantle and destroy it my blood starts to boil.

The people who work for the NHS are utter heroes and whenever any of you are disheartened by the waiting times or lack of proper care be sure to remember that the fault for this lies firmly with the government. They should be given far more resources. The people who work there should be paid so much better and be left alone to do what they do best; caring for us all. If any politicians visit you canvassing in the coming months be sure to mention just how important the NHS is, and how imperative it is that it is saved and improved.

Big up the NHS and fuck the Tories!

 

[Gills 58]

We should all go outside and clap for them to show how grateful we are and then treat them like shit the rest of the time and particularly at the next election.

(I am being sarcastic).

Anecdote

Heard the cashier at my local bookies slagging off Junior Doctors for their greedy strike action. This from a bloke who was paid to stay at home during lockdown whilst Doctors literally risked their lives saving others during Covid.

Sweeping generalistation here but his demographic seemed classic 'Reform' voter.

 

[GillsBluenose]

I have had abdomen discomfort for about 6 months.

During that time I have had a GP consultation on a Saturday here in Suffolk followed by an ultrasound, CT Scan and MRI scan, due to some anomalies on my Liver and Kidneys which they have since reassured me about.

During that time I also had a separate ultrasound as part of a screening programme to detect an aortic aneurism - luckily negative.

I still have some discomfort in the lower abdomen. which may be prostate, bladder or bowel and I have been asked to provide the 2 standard "samples" along with blood tests, before a doctors appointment shortly that will include the prostate examination. Oh joy.

I really don't think they could be more thorough and I would therefore give them 10 out of 10. Can't fault 'em.

 

[Buddha]

I have had abdomen discomfort for about 6 months.

During that time I have had a GP consultation on a Saturday here in Suffolk followed by an ultrasound, CT Scan and MRI scan, due to some anomalies on my Liver and Kidneys which they have since reassured me about.

During that time I also had a separate ultrasound as part of a screening programme to detect an aortic aneurism - luckily negative.

I still have some discomfort in the lower abdomen. which may be prostate, bladder or bowel and I have been asked to provide the 2 standard "samples" along with blood tests, before a doctors appointment shortly that will include the prostate examination. Oh joy.

I really don't think they could be more thorough and I would therefore give them 10 out of 10. Can't fault 'em.

Best wishes with those health issues, GBN.

Just to balance out a little my rage with the Tories for doing their level best to undermine, dismantle and sell off the NHS bit by bit, I must point out that with a shadow health minister who says that the health service, "uses every winter crisis and every challenge it faces as an excuse to ask for more money, and that it must accept that "money is tight", i don't hold out too much hope that a Labour government will improve the service or the pay of those who provide it.

Wes Streeting says NHS uses winter crisis as excuse to ask for more money

Shadow minister tells health service ‘money is tight’ and that it must provide better value for taxpayers

www.theguardian.com

 

[markinkent]

Front line staff are amazing. Like many i've got them to thank for saving a loved one. I'm sure the organisation is full of inefficiencies and waste but the front line staff are true heroes.

 

[townendgill]

I'm honestly wondering if I'm using the same health service as the one other posters are describing. The NHS I use is bloody frustrating at best and completely falling apart at worst.

 

[norwichgill]

I was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2022 and subsequently had two rounds of chemo with an eleven hour operation in-between that to remove part of my stomach and oesophagus. The care that I received from the NHS throughout that was absolutely outstanding and I can't praise the staff enough. I'm now all clear and doing ok by the way! Trying to book an appointment at my GP or find an NHS dentist on the other hand...

 

[jokerman]

There has been a revolution in point of service/access practices in Britain from the time that I was growing up there in the 70's. Railway staff, in particular, leave me gobsmacked with their cheerfulness and willingness to help -and that predates the current industrial relations context. My experiences of the NHS, some in very trying times, have been uniformly positive at the point of contact, although senior personnel twenty years ago still reacted to me asking questions about my father's health and treatment very cagily. The waiting times, as reported at least, sound ludicrous. US health care is excellent and timely in terms of treatment, inefficent in terms of cost, and depends on your ability to pay or have some one pay for you. The doctors seem very well off. If they are not paid enough in one hospital system, they move to another.

 

[Voice of Reason 2]

The NHS was built from another time when medical care was not so complicated and life expectancy was lower than today and far lower number over 60s and population in general.

It needs scrapping, and a different service built together with a plan on how it will be funded

 

[LancsGordoRoad]

The NHS was built from another time when medical care was not so complicated and life expectancy was lower than today and far lower number over 60s and population in general.

It needs scrapping, and a different service built together with a plan on how it will be funded

Notwithstanding the great job most NHS frontline staff do, I dare say there will be plenty who agree with the notion that the NHS, in its current form, is simply unsustainable. Just how the UK manages a transition to a more sustainable, different service is the big, big question. As far as a plan is concerned, the plan seems to be - it`s too difficult, file under Pending.

 

[Vambogills]

It needs scrapping, and a different service built together with a plan on how it will be funded

If that happened it would be funded by you paying considerably more in insurance than you currently pay in NI. Worryingly govt. spokespeople like Cleverly have started saying National Insurance is nothing to do with the NHS or indeed your state pension. They are calling it just a second tax that should maybe be abolished.
We should all be highly suspicious of what their intentions are.

 

[Trashbat]

NHS is shite. I’ve been on the waiting list for surgery for 2 years and waiting. It has taken 10s of thousands of pounds to get family and offspring diagnosed and treated for medical issues privately.

It doesn’t just come down to funding. It is about changing the culture in the NHS and making the right decisions about what to fund. A few anecdotes to illustrate:

1. Lack of investment in IT was responsible for IT systems going drown a few years ago resulting in thousands of operations being cancelled.

2. Pay doctors fairly. Who in their right mind would study for years to earn <£20/hr.

3. Change the culture. Nurses refusing to wheel patients to the operating theatre when there are no porters meaning operating theatres go unused.

 

[townendgill]

If that happened it would be funded by you paying considerably more in insurance than you currently pay in NI. Worryingly govt. spokespeople like Cleverly have started saying National Insurance is nothing to do with the NHS or indeed your state pension. They are calling it just a second tax that should maybe be abolished.
We should all be highly suspicious of what their intentions are.

Not all health insurance based healthcare is like the absolute lunacy practiced in America. France and Germany spend a little more than us with their hybrid systems and generally have better results to show for it, South Korea has an insurance based system and has genuinely world class healthcare AND they spend less per head than we do (about a quarter less). Not saying it's what we should do but it shouldn't be off the table.

 

[GillsBluenose]

Not all health insurance based healthcare is like the absolute lunacy practiced in America. France and Germany spend a little more than us with their hybrid systems and generally have better results to show for it, South Korea has an insurance based system and has genuinely world class healthcare AND they spend less per head than we do (about a quarter less). Not saying it's what we should do but it shouldn't be off the table.

As a matter of interest, TEG, in France and Germany how do they deal with the unemployed, poor, or disabled who can not afford whatever insurance premiums are required?

Do the premiums get automatically deducted from their state benefits under their systems, so they can not avoid paying?

Or is there a basic service, including A & E, where the cost is borne by the government. Essentially two-tier healthcare?

It just strikes me that either of those 2 countries, and also America, would not want vulnerable citizens deprived of the very basic care, and dying or lying in pain in streets. due purely to cost. That would be pretty barbaric.

Or are you saying that the governments pay a massive insurance premium to a private company that effectively runs a private version of the NHS?

 

[ThreeSixes]

Notwithstanding the great job most NHS frontline staff do, I dare say there will be plenty who agree with the notion that the NHS, in its current form, is simply unsustainable.

The NHS was originally set up as a pool of money paid by British people, to provide medical care for British people. As the world becomes more fluid and this country becomes more vibrant, an increasing number of people will be getting treatment without having put into the pot, which is going to be unsustainable.

My personal recent experience of the NHS, having scans, and injections into my eye, have been very positive.

 

[townendgill]

As a matter of interest, TEG, in France and Germany how do they deal with the unemployed, poor, or disabled who can not afford whatever insurance premiums are required?

Do the premiums get automatically deducted from their state benefits under their systems, so they can not avoid paying?

Or is there a basic service, including A & E, where the cost is borne by the government. Essentially two-tier healthcare?

It just strikes me that either of those 2 countries, and also America, would not want vulnerable citizens deprived of the very basic care, and dying or lying in pain in streets. due purely to cost. That would be pretty barbaric.

Or are you saying that the governments pay a massive insurance premium to a private company that effectively runs a private version of the NHS?

I'll use France as an example. Basic healthcare is paid for up to about 70-80 percent by state-run insurance if you have the means to do pay for it, and by the government if you do not (for children, for example). You're responsible for the rest so on top of this, most people (95 percent) have private health insurance, usually provided by their employer that basically covers the difference. EDIT There is also a separate insurance for those on low incomes to cover co-payments.

 

[PuB]

I think a few here need to look at the world health organisation’s category of international health care where a certain country consistently delivers the best care for the least cost.

As some American once said (I can’t remember who I apologise), ‘It’s like complaining your Rolls Royce isn’t fast enough’.

You will miss it when it’s gone.

 

[PuB]

The NHS was originally set up as a pool of money paid by British people, to provide medical care for British people. As the world becomes more fluid and this country becomes more vibrant, an increasing number of people will be getting treatment without having put into the pot, which is going to be unsustainable.

My personal recent experience of the NHS, having scans, and injections into my eye, have been very positive.

Absolutely not true.

The NHS does not have to treat foreign nationals (which you allude to) without billing their ‘home’ nation.

And I think we all know what you’re insinuating.

 

[Alderman Barnes]

As a matter of interest, TEG, in France and Germany how do they deal with the unemployed, poor, or disabled who can not afford whatever insurance premiums are required?

Do the premiums get automatically deducted from their state benefits under their systems, so they can not avoid paying?

Or is there a basic service, including A & E, where the cost is borne by the government. Essentially two-tier healthcare?

In Germany, you are required by law to choose a heath insurer, and a fixed percentage is then automatically deducted from your salary. You can pick and choose from providers according to the rate they charge and the services they offer, but generally there's not a huge difference between them, and they all charge about 14 or 15%.

If you happen to be unemployed, social security pays it for you.

With it being a flat-rate tax like VAT, rather than coming from general taxation, it's more of a burden on the lower earners than the higher, because they have less disposable income left over.

It may work slightly better than the NHS at present, but it has massive problems too, mainly the disproportionate burden inherent in the system.

From outside, it looks like the NHS is in deliberately managed decline like all the other industries that had to be got rid of. Starve it off so anything else seems better. It's a shame for one of Britain's greatest achievements. Unfortunately, putting it in the hands of Streeting seems hardly likely to make it any better.

 

[ARFUR CONNELL]

In Germany, you are required by law to choose a heath insurer, and a fixed percentage is then automatically deducted from your salary. You can pick and choose from providers according to the rate they charge and the services they offer, but generally there's not a huge difference between them, and they all charge about 14 or 15%.

If you happen to be unemployed, social security pays it for you.

With it being a flat-rate tax like VAT, rather than coming from general taxation, it's more of a burden on the lower earners than the higher, because they have less disposable income left over.

It may work slightly better than the NHS at present, but it has massive problems too, mainly the disproportionate burden inherent in the system.

From outside, it looks like the NHS is in deliberately managed decline like all the other industries that had to be got rid of. Starve it off so anything else seems better. It's a shame for one of Britain's greatest achievements. Unfortunately, putting it in the hands of Streeting is hardly likely to make it any better.

I thought the Government were putting in a a billion pounds more over 23/24. Where is the money being spent?