Petition to save the NHS

[thatbloke]

I dont understand it , when I lived on the continent I had to have health insurance, sometimes it was paid by my employer sometimes I had to pay it my self.
How come these countries can operate quite well like this yet the uk would fall to bits without an NHS?
Nothing to do with the system , its the eejits who run it and the greedy scrounging b'stards who milk it..

The british are fabled for their ''proud to be british'' ''Stiff upper lip'' attitude blah blah yet they then take on an ''im all right jack'' attitude when they milk their country for everything they can get and turn it into a **** hole.

When we talk about this country going to **** its usually the fault of a majority of the people who live in it.

 

[Blasphemous]

Re the euthanasia thing. I firmly believe in voluntary euthanasia. Where someone who has a terminal illness chooses when to die. Problem is, will this decision be left to the individual, or greedy relatives who can only see inheritances coming their way?

You already have that choice - it's called suicide.

You do have the 'choice' but:

1. It's illegal - Illegal to take your OWN life.... how preposterous!

Therefore:

2. If you have a mortgage or any other debts and you are married, your love one/estate will be left to pay those debts as any insurance is null and void (due to the above), if/when you commit suicide.

WHY can the local GP not remove stitches?

They can. No one here said that the NHS doesn't have its fair share of inept 'professionals'.

If pushed, I'm sure I could with an alcoholic wipe, pair of tweezers, and scissors?

It's comforting to see you added a 'Question Mark' to that statement. What is it that you feel qualifies you to make that assumption?

Why did A&E refer to GP, and health centre, both of which are navailable? Then told to come back the next day, when the place was empty?

Why do you think anyone here has an answer to a question you have in relation to a private conversation?

so I estimate the cost of misinformation, and unnecessary travelling, would have cost over £40 on public transport, maybe slightly less by taxi. For 6 stitches to be removed.

So why didn't you use a Taxi if it would have been cheaper?

So Yes, maybe NHS reform is needed.

Maybe it does but by your own admission....

Not really had an option good/bad against the NHS, until I needed them last week.

You 'needed' the NHS ONCE and you're making assumptions already. That seems a very considered approach to the question of reform!

There 'seems' to be two sides to your experience though. Firstly, if I'm not mistaken, your call and subsequent dealings with the NHS professionals was excellent. They responded quickly, you were taken to hospital (or your partner was), you were treated, you were observed for a number of hours (we can only assume this based on your post), you were released and informed of your next course of action. Your 'issues' seem to have come about in the 'follow-up' care ie with your GP etc. So on one hand the NHS was/is excellent (based upon your experience), and on the other there is/was a lack of understanding of follow-up procedures.

If, as the millionaire Cameron wishes, GPs are given responsibility for ALL of the NHS then your experience seems to prove that that would be a very big mistake as that is the one area your care fell down. That is of course based only upon ONE experience but that seems to be enough to form a considered opinion apparently.

 

[LooPrEvil]

We are a nation that would prefer to knock what we have, rather than appreciate its virtues.

I for one think the NHS provide a great service and have participated in the petition.

 

[thatbloke]

You obviously have yet to go to the maternity hospital in Tunbridge wells, its sadder than disgusting, it makes you squirm and not want to touch anything when you go into it.
The jobcentre in town is cleaner , no , really.

 

[joinerjohn]

I used to hate attending the antenatal clinic with my first wife. Appointments were usually made for 9:00am in the morning. Only problem being, everybody's appointments were made at the same time. Used to sit there all day (sometimes until 3:00pm before she was seen by anyone)

 

[Inky Pete]

Yep, common practice in all clinics at Warrington General too.

Obviously the doctor's time is just FAR more valuable than anyone elses.

Makes them a fortune in car parking charges!

 

[Blasphemous]

Yep, common practice in all clinics at Warrington General too.

Obviously the doctor's time is just FAR more valuable than anyone elses.

Makes them a fortune in car parking charges!

Makes 'who' a fortune? It certainly doesn't make the NHS a fortune. The Car Park charges are administered and collected by the local council. If you think that local councils need reforming then I'm more than in agreement with that.

 

[Space cat]

so can u tell me whats wrong these new reforms as i don`t now enough about it to agree or disagree apart from the guy wants to put gp`s in charge

I work for the NHS (so I suppose I'm biased) and I did sign the petition, though not quite for the reasons it gave. The reforms are a bit of a mystery, even to people who work here, so I'll explain as best I can and apologize in advance for any mistakes.

What is a Primary Care Trust? Good question. Some of us didn't know. It's an organization that takes money from the government and uses it to 'buy' the various services that the NHS provides. I'm loathe to use the word 'buy' because it already smacks of privatization. What they do is allocate the money. Should we have a new operating theatre or a new accelerator - or both? How many dialysis machines do we need? What about another MRI scanner? Do we have the staff to operate all this stuff?

It's not a trivial exercise. "So, Dr Finlay, should we renew the (very expensive) maintenance contracts on those four accelerators or employ a couple of extra technologists?" You seriously expect Dr Finlay to answer that one? It's hardly surprizing that GPs are kicking up a stink. They aren't being given the power to choose what's best for their patients; they're having the responsibility dumped on them! If they're forced to go down this route, they'll quite likely have to employ a lot of the very same people who've just collected their redundancy money from the disbanded PCT's.

This has already been tried on a small scale with fund-holding practices and the uptake was poor. They're doctors. They didn't spend five years in medical school to spend their time filling out invoices. Remember the internal market? That failed for much the same reason. Running a department as a business consumes a lot of man hours that would be better spent on patient care.

Are PCT's overstaffed? The perception is that there are too many 'middle men' and maybe that's true - but I don't work for a PCT so I won't comment. What I will say is "don't be put of by the word manager". It's a job title that conjures up somebody who was running a shop last week bust most 'managers' in a hospital started out as nurses so they do know their stuff - and some are still nurses, doing double duty as it were.

 

[Blasphemous]

If they're forced to go down this route, they'll quite likely have to employ a lot of the very same people who've just collected their redundancy money from the disbanded PCT's.

Exactly! There are only so many hours in a day. GPs still have their job to do, the 'Managing of the NHS' still needs doing and who is most likely to get a job doing that...? Someone with experience of running the NHS! Bingo! Back to square one with no change what-so-ever other than the fact that more money than was necessary, has been spent due to the redundancy payouts! It's utter madness! Or as some might say, typical tory mentality!

 

[adlplumbing]

okay fair enough space cat then if that the propsal then i can se why people are aginst it but the nhs if need of reform
as other countries can do better job

 

[thatbloke]

100k + performance based salaries , its hardly surprising you never get to see one on the appointed time and the NHS is is trouble.
Milk what you can from it , everyone else seems to.

 

[mypetearthling]

The only reform that the NHS needs is a little streamlining in the Middle Management area.

The proposals put forward by the muppets currently running the country will leave GPs facing increasingly difficult decisions ("do I authorise Mrs Jones' Cancer treatment or Mr Thomas' Dialysis? Will this years budget even cover one of these?). With more stress on the front lines, it is going to become more difficult to encourage young med students to become GPs. Meaning that there will be less Doctors when you need one.
The problem with dentists, is that they have a choice; to treat Private patients, or to allow a few NHS cases through the door? Do we really want the same from our NHS? A doctor who has the option to treat those who can afford to pay whatever it costs for their treatment will have no budget worries, little stress, the ability to pick their hours. But what then for the rest of us? Will we have a fully qualified family doctor, who knows your medical history and can diagnose with confidence? Not a chance We are going to spend three years on a waiting list to even get accepted onto an NHS GPs list. Not what Nye Bevan had in mind!!


K

 

[Norcon]

will leave GPs facing increasingly difficult decisions

Doctors can earn up to £300k per year. Thanks to bliar and his cronies shovelling cash to them.
Don't see too many of them refusing the cash and if they had less Mrs Jones or Mr Thomas both might get their treatment.
No man is worth 300k per year, not even doctors.

My mates wife is a doctor and she's off now for a full year on full pay while she has a baby I'm told. Hubby has a good job and yet somehow the cash has to be found to pay for his wife to sit at home while someone else has to fill her position at the hospital.
Is it any wonder this country is financially ruined?

Will this years budget even cover one of these?).

Ask bliar and brown. They squandered billions....
I imagine in Bevans day the nhs would have been the envy of the world but not now with the cancer of greed in every department.
Bring on the reforms....

 

[joe-90]

In Bevan's day pensioners died younger and there were no hip and knee replacements, and if you got ill you usually died. We simply can't afford a National Health Service offering everything to everybody - even foreigners that have never contributed. Plus, new cancer drugs costing up to £50k per person per year. It can't go on - the UK is bust,

 

[pipemajor]

Have a read of this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/may/14/david-cameron-adviser-health-reform#start-of-comments
This is what Lansley's reform is about. I'm referring to the main article not the comments