Yet another NHS thread

[Tashyboy]

Guess what, it's winter and there is a shortage of beds. Last winter, the same. Winter before, the same. Year before, year before etc etc. As Missis T has just said ( 36 yrs NHS ) Why is it a surprise. Ave just asked Missi T a question, "when the trusts paid millions over the odds to have these hospitals built, why did they not factor in say 3 extra dormant wards to use during the winter months". She said " er they did but ended up using them for the rest of the year". What am I missing? It has never affected me but why do we put up with this crap every year. Missis T mentioned she had to open one of these temp wards and was supplied with crap agency nurses and insisted on Bank nurses if she was to continue running said ward. How have we let this system/ NHS get to State year after year. Rant over.:sbox:

 

[Imurg]

There is a huge amount of cash wasted in the NHS - we all know that but its not the main reason.
We are an expanding population. We generally live longer, as we live longer we develop more illnesses or afflictions that require treatment.
It's impossible for the Government, any Government, to give the NHS all the cash it needs - there just isn't enough unless we raise all tax to extortionate proportions.
It has an almost infinite number of Clients but a very finite amount to spend on them.
The pot just isn't big enough.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Always the same.
When the real Mrs Tangry decided that the Medway towns should centralise most of the hospital services and increase one to do almost everything, they closed down the others before the one super (allegedly) hospital was fully operational and up and running. Now it is stretched worse than Stretch Armstrong and running on vapours.

 

[chrisd]

I play golf with a top consultant, a GP and a orthodontist who's married to a GP and it seems in talking to them that it is simply a lack of funding. I think they also know that fat cat management is part of the problem as well as poor control over expenditure

 

[Tashyboy]

I play golf with a top consultant, a GP and a orthodontist who's married to a GP and it seems in talking to them that it is simply a lack of funding. I think they also know that fat cat management is part of the problem as well as poor control over expenditure

This I do agree with but it just seems that if you do not nod and agree with fat cat policies then next winter we will have the same old same old. As does Missis T agree with what you said.

 

[Captainron]

The NHS is AWESOME! Yes, there are some issues with management and spending but if you are really ill (I mean REALLY ILL) then you will be seen, helped and put in a ward.

I think that the vast majority of the world would swap places with those waiting outside a ward for a few hours in a blooming heartbeat.

 

[anotherdouble]

Expanding population and people living longer in need of more services in the red corner and not enough facilities in the blue corner. In all of your areas when was the last time you had an extra hospital built. I don't mean one knocked down and a new one in its place. In the last 30 years I don't know of one in my neck of the woods

 

[Dasit]

The NHS is AWESOME! Yes, there are some issues with management and spending but if you are really ill (I mean REALLY ILL) then you will be seen, helped and put in a ward.

I think that the vast majority of the world would swap places with those waiting outside a ward for a few hours in a blooming heartbeat.

Awesome if you in the right post code :thup:

 

[chrisd]

A friend of mine ruptured his thigh muscle on New Years Eve was rushed to hospital and they said that because they had cancelled most operations they invited him to come back 24hours later and they fixed it for him!

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I play golf with a top consultant, a GP and a orthodontist who's married to a GP and it seems in talking to them that it is simply a lack of funding. I think they also know that fat cat management is part of the problem as well as poor control over expenditure

The last sentence would seem to contradict the first.

A larger, elderly population is inevitably going to stretch the service and there is a mixture of things to do :

Cut the waste. People have talked about this for years yet it is still rife. Like turning a tanker, this will take a while and some determination

Drop some treatments that are non essential or lifestyle decisions. These will be unpopular but something has to give. Few at the moment seem up to taking this on.

Joined up thinking between depts and other sectors, work smarter.


I'm sure some of this is happening already but not enough and not countrywide. Tashy's point is spot on. We know bed blocking is an issue yet year after year we hear the same problem. I'm sure some hospitals are nailing these issues. Their best practice should be seen and learnt from.

 

[SocketRocket]

The perfect storm.

A population that has been deliberately expanded beyond the resources to support it.
Ignoring that we will have an aging population living longer.
Halving the number of hospital beds over the last 30 years.
Allowing health tourism to go unchecked.
Not addressing overcharging and waste in the NHS.
Failing to invest in training suitable numbers of Medical staff and flooding money into hiring agency people.
Higher costs in new medical technology.

What could go wrong?

 

[Dasit]

The perfect storm.

A population that has been deliberately expanded beyond the resources to support it.
Ignoring that we will have an aging population living longer.
Halving the number of hospital beds over the last 30 years.
Allowing health tourism to go unchecked.
Not addressing overcharging and waste in the NHS.
Failing to invest in training suitable numbers of Medical staff and flooding money into hiring agency people.
Higher costs in new medical technology.

What could go wrong?

A population with blind faith that the NHS is the best system in the world, so impossible for any political party to manage it effectively

 

[jim8flog]

It is quite simply a numbers game.

For example where I live I moved in 30+ years ago. When you rang for an appointment the surgery often apologised because they did not have an appointment until about 10.30.

In that 30 years the size of the small town/large village I live in the number of houses has nearly doubled and that means that the number of patients has quadrupled. The doctors surgery meanwhile has only been able to double the number of doctors and many of those only stay for a short period of time.

We are just one large village in the area surrounding the local town and what has happened to our village holds true for most of the local villages and on a similar note the town itself has doubled the amount of housing.

The main hospital in the local town was built almost in the middle of the town, so cannot expand much beyond what it has done simply because there is no room left on the site.

The only major change we have had in our area was that the local 'cottage hospital' was upgraded and rebuilt to provide are far larger range of services but does not have A&E facilities.

 

[chrisd]

The last sentence would seem to contradict the first.

Not so, not enough money coming in and what they do have being wasted is a common problem in business and particularly in the NHS

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Awesome if you in the right post code :thup:

Very true.
Funny how some NHS areas seem to manage much better than others.

 

[Deleted member 21784]

A population with blind faith that the NHS is the best system in the world, so impossible for any political party to manage it effectively

What counties is better? It sure as hell isnt America’s

 

[Crazyface]

The NHS is wasting money on having to deal with long term illnesses. Alzheimer patients wandering around ward and such like. These people need to be in specialist homes and establishments and treated like Kings and Queens by the way. Treatments for things that are not affecting health should be dropped. Sorry and all that, but decisions MUST BE MADE. The NHS was set up to help the HEALTH of the nation and this is only what it must do.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Not so, not enough money coming in and what they do have being wasted is a common problem in business and particularly in the NHS

Not a dig by the way. As a tax payer I, I'm sure you are the same, would like some of the holes in the bucket plugged rather than just pouring more and more money into it for the sake of it. If the NHS wants more then it has to solve some of its waste at the same time.

Treatments for things that are not affecting health should be dropped. Sorry and all that, but decisions MUST BE MADE. The NHS was set up to help the HEALTH of the nation and this is only what it must do.

I definitely agree with this. With limited resources this aspect needs to be remembered and other services currently free on the NHS need to go on a pay to use basis.

 

[User62651]

Out of interest does anyone know or care to hazard a guess if hypothetically the NHS ceased to be and we all had to go along the private healthcare route, is the proportion of our NI that currently goes to funding NHS anywhere near enough to cover a basic equivalent private healthcare policy? Guessing nowhere near?

Eg If you earn £40k gross on a normal hours job you pay NI of only £3,820 https://goodcalculators.com/tax-calculator/

I'm guessing of the £3,820 maybe a third goes to NHS currently with rest to unemployment and pensions and other areas so only say £1,270 on health, roughly £100/month for someone earning £40k/yr. NHS is very cheap to us all, maybe we should all be paying more?

 

[Deleted member 21784]

Out of interest does anyone know or care to hazard a guess if hypothetically the NHS ceased to be and we all had to go along the private healthcare route, is the proportion of our NI that currently goes to funding NHS anywhere near enough to cover a basic equivalent private healthcare policy? Guessing nowhere near?

Eg If you earn £40k gross on a normal hours job you pay NI of only £3,820 https://goodcalculators.com/tax-calculator/

I'm guessing of the £3,820 maybe a third goes to NHS currently with rest to unemployment and pensions and other areas so only say £1,270 on health, roughly £100/month for someone earning £40k/yr. NHS is very cheap to us all, maybe we should all be paying more?

Also the private health model is discusting

How many people per year go bankrupt in America for medical bills?

Was explained to me by a few people how people get the bill part paid and the company say pay the rest (10,000) or we will triple your premium next year

In my experience aswell my Grandad was private insured through work and he had bowel cancer.. he reached his limit and was due another round of chemotherapy so he sold his house to the bank.. £35k he got in cash (never needed he recovered in end) but now the bank own most his house (worth 1 million) and he gets a total of 130k when it’s sold the rest goes to the bank. All for 35k

Can’t even downsize