N H S ... A NUMPTY TAX?

[1966efc]

As the population gets older and expects more from it, the NHS is showing cracks in its service. Everyone wants the best for their family and friends when they come into contact with it; few are prepared to see a general tax raise to support it adequately.



So how about a tax on the numpties who treat themselves and others with contempt ...

Like the family of four who decided to climb Snowden last Christmas wearing sandals and shorts who needed treatment for hypothermia in A & E.

Like drunk drivers who wrap themselves round a lampost.

Like anyone under 45 who develops a smoking disease. (There's been more than enough education about it for people of this age.)

Like a drunk who chooses to go skiing & breaks a leg.

etc etc etc.





How would it be collected? Direct from wages / benefits.

Who would decide the numpty / non - numpty line? Triage nurse, Consultant or A & E manager.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

As the population gets older and expects more from it, the NHS is showing cracks in its service. Everyone wants the best for their family and friends when they come into contact with it; few are prepared to see a general tax raise to support it adequately.

View attachment 4490

So how about a tax on the numpties who treat themselves and others with contempt ...

Like the family of four who decided to climb Snowden last Christmas wearing sandals and shorts who needed treatment for hypothermia in A & E.

Like drunk drivers who wrap themselves round a lampost.

Like anyone under 45 who develops a smoking disease. (There's been more than enough education about it for people of this age.)

Like a drunk who chooses to go skiing & breaks a leg.

etc etc etc.

View attachment 4491



How would it be collected? Direct from wages / benefits.

Who would decide the numpty / non - numpty line? Triage nurse, Consultant or A & E manager.

Maybe that hugely successful ATOS could handle it all, they seem to handle that 'fit for work' thing so well.

A WOMAN who had been told she was “fit to work” by Government assessors died nine days after her benefits were stopped.

Linda Wootton, who lived in Oakhurst Hill, Rayleigh, was on 10 different prescription medications a day following complications with a double lung and heart transplant 28 years ago.

The former council worker suffered with high blood pressure and regular blackouts, but Atos, the Government-contracted healthcare assessors ruled that she was “fit to work”.

Her husband Peter, 50, said: “I sat there and listened to my wife drown in her own body fluids. It took half an hour for her to die; a woman who is apparently fit for work.”

He described the last few months of his wife’s life as “a misery”, saying that she worried constantly about her benefit payments, feeling useless, and worried that she would be seen as “a scrounger”.

She was formerly granted less than £110 a week in employment and support allowance, but following the ruling, was told that it was being stopped as she lay dying in hospital.

Linda, who was 49, had her first heart and lung transplant in 1985. She returned to work after the surgery, but shortly after, her body began to reject the transplanted organs.

She had a second heart and lung transplant four years later, but complications meant that she was in surgery for 31 hours. Following the second transplant, she was unable to return to work and began to receive benefit payments while her husband worked.

Peter said his wife was “listless” and fainted regularly. She regularly collapsed, and was frequently in and out of the Harefield Hospital in Middlesex, where she was seen by heart and lung specialists.

In February, her employment support allowance was withdrawn as the Coalition Government promised to “get tougher” on welfare.

The new rules meant that Linda would have to prove to Atos assessors that she was unfit for work. Despite her regular blackouts and medical history, her husband was not allowed in to the assessment, in Southend, to support his wife.

She was questioned for 20 minutes, and found to be fit for work, stopping her employment support allowance and disability living allowance.

The Atos assessment for capability to work includes questions such as: “Can you touch your nose with your left hand?” “Can you push a single button?” “Do you live alone?” “Can you wash and dress yourself?” “Can you spell the word ‘world’?”

Linda appealed against the decision, but the Department for Work and Pensions rejected the appeal. She died in hospital on April 24, with her husband Peter by her side.

He said: “I do not know how, or if, it will change the system, but at least we can show the population what people like Linda have to go through at the hands of these people.”

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I believe something like 40% of all cancer diagnoses are a result of lifestyle choices rather than anything outside the persons control. The figure for diabetes is more like 90%. Slippery slope innit.

 

[rascal]

Maybe that hugely successful ATOS could handle it all, they seem to handle that 'fit for work' thing so well.

A WOMAN who had been told she was “fit to work” by Government assessors died nine days after her benefits were stopped.

Linda Wootton, who lived in Oakhurst Hill, Rayleigh, was on 10 different prescription medications a day following complications with a double lung and heart transplant 28 years ago.

The former council worker suffered with high blood pressure and regular blackouts, but Atos, the Government-contracted healthcare assessors ruled that she was “fit to work”.

Her husband Peter, 50, said: “I sat there and listened to my wife drown in her own body fluids. It took half an hour for her to die; a woman who is apparently fit for work.”

He described the last few months of his wife’s life as “a misery”, saying that she worried constantly about her benefit payments, feeling useless, and worried that she would be seen as “a scrounger”.

She was formerly granted less than £110 a week in employment and support allowance, but following the ruling, was told that it was being stopped as she lay dying in hospital.

Linda, who was 49, had her first heart and lung transplant in 1985. She returned to work after the surgery, but shortly after, her body began to reject the transplanted organs.

She had a second heart and lung transplant four years later, but complications meant that she was in surgery for 31 hours. Following the second transplant, she was unable to return to work and began to receive benefit payments while her husband worked.

Peter said his wife was “listless” and fainted regularly. She regularly collapsed, and was frequently in and out of the Harefield Hospital in Middlesex, where she was seen by heart and lung specialists.

In February, her employment support allowance was withdrawn as the Coalition Government promised to “get tougher” on welfare.

The new rules meant that Linda would have to prove to Atos assessors that she was unfit for work. Despite her regular blackouts and medical history, her husband was not allowed in to the assessment, in Southend, to support his wife.

She was questioned for 20 minutes, and found to be fit for work, stopping her employment support allowance and disability living allowance.

The Atos assessment for capability to work includes questions such as: “Can you touch your nose with your left hand?” “Can you push a single button?” “Do you live alone?” “Can you wash and dress yourself?” “Can you spell the word ‘world’?”

Linda appealed against the decision, but the Department for Work and Pensions rejected the appeal. She died in hospital on April 24, with her husband Peter by her side.

He said: “I do not know how, or if, it will change the system, but at least we can show the population what people like Linda have to go through at the hands of these people.”

One wonders how much Atos were paid for reaching that conclusion.

 

[The Esk]

The first principle of the National Health Service is as follows:

The NHS provides a comprehensive service available to all
This principle applies irrespective of gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity or marital or civil partnership status. The service is designed to diagnose, treat and improve both physical and mental health. It has a duty to each and every individual that it serves and must respect their human rights. At the same time, it has a wider social duty to promote equality through the services it provides and to pay particular attention to groups or sections of society where improvements in health and life expectancy are not keeping pace with the rest of the population.

The idea that certain groups or individuals should pay for their health treatment based on their lifestyles and choices is destined for failure. It would be incredibly counter-productive by denying free care to those that need it most. In doing so, you will reduce the amount of care they receive, damaging the collective health of the nation and increasing costs in the future.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

The first principle of the National Health Service is as follows:

The NHS provides a comprehensive service available to all
This principle applies irrespective of gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity or marital or civil partnership status. The service is designed to diagnose, treat and improve both physical and mental health. It has a duty to each and every individual that it serves and must respect their human rights. At the same time, it has a wider social duty to promote equality through the services it provides and to pay particular attention to groups or sections of society where improvements in health and life expectancy are not keeping pace with the rest of the population.

The idea that certain groups or individuals should pay for their health treatment based on their lifestyles and choices is destined for failure. It would be incredibly counter-productive by denying free care to those that need it most. In doing so, you will reduce the amount of care they receive, damaging the collective health of the nation and increasing costs in the future.

Equally though, surely more needs to be done to promote healthier lifestyles? I'm not sure that, with our demographics as they are, it is sustainable to only worry about people when they're sick. That's too late. Worrying more about keeping people healthy is also much more scalable than treating them when they're sick.

 

[The Esk]

Equally though, surely more needs to be done to promote healthier lifestyles? I'm not sure that, with our demographics as they are, it is sustainable to only worry about people when they're sick. That's too late. Worrying more about keeping people healthy is also much more scalable than treating them when they're sick.

The NHS already do a great deal to promote healthy living.

http://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/sop/red-prem-mort/php/

Of course, more can be done but it is wrong to assume this is not part of the NHS brief already.

 

[Milk]

Put a penknife across the back of my hand recently cutting off bindings around drainage pipe. Needed 4 stitches at A&E.

Where do I report for a numpty tax then?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I think there's an awful lot more to be done in this area, and it's probably going to be where most effort and investment will be made in the coming years. It will be increasingly possible to use mobile devices to monitor your health, and you'd like to think that either your doctor, or more likely a Watson like service, will monitor that data and alert you and your doctor when things are going wrong. A bit more proactive than reactive.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Put a penknife across the back of my hand recently cutting off bindings around drainage pipe. Needed 4 stitches at A&E.

Where do I report for a numpty tax then?

http://www.blood.co.uk/index.aspx

 

[Milk]

http://www.blood.co.uk/index.aspx

An honourable thing to do ...... so I leave it to Mrs Milk who goes every 6 months.

(The art of good management is delegation)

 

[applecrumble]

The NHS pisses sooooooooooooo much money up the wall it's unbelievable. The amount wasted on absolutely useless literature that litters the hospitals is mind boggling. Also check almost any graphic design/web company and you will find NHS as a client. I know as I have done several NHS jobs - they waste money for fun.

 

[RAFUH]

I believe something like 40% of all cancer diagnoses are a result of lifestyle choices rather than anything outside the persons control. The figure for diabetes is more like 90%. Slippery slope innit.

I'll argue that diabetes statistic. Type 2 diabetes is about 90-95% of the diabetes diagnosed in the US, but T2 diabetes has a very significant genetic component. Absolutely lifestyle plays a big part, but some folks are further along the curve thanks to genetics.

 

[Boss_Blue]

I'll argue that diabetes statistic. Type 2 diabetes is about 90-95% of the diabetes diagnosed in the US, but T2 diabetes has a very significant genetic component. Absolutely lifestyle plays a big part, but some folks are further along the curve thanks to genetics.

The American food thread probably doesn't help either like lol

 

[RAFUH]

The American food thread probably doesn't help either like lol

Agreed, if not done in moderation.

In the US we do a very poor job of teaching people about good health particularly from a young age. The rates of health literacy are abysmal even for intelligent educated people.