The NHS ahead of deciding who to vote for next year...

[AndyC]

I think I would be relatively sure that most on this forum view the National Health Service as a pretty damn good thing to have in this country.

But with some politicians seeming to favouring or sitting on the fence on the subject of some/all of the NHS being sold off to privatisation, I've unashamedly borrowed the following observations from another source for consideration and discussion.

The jist of this is that if some/all of the things the NHL wasn't founded for were taken into private practise and therefore made chargeable, then the finances currently taken up by these could be re-deployed more effectively into those areas that the NHS was actually founded for.

It's a wonderful thing and is the envy of many people in many countries but, like everything that is "free" it's been abused to 8u66ery over the years. The original purpose was to ensure that everyone had free and instant access to good healthcare.
It wasn't founded to provide gastric bands for people who won't stop cramming burgers down their collective necks.
It wasn't founded to give airheads bigger tits.
It wasn't founded to give treatment to health tourists.
It wasn't founded to patch up drunks on a Saturday night.
It wasn't founded to provide a tattoo removal service.

If you need/want to lose weight - go on a diet and exercise more...
If you want bigger jugs - pay for your own implants...
Make those health tourist abusing the NHS pay for their treatment...
If you get so pi55ed that you end up needing treatment, you paid for the ale, so pay for the care...
And if you're fed up with a tattoo, you paid for it in the first place, pay for it in the second place to have it removed/erased.

Accept responsibility and pay for the things that you can affect, leaving the state/NHS to provide cover for the things that occur naturally.

 

[Pat's Van]

but I can't afford implants

 

[rascal]

I agree that those wanting bigger jugs should pay for it themselves, same for gastric bands too, However, I'd be interested to know what peoples thoughts are on cosmetic surgery for such things as severe facial disfigurement? Having benefited from such a operation on the NHS in the past I'm firmly in favour of it being performed by the NHS. Similarly, if a girl has suffered from breast cancer and has had to have one removed, I think we owe it to her that she is given breast reconstruction. Same for men if they're born with manboobs.

 

[Ashtonian]

I agree. These sorts of services should not be provided unless there is a genuine reason why they need them. A gastric band or dead in 3 months on health grounds is finecancer and boob job after fine. Tattoo removal no chance.

People put all the blame on smokers half the time for the nhs failing but thw amount of tax smoking generates should be putting billions BACK into the health service. That is if the government supports it. compare that to the amount of people drunk taking up resources and time every week and that goes un noticed because someone is smoking. I'm an ex smoker btw

But there is a lot wrong with the NHS away from the publics eyes. working in it the system does not work and is corrupt at the bottom and too many pointless jobsworths who dont think any idea through. for example our trust is going paperless by 2016. Great, except we arent making any moves to do this yet and as a result thousands of new paper records will be produced, and cannot be stored because the sotrage warehouse is full to capacity.

 

[Pienaar's gloves]

Broadly agree.

Worth pointing out though, that when you paid for the ale (or the cigs), you paid a fair bit of tax upon the purchase. There has to be an argument that says this is contributing to your use of healthcare.

 

[Groucho]

I've posted numerous times on this over the years.

The NHS is a wonderful thing but politicians need to stop using it as a political football.

They also need to let it be run by people who know what they're doing rather than corporate folk; It's not a conventional business where the most important thing is the bottom line - it's a free-at-point-of-use service where the patient comes before profit.

I'm not saying its perfect because it isn't on a balance sheet, and there's ceryainly room for improvement, but it's better than a private alternative in my opinion.

 

[peteblue]

I think the NHS should ONLY be used for providing bigger jugs, it would cheer everybody up............

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I was speaking this week with a lady who works at one of the academic health networks who are tasked with ensuring the NHS is cutting edge, both by spreading what's working throughout every trust, and bringing in things from outside that could work.

I asked her what the best route is for channeling innovations from abroad or outside of the NHS, and she told me there isn't one. Kinda sums it up. There are an awful lot of well meaning folks working in the NHS but the management of it leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[roydo]

One problem is not the NHS, but peoples expectations of what it is there for, and their entitlement to its services at the drop of a hat.

Not A&E or cancer and that, but the day to day stuff in GPs surgeries that seems to waste so much time and money.

 

[Pienaar's gloves]

I think we are guilty of expecting too much from it sometimes, which is bad enough, and then we moan about how much it costs!

 

[Milk]

One problem is not the NHS, but peoples expectations of what it is there for, and their entitlement to its services at the drop of a hat.

Not A&E or cancer and that, but the day to day stuff in GPs surgeries that seems to waste so much time and money.

Bang on.

I was with a consultant yesterday who told me to go to an NHS surgeon for an "True & honest opinion" on whether I need back surgery because if I opt for private, I WOULD be told to have the op.

 

[Jacko93]

I think the NHS should ONLY be used for providing bigger jugs, it would cheer everybody up............

Aaaaand it would mean that we dont have to drink so much to make the ugly girls look better.

 

[mezzrow]

The jist of this is that if some/all of the things the NHL wasn't founded for were taken into private practise and therefore made chargeable, then the finances currently taken up by these could be re-deployed more effectively into those areas that the NHS was actually founded for.

This needs to stay in the NHL, not privatised. The young woman here plays the role of myself reading through UK political/policy threads on GOT.

 

[Billy Dean]

Bang on.

I was with a consultant yesterday who told me to go to an NHS surgeon for an "True & honest opinion" on whether I need back surgery because if I opt for private, I WOULD be told to have the op.

That is the great thing about the NHS - Specialists are able to focus on the patient rather than what makes them money. That shouldn't be taken for granted. It's not like that here in Germany.

 

[orly]

The NHS is a fantastic ideal ruined by the leeching legion of consultants that have found their way in.

some of these wasters are on thousands a day and cant produce a shred of work in a month or two. Incredible. Less consultants - better NHS