NHS

An interesting piece in yesterday's Times from Philip Collins who was at the heart of the Tony Blair government.




The situation is both severe and typical. The NHS will now be permanently “in crisis”. Every so often there will be a flashpoint such as the junior doctors’ strike or a winter surge. December 27, 2016 was the busiest day in the seven-decade history of the NHS; the number of elderly patients waiting on trolleys has trebled. If the prime minister is tempted to take the attitude of “Crisis, what crisis? she would be foolish. Real people are suffering, some of them fatally.

It helps nobody, though, to pretend that this is all the fault of Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary. His intentions for the NHS, despite the wild accusations of some critics, are nothing but good. The problem is much bigger than the identity of the minister or the political complexion of the government. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has calculated that unless the current productivity rate in health improves, the cost of the NHS will push the national debt to more than 200 per cent of GDP by 2060. We cannot pretend that we can keep finding enough money. As Giuseppe di Lampedusa wrote in The Leopard, “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change”.

The first change is to recognise that the National Health Service is not really any of those three things. Variations in quality mean the NHS is a regional service with a national logo. Second, the nature of modern illness, which depends so much on diet, means that health is looked after at home; the NHS is an illness checker and fixer. Finally, the NHS is not a single service. The current problem with A&E occurs because GPs, happy recipients of a crazy contract, are closed or there is no local minor injuries centre, which would be a much better place for many of the people in A&E. Hospitals cannot discharge the elderly because local government cuts — the falsest economy in the sorry history of austerity — have turned a poor social care service into a shameful one. The NHS is the repository of problems, not the cause.

The Times paywall is blocking page 2.
I'll post it separately.

I'm not sure why the NHS is in crisis. With billions of pounds spent on it every year and an army of staff in every hospital, medical facility etc, just what "are" the reasons the NHS is in crisis?

Maybe it's too simplistic to suggest it's down to inefficiency, disorganisation and basic incompetence from certain decision and policy makers.

Just live in the USA ....no one in the U.K. Would ever complain about the NHS ever again. I PAY my medical insurance, damn costly it is to !

Come north. Free for lots of things here. Pay 30% of the cost of prescriptions. Any medicine that can be bought over the counter cannot be obtained on prescription. So no Aspirins etc. paid for.

nail on the head broady,
any medicine or drug that can be obtained off prescription should not be provided by a Dr on prescription as this is just a reason why people go to A&E/Dr's rather than self treat minor ailments.
Extended hours / weekends by Drs would only work if at all times there would be the potential to see the Dr without appointment which is not the case at most pratices

no incompetance here as jeremy hunt is doing exactly what the torys want . the dismantling of the NHS.ever thought why he,s the only 1 to keep his job from the last cabinet ? .

Do you think the Labour Party did a competent job of running the NHS in their time in power?? At that time they opened up the gates to lots of Immigrants to put a tremendous strain on the NHS. I don't expect an answer really because you won't have your beloved Labour Party lambasted. Before you give me the bilge about not living there I see you have kept quiet for weeks why all and sundry have had their say about Trump even though they don't live in the States. Double standards again.

My wife overheard two young women on the bus just before Christmas. One of them commented to the other: 'Get on the mental health and say you're 'not reet'...You get benefit straight away and they can't prove a thing...'

Sums up the current malaise in this country.

Just Wiganers talking lol

the labour party WILL NOT GET RID OF THE NHS.

the labour party WILL NOT GET RID OF CORBYN.

No answer to the question I see. Remember Mid Staffs scandal. Are Labour any more fit to run the NHS than the Tories?? A poll last week said that despite all the current problems those polled had more faith in May to run the NHS than Corbyn.

The Whupsonian view of the NHS ignores the general financial situation in the U.K. and the exponential growth in demand for NHS care.
Despite the 'savage' cuts in public spending it has grown annually since the coalition government came to power.
Overall public spending in 2010 was £673 billion, this year it will be £762 billion. Per capita it has grown from £10822 to £11764 over the same period. Given that there's still a substantial current deficit extra cash for the NHS will not be an easy option.
To put the NHS back on a firmer footing requires full political support for the strategic vision of the boss of NHS England, Simon Stevens.

to mr statistic who gets his info from the web . the tories have been systemacitly trying to get rid of the nhs since it,s inception & that,s a fact. labour created the nhs & will not get rid of it , FACT.

Brian labour are not in power and by the time they may get back into power it could be too late and what we know has the NHS could be a thing of the past

Broady:: I will have a go at giving you a reply it will almost certainly not be the one you want to hear.
First my answer is quite simple and it's YES. As for the immigration issue i think they did let far too many in and with the resources being stretched was obviously an error.

Next i do not understand you with the comment on"( you don't expect an answer against the Labour Party"")) I don't know who you are referring to but as for myself I WILL always condemn a party if they make a mess EG i voted Labour at the last election and i will never vote for them again until they rid themselves of this incompetent buffoon! Though when you say people don't speak their mind iv'e written to Labour H/Q AND TO MY Local M.P. TO LODGE MY PROTEST AT THE CURRENT DEMISE IN THE Party.
Next i again don't know what this thing about Trump ? personally i could not give a flying fig about him.
The thing that really annoys me is this week on tv in Britain it's all about the inauguration after we have suffered months about the yanks voting system i say "UTTER BLOODY RUBBISH"" we dont care end off an di'll tell you why , A few years ago now mywife and i happened to be inthe states when our own election was being held , guess what?? there was bugger all on their TV ,nothing in the press, when i asked people did they have anything to say about Britains election ,again guess what?? they had not the slightest of interest .
Finally you said a bit later down you mention a poll on N.H.S. Well with all respect any one with a modicum of grey matter knows the answer to that poll .It cannot be corbyn it's too easy he's a fool that is why people don't trust him although the alternative is equally as bad . Also i don't know where your from nor am i bothered, again ordinary folk know the tory's want to dismantle it..So i hope iv'e answered your thread wow !!!!!

My questions were actually to Whups but it is interesting to read your reply. As I said weeks ago the problems in the NHS transcend party politics. Too many people using it. People going with trivial illnesses / injuries. Some of that is because they cannot access a Doctor in a timely manner. I think monies are thrown at the NHS by whoever is in power but it isn't used effectively.

dont waste your breath GB he doesnt care as he,s in canada. the imigration issue is always talked on people coming into britian & not going out & there is as many people left the country that,s come in which broady can testify as he is one.but if we dont pull together & vote labour even with our differences there will be no NHS if the tories get another 5yrs in office.peter your absolutely right ,but the bean counters on here wont allow you to be .

So if you are correct the electorate will all be aware of it and Labour will be cast iron certainties to get returned to power. So no problem. When that happens are they capable of running it unlike the last time.

Whups

For the record I served a full term as a chair of finance at an NHS acute trust. It left me better placed than most in understanding the complex issues around increasing demand for health care and funding isues.Furthermore I don't have to trawl the web for statistics I already possess them.
The manifestos of the 3 political paties at the 1945 general election all contained their intentions on health care. This was in response to the report by the Liberal economist William Beveridge. The Tory manifesto was the most specific on free access to comprehensive health care that would result in the creation of the NHS.

This was the Tory one .

HEALTH
The health services of the country will be made available to all citizens. Everyone will contribute to the cost, and no one will be denied the attention, the treatment or the appliances he requires because he cannot afford them.

We propose to create a comprehensive health service covering the whole range of medical treatment from the general practitioner to the specialist, and from the hospital to convalescence and rehabilitation; and to introduce legislation for this purpose in the new Parliament.

The success of the service will depend on the skill and initiative of doctors, dentists, nurses and other professional people, and in its designing and operation there will be full scope for all the guidance they can give. Wide play must be given to the preferences and enterprise of individuals. Nothing will be done to destroy the close personal relationship between doctor and patient, nor to restrict the patient's free choice of doctor.

The whole service must be so designed that in each area its growth is helped and guided by the influence of a university. Through such a service the medical and allied professions will be enabled to serve the whole nation more effectively than they have yet been able to do. At the same time Medicine will be left free to develop along its own lines, and to achieve preventive as well as curative triumphs. Liberty is an essential condition of scientific progress.

The voluntary hospitals which have led the way in the development of hospital technique will remain free. They will play their part in the new service in friendly partnership with local authority hospitals.

Motherhood must be our special care. There must be a large increase of maternity beds and convalescent homes, and they must be provided in the right places. Mothers must be relieved of onerous duties which at such times so easily cause lasting injury to their health. The National Insurance Scheme will make financial provision for these needs. All proper arrangements, both voluntary and State-aided, must be made for the care of other young children in the family, in order that the energies of the male breadwinner or the kindness of neighbours and relations, which nevertheless must be the mainspring, should not be unduly burdened. Nursery schools and nurseries such as have grown up during the war should be encouraged. On the birth, the proper feeding and the healthy upbringing of a substantially increased number of children, depends the life of Britain and her enduring glory.

The Labour one,

Health of the Nation and its Children

By good food and good homes, much avoidable ill-health can be prevented. In addition the best health services should be available free for all. Money must no longer be the passport to the best treatment.

In the new National Health Service there should be health centres where the people may get the best that modern science can offer, more and better hospitals, and proper conditions for our doctors and nurses. More research is required into the causes of disease and the ways to prevent and cure it.

Labour will work specially for the care of Britain's mothers and their children - children's allowances and school medical and feeding services, better maternity and child welfare services. A healthy family life must be fully ensured and parenthood must not be penalised if the population of Britain is to be prevented from dwindling.

The Liberal one,

9. HEALTH

People cannot be happy unless they are healthy. The Liberal aim is a social policy which will help to conquer disease by prevention as well as cure, through good housing, improved nutrition, the lifting of strains and worries caused by fear of unemployment, and through intensified medical research. The Liberal Party's detailed proposals for improved health services would leave patients free to choose their doctor, for the general practitioner is an invaluable asset in our social life.

On the basis of the above one could be forgiven in thinking that the father of the NHS was Winston Churchill.

Good old Winnie Churchill

N.H.S. : I would like to see what any one thinks of a post i have just sent to my local M.P. Yvonne Forvague . In it i put forward this as just one item i put to her .

When people are brought to hospital in an emergency if they reek of Alcohol and it's not life-threatening send them home after all if they cannot go out and have a few drinks socially then they do not deserve being seen to.
Now before the do-gooder's fall of their horse's should the drunk's seem to require treatment then get all their details and CHARGE THEM ACCORDINGLY . SIMILAR are those types we all know them the idiots, when these people turn up with PETTY and TRIVIAL excuse's then in a polite way explain to them that this constitutes a three strike policy if they reach the third then they will be CHARGED a fee for time wasting. Finally i expressed to her my DISGUST at ALL foreigner's coming into Britain and obtaining FREE medical care/operations THIS has to stop IF this sounds too harsh then again resort to CHARGING these types. I await her reply. SO stop being soft shite's start getting tough!

Health tourism is a problem. People living longer also creates more demand. Having a service free at the point of use..with our immigration system is also going to bring it to it's knees.

Aspirin that cost 30p being dispensed on prescriptions that cost the NHS £10 a time plus many more.

True.

There are far to many drugs being prescribed,the drug companies are making billions.