I did read the JD and still found it bollocks. Don’t get me wrong, I love the NHS, it’s helped me and my loved ones countless times. But I love it as an ideal that’s sadly not sustainable (in its current form). In Ireland, those that can have to pay £20 for a doctor appointment. Those that have the capacity to do so, I think should pay for certain services, in order to prop up the critical services, plus support those that can’t afford it. Unfortunately the current position is a mismanaged hotchpotch trying to sustain a dying ideal. We need to stop treating the NHS as a sacred cow that must not be touched, in order to start reviving it as fit for purpose.
It is the inefficiencies that get me. If we ploughed an extra £3 billion into it, then £2.9 billion would be swallowed up by BS and red tape. I am not talking about scandals such as PPE contracts etc. However, the way it is run scandals like that can happen. Health is something we cannot privatise full stop. However, maybe some lessons from the private sector need to be learned about efficiency. Not profits (as IMO if the NHS or any public sector industry make a profit (without reinvesting 100%) then something is wrong), but efficiencies. And by efficiencies I don't mean redundancies and low pay, I mean cut out the red tape, pay nurses and doctors what they are worth and stop the waste. I don't think it is necessarily the Tories (though they deffo don't help), any government struggle with NHS efficiencies and funding and history shows they have done. I also agree if you can afford it you should pay for some things - not private health care for the rich, nor queue jumping if you have the money, but if you need to see a doctor and you can pay a small fee then pay it. I sit uneasy with all this as my employer provides full private health cover and I felt guilty this year when privately I was told I had a hernia, and within 4 weeks it was fixed as it was paid for by the health company. Mrs No7's brother waited 18 months for his under the NHS and he has a more physical job than me sitting at a desk. Was that morally wrong? Yes, and I sit uneasy with it as I said. I could have refused and waited, but as it is part of my package (and let's face it I am taxed for the benefit) I used it. Not sure what the answer is to be honest. I have probably missed some big train of thought or argument here, so please if I have don't slate me, but educate me.
Bollocks it is, I don't regard twitter as being a reliable source for news and information, always like to get the full story. Living in the Netherlands we pay health insurance to a non profit company. We've had excellent medical and dental treatment. There is a need for NHS reform picking best practice from other countries and using it to improve the service. The damage done by years of underfunding and the realities of brexit isn't going to be repaired overnight.
My nhs career lasted 33 years from 1973 till 2006 when I retired. I was a student/clinician/clinical manager/general manager. It was clear during my time that the nhs bcame a political football and I was well pleased to escape. My reading of the situation is that it has worsened considerably since I left. Background reading that is useful towards understanding how we have reached crisis point is worth finding. I recommend googling: Lowdownnhs.info/explainers... Or just search nhs reorganisations you'll find it. Festive greetings to all,..
That was an interesting read with a number of telling points. We'll have to make sure we don't get sick when we visit friends and family in the UK.
Pretty much exactly my experience, albeit slightly later dates (1975 - 2013). Healthcare Scientist, last 11 years as a Band 8a Professional Manager, meaning I managed members of my own profession. Prior to becoming a manager, my 25 years as a union rep gave me insights into the different management processes used across different staff groups in the district general hospital I worked at. Suffice to say that most managers found difficulties in discerning between arses and elbows. I don’t know what the answer is, the debate about privatisation/insurance based systems has been going on ever since I started all those years ago, and undoubtedly before that. It’s worth bearing in mind that in terms of money per person, the UK spends the second lowest on health in the G7, despite having the only totally taxation-based healthcare system. The current issues within the NHS can’t be solved by finance either, the rot is too deep and goes way beyond health and social care into local and national government, education, and environmental factors.
In my academic studying days there was a socialogical thesis suggesting there was linear model that measured health services along the line of ... life saving to life enhancing..and what a society could afford. If you think about it .. it is an interesting model. The problem(s), of course arise because the model is 2 dimensional rather than 3. Nevertheless teasing out the arguments that arise from the 2 dimensional model to inform the 3 dimensional preferences is both an intellectual and a polictical process. If both major parties agreed that the Nhs is free at the point of access and that access to treatment/care was graded by need rather than want, with a proviso that medical opinion was the initial reference point for all ailments then we might be able to find concensus. There would always be debate around contentious issues and for sure the progress in medical sciences would/could change perspectives over short time spans. However if there was trust in the system of review that was based on scientific advance rather than political preference, we might still have half a chance of an nhs to be proud off. I still have hope..
The fiat money system is a big part of it. I think finance is the root cause of all of these issues. The rot that we all feel is inflation via the currency debasement, as mentioned here a few times. The stat you mentioned is absolutely insane. It’s pretty clear that the system is almost at breaking point. How many needless deaths will have to occur before people wake up and start taking this crisis seriously? How many old people freeze in their homes? How many working people have to use food banks? It truly shows how incompetent our politics is that nothing is being done. I am at the point where I have lost all faith in democracy as an ideal. I think the country is only getting worse and worse - and politicians aren’t even close to addressing the root cause of any of them. In fact they are still making it worse by printing even more money.
The last time the NHS was in as desperate a state as it is now, was around 25 years ago, after over a decade of Tory government. This is no coincidence.
Just read it. Wow. I mean, that really is the most outrageous, incredible steaming pile of….oh….absolutely nothing.
Setiously? Government organisations choosing what media narratives get pushed? someone as smart as you seriously doesn’t see similarities between this and like Stalin’s Russia or hitlers Germany?
I have been often accused of posting from bad sources here.. but that is literally awful. An opinion piece from a left wing tabloid. I’ll explain my view and see what you think: - I don’t particularly like Elon musk. But I do respect him for all he has achieved. The main important points here are: - He did just buy Twitter so has access to real files - He is releasing the files along with proof. So as much as people dont like what is being released… whether you like him or not… surely you have to at least consider its authenticity and the implications?
Meanwhile, Musk has banned a bunch of actual journalists for such crimes as asking the LAPD whether they had a report concerning something that Musk himself suggested happened (and then for highlighting other journalists who were banned for that reason). But he's totally a huge proponent of free speech and not just an incredibly rich pissbaby who wants to run the site at his whims (which he is totally within his rights to do, but people are also totally within their rights to criticize).
The husband of Baroness Mone is facing trial for Corporate tax evasion, in Spain. Him and 6 other British nationals have survived two civil cases, brought against them, but the Spanish authorities think there is reason to try them in a criminal court and will be seeking jail time if they win. Strange how claims of financial irregularities follow some people.
Hospital flu admissions are currently higher than Covid - 19 admissions. Gonna be a tough winter. HOSPITALS are facing the biggest flu outbreak in years with patient numbers up 40% in a week. For the first time since the pandemic began, influenza admissions of 6.76 per 100,000 now outstrip Covid cases at 6.61. If the rise continues it is feared deaths could be higher than 2017-18 when flu killed nearly 30,000. Overall, hospital admissions are more than eight times higher than expected at this time of year. And the NHS is also struggling with record 111 calls – many from parents worried about Strep A. Last week more than 706,129 dialled in, a 60% increase. The rise could not come at a worse time for the NHS as it battles horrific staffing issues, strikes and huge backlogs for treatment. Nurses plan further industrial action for Tuesday. Junior doctors are to ballot for strikes next month and paramedics will walk out next week.
Musk is always box office, so of course his acquisition of Twitter, and the resulting circus, is a big story. The story appears to be “Narcissistic Entrepreneur Woos alt.right Conspiracy Theorists, Destroys Own Business In The Process”.
I was listening to James O’Brien on LBC the other day and one of his callers had an intriguing theory about Musk which might explain some of his strange realignment in recent months. Next year, Tesla finally launch the Cybertruck, as a direct competitor to America’s best-selling vehicle, the Ford F-series pickup. With a projected 2 million pickup sales in 2023 in the US alone, the importance of this project to Elon’s income cannot be underestimated. I probably don’t need to point out that the demographic for pickup sales is rather different from the traditional Tesla Y, Musk’s best-selling model to date. Could it be that the whole Twitter rebranding, including reinstatement of the Orange one, banning left-wing journalists, and general mayhem, has a long-term aim of getting the MAGA hat-wearing, pickup truck-driving crowd onside?
