NHS Crisis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38887694

However it's pretty obvious that May and Hunt are just going to ignore this as it doesn't affect them or their rich chums.

xmiles wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38887694

However it's pretty obvious that May and Hunt are just going to ignore this as it doesn't affect them or their rich chums.

If someone traps their knob in the hoover (no names) they have to go to A&E whether they are unemployed or own several mansions so it does impact on everyone.

It's a disgrace that it's got to this point, and it's about time someone stepped up and sorted it out. It's going to take something radical and will involve people paying in some way, but someone has to be brave and do it. Successive governments (Labour included) have ducked the issue.

Personally I'd make everyone pay in some way, like we do to see a dentist. At the very least it would stop those people who turn up at A&E with a broken fingernail.

Rather than make us all pay a second time, why don't we have a triage system whereby the nurses can actually turn people away, and tell them to go to their GP ?

Practically every Trust including the one i work for are overspent and trying to cut costs where we can. They don't tend to skimp on the frontline Doctors and Nurses but all background support services are seeing recruitment freezes and other cost cutting measures.

The main issue is that funding has also been cut for services such as walk in centres and GP's so people feel they have no choice than to go to A&E so as Glos says a triage system might work but persuading people to leave may be an issue!

The other main issue is that thousands of people are in Hospital because they can't go home or to residential care because their funding for social care has also been slashed, it's a vicious circle.

I would recommend everyone watches the programme Hospital on BBC2, it shows exactly the issues and pressures the NHS is currently facing and without extra funding (like the £350million promised by Brexiteers) it's only going to get worse as people live longer.

Just get priorities right. Do we really need HS2 (or even Trident renewal) at this particular time? 

NHS and Social Care both need funding adequately in order for the system to function effectively. The government could do this by postponing their vanity projects, and by replacing austerity with genuine action in chasing the massively rich companies and individuals that avoid paying tax.

Hitting the poorest hardest is grossly unfair and only produces a drop in the ocean compared to what could be garnered from the rich.

How much money has been wasted on going to court to defend Brexit against deliberate delaying tactics by those who still can't accept the result of the referendum? Does anyone believe that Gina Miller's motives were as she claims?

I agree with your first three paragraphs okocha but it was the government that chose to waste money on the court case. It made no difference to anything as parliament just waived through the measure anyway.

May is going to take us into brexit whatever the consequences because 37% of the population must be right of course.

Interesting historical fact: 37% of the votes in the German presidential election in 1930 were for Hitler.

XM, can I ask that if 37% voted yes, what is the percentage that voted no ? (I'm assuming you are ignoring the don't knows, abstainers, etc.)

35% of eligible voters voted to remain and 28% didn't vote.

My point is that all this talk of "the will of the people" is more than a little misleading. Only a minority of people actually voted for the major change that we are all going to see when we leave the EU. Large parts of the UK and large sectors of the population even voted against it. It is a very divisive measure and we only had the referendum because Cameron was worried about UKIP and foolishly thought he could win the referendum by using the scare tactics that had been successful in Scotland.

Another interesting fact: Farage and the other brexiteers explicitly said they would demand another referendum if they lost despite this apparently thwarting the will of the people.

The problems in the NHS can't be explained by seasonality. This has been coming for a long time and despite successive Governments throwing more and more money at it we're still nowhere near the 10% of GDP that other developed countries are spending on health.

Malthusian Doom is gathering speed, basically because as a resource consuming species we breed too much - and consider breeding as a basic right with an assumption that society will deal with the consequences of our actions. At least that's paraphrasing what an unemployed woman with a 13 year old pregnant daughter told me in the jacuzzi at the gym.

With staff leaving the NHS a new recruitment drive is needed - which means more money for salaries -- and although the tax payer will continue to fund the NHS, perhaps a sliding scale of costs and insurance backed payments might be the way forward, controversial as that may be. Things will have to get a lot worse before that gets proper consideration, but I have little doubt that they won't get worse so we'll see what happens.

would anyone be happy to pay more in tax to help fund the NHS? If we want to continue to have a free NHS then it may be the only option.

We wouldn't have this issue if those grubby brexiteers hadn't reneged on their £350million per week pledge.

Norpig wrote:would anyone be happy to pay more in tax to help fund the NHS? If we want to continue to have a free NHS then it may be the only option.

We wouldn't have this issue if those grubby brexiteers hadn't reneged on their £350million per week pledge.

I would seriously be happy to pay another 5p in the pound if (and it's a big if) it was guaranteed to go directly to clinical services within the NHS.

However........

I fear it would just get wasted on some pointless shit like the ridiculous follow-up texts you now receive after minor treatment.

"How likely would you be to recommend the services and facilities offered by Royal Bolton A&E to family and friends?"

Erm, if their leg was hanging off, I'm not actually sure they'd be too fussed what colour the curtains were in the waiting room....

Bread2.0 wrote:"How likely would you be to recommend the services and facilities offered by Royal Bolton A&E to family and friends?"

Erm, if their leg was hanging off, I'm not actually sure they'd be too fussed what colour the curtains were in the waiting room....

This made me laugh. Don't do it again. I do the jokes.