The NHS and its future

I don't agree at all that the two are mutually incompatible.

In fact quite the opposite. Private enterprise brings a sense of commercial imperative to do more for less, which EXACTLY what the NHS needs. The trick is to make sure the outsource contracts are framed in such a way that the private companies actually deliver what is required of them and not seek to maximise profits (which is fine) whilst not doing what they are supposed to be doing (which is clearly not).

I agree with that. The governments of the last 20+ years don't seem very good at making them do it though.

The perception is that many of these are making profits and cutting services at the same time, which is what irritates.
 
Where do you think spire get their surgeons from? There’s a reason all the private hospitals are in the same towns as the nhs ones.
I know where they get them from. Hence my line "if some of the outsourced work is done by people who were trained elsewhere". It's a complete red herring, it's got nothing to do with whether outsourcing something that costs you X to a third party who offers to do it for less than X, is worth doing or not.
 
I agree with that. The governments of the last 20+ years don't seem very good at making them do it though.

The perception is that many of these are making profits and cutting services at the same time, which is what irritates.

Agreed. Whether the perception is the reality, I really don't know. Some of it is down to bad contracts I would guess. And some of it is down to the NHS just being shit at some things. There was a discussion on this forum a while back about outsourced cleaning services and yet the wards being filthy and I made the comment it's up to the NHS to hold the cleaning company's feet to the fire and get them to sort it out or face penalities, termination of the contract or whatever. Someone who works in the NHS replied saying yes, but they've tried and when they push this information up the chain in the NHS for someone to act on it, the NHS can't be arsed. The people with the power to get things changed, weren't that bothered. This is anecdotal of course - I have no idea how typical that is.
 
Agreed. Whether the perception is the reality, I really don't know. Some of it is down to bad contracts I would guess. And some of it is down to the NHS just being shit at some things. There was a discussion on this forum a while back about outsourced cleaning services and yet the wards being filthy and I made the comment it's up to the NHS to hold the cleaning company's feet to the fire and get them to sort it out or face penalities, termination of the contract or whatever. Someone who works in the NHS replied saying yes, but they've tried and when they push this information up the chain in the NHS for someone to act on it, the NHS can't be arsed. The people with the power to get things changed, aren't that bothered.

Well, someone can't be bothered, whoever drives the decision!

It's a bit like the car park thing - if a private company can run car parks, set up a subsidiary to run them at break even and don't screw the users for profit (or at least, less profit). That should be possible without that much difficulty - the staff can still be paid the same as they are now.

Some of the contracts seem to be given out without sanity checks (in another field, Southern Rail's ridiculous one; the hopelessly underbid West Coast (?) rail franchise). Those making the decisions appear to be doing it for reasons other than 'good of the country'.
 
Well, someone can't be bothered, whoever drives the decision!

It's a bit like the car park thing - if a private company can run car parks, set up a subsidiary to run them at break even and don't screw the users for profit (or at least, less profit). That should be possible without that much difficulty - the staff can still be paid the same as they are now.

Some of the contracts seem to be given out without sanity checks (in another field, Southern Rail's ridiculous one; the hopelessly underbid West Coast (?) rail franchise). Those making the decisions appear to be doing it for reasons other than 'good of the country'.
I agree entirely. It's one of the reasons I am a Tory in fact. I think the government and public sector by and large, couldn't run a piss up in a brewery. If there's an way to cock something up, they will find it and exploit it to the very maximum. Whether it be the HORRIFIC "National Program for IT" which was abandoned as a total failure and some £10bn written off, the "Defence Information Infrastructure" project which was supposed to cost £2bn and ended up costing over £7bn, or round where I live the building of an entire business park for Defence procurement, then knocking it all down before a light bulb had been switched on because it was "unsuitable" and building it all over again. They are fucking useless at everything they touch. That's why idealogically, I want them doing as little as possible and wasting as little of OUR money as possible.

I'd get rid of half the MP's, most of the civil servants and half the local authorities. Waste of food, the lot of them.
 
I agree entirely. It's one of the reasons I am a Tory in fact. I think the government and public sector by and large, couldn't run a piss up in a brewery. If there's an way to cock something up, they will find it and exploit it to the very maximum. Whether it be the HORRIFIC "National Program for IT" which was abandoned as a total failure and some £10bn written off, the "Defence Information Infrastructure" project which was supposed to cost £2bn and ended up costing over £7bn, or round where I live the building of an entire business park for Defence procurement, then knocking it all down before a light bulb had been switched on because it was "unsuitable" and building it all over again. They are fucking useless at everything they touch. That's why idealogically, I want them doing as little as possible and wasting as little of OUR money as possible.

I'd get rid of half the MP's, most of the civil servants and half the local authorities. Waste of food, the lot of them.

There has certainly been complication over the last few decades with unnecessary breaking up of state bodies, but someone has to direct things!
Anyway, that's moving off the topic, I think.
 
I agree entirely. It's one of the reasons I am a Tory in fact. I think the government and public sector by and large, couldn't run a piss up in a brewery. If there's an way to cock something up, they will find it and exploit it to the very maximum. Whether it be the HORRIFIC "National Program for IT" which was abandoned as a total failure and some £10bn written off, the "Defence Information Infrastructure" project which was supposed to cost £2bn and ended up costing over £7bn, or round where I live the building of an entire business park for Defence procurement, then knocking it all down before a light bulb had been switched on because it was "unsuitable" and building it all over again. They are fucking useless at everything they touch. That's why idealogically, I want them doing as little as possible and wasting as little of OUR money as possible.

I'd get rid of half the MP's, most of the civil servants and half the local authorities. Waste of food, the lot of them.

Agreed and people on here are campaigning for a 5% payrise for the people on £100k a year who make these decisions!

Utter. Total. Madness.
 
Agreed and people on here are campaigning for a 5% payrise for the people on £100k a year who make these decisions!

Utter. Total. Madness.

Imagine my delight upon hearing that the chief exec of Bury council is set to get a 13k pay rise, up from £155k to £168k. And the fuckers can't even empty my bins proper...
 
Imagine my delight upon hearing that the chief exec of Bury council is set to get a 13k pay rise, up from £155k to £168k. And the fuckers can't even empty my bins proper...

We have been told we have to pay £30 now to get our brown bin emptied. Like you say though, the chief exec manages on £170k and the council building has just had a full renovation. A look at the accounts also shows they have £489m stashed in reserves.
 
Recently spent an evening accompanying someone in MRI A&E and half of the people in there did not need to be there or was self inflicted. There was at least half a dozen who knew the nurses by first name terms and who had come from tents in the city centre. If there were better support networks for these people, that would at least burden the pressure. I can imagine it's a similar scenario up and down the country.
 

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