Private vs NHS

[BobKowalski]

What is the answer though? It seems for many the only answer when it come to the NHS is a blank cheque but even that will never be enough.

NHS spending is well above average globally and is on par with the rest of Europe who have far superior systems, we should be doing better with what we have.

For me the NHS represents the same as most infrastructure in the UK, it suffers under it's own weight because it is old and decrepid, some things are still based upon practices that haven't changed since WW2. It needs a total rethink, root and stem.

The better funded the NHS the better the service. ‘Reforming the NHS’ is usually just code for ‘can we get a better service by spending less money’ and the answer is no. Any reforms that improve the service will cost more money.

The answer is always more money. The NHS is also under managed, but people get outraged at the idea of paying money to administer the NHS properly. People on the whole are very stupid and there is no cure for that.

 

[remember arthur mann]

Collegue at work needs surgery on his back. In constant agony and it's affecting his job.

The NHS stated that they would only perform the surgery if he reached the target weight of 10 stones (he's about 14st) and must stay at that weight for about a year, during which they'd perform a number of various tests to ensure he could have the treatment, all in all he was told he would need to wait about 18 months before they did the surgery.

He's chosen to go private as he gets paid sick time off, but it's going to cost him £6500. He's scheduled for surgery at the end of this month. What a wonderful system we have.

When it goes tits up, he'll be rushed across to a NHS hospital.

 

[yeseye]

Same with the dentists.
Mrsery struggling to get a local NHS Dentist now so will have to pay private £££.
They’re dragging the Benefit Bashers in off the street though!
Why is everything geared up for scroungers?

 

[Nethermoor]

Fuck me you were in for an MRI that fast! I need a yearly MRI and the amount of fucking about the NHS put me through is crazy. And the flipping machine is about 30 years old. I always think the amount of dirty money swishing about in this city and they can't afford another 1 mil for a flipping MRI machine! The private system relies on the NHS machine so private patients get bumped up the que at the expense of the plebs

This was a scanner in a wagon trailer in a car park. But it was all brand new and spotless. Incredible service.

Less than 6 hours from referral to me being slid in the machine.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Same with the dentists.
Mrsery struggling to get a local NHS Dentist now so will have to pay private £££.
They’re dragging the Benefit Bashers in off the street though!
Why is everything geared up for scroungers?

Dentistry was never fully part of the NHS. The price per dental unit on the NHS is set too low at the moment, so most dentists are going private.

 

[Scottyboi]

Same with the dentists.
Mrsery struggling to get a local NHS Dentist now so will have to pay private £££.
They’re dragging the Benefit Bashers in off the street though!
Why is everything geared up for scroungers?

Are they? my Mrs is on disability and we have to pay private as no NHS dentists available anywhere, luckily pay for insurance through work so get to claim some bits back. How is it geared up for scroungers?

 

[SkyBlueFlux]

The problem with private health services is that they’re geared up well to be efficient for your average Jack. Don’t try to be a little bit complicated though or you’re absolutely fucked.

I’ve had private care through work for over 5 years and to say they won’t touch me with a barge pole is an understatement. I went to a private doctor that I paid out of pocket because private health wouldn’t cover me and my GP was fucking useless. They ended up helping refer me BACK into the NHS.

I’m now under Stanmore Orthopaedic Hospital who are the tertiary specialist hospital in this field and have to say they are superb. I’d seen three different specialists within a month. Within 6 weeks I’d been fully scanned, diagnosed and started a treatment path to recovery.

Fuck private care. They are out to make money. Therefore they will never serve the people who really need health care the most in this country. Those who are born with rare and serious conditions that they can’t make a buck from.

 

[yeseye]

Are they? my Mrs is on disability and we have to pay private as no NHS dentists available anywhere, luckily pay for insurance through work so get to claim some bits back. How is it geared up for scroungers?

I sympathise where disability is concerned .
Have you tried the .GOV Website?
Pop in your postcode and there seem to be many that advertise as taking on NHS.
Probably a different story when you phone them though!

Everything is geared up for scroungers with all the freebies they blag!

I know generations of families who have never done a days work in their life with a big shiny new car outside every 3years, PIP or some nonsense.
Fuck all wrong with them only bone idle!

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

I sympathise where disability is concerned .
Have you tried the .GOV Website?
Pop in your postcode and there seem to be many that advertise as taking on NHS.
Probably a different story when you phone them though!

Everything is geared up for scroungers with all the freebies they blag!

I know generations of families who have never done a days work in their life with a big shiny new car outside every 3years, PIP or some nonsense.
Fuck all wrong with them only bone idle!

Is there not a chance they may have rare medical conditions from generational inbreeding?

 

[M16 citeh]

This was a scanner in a wagon trailer in a car park. But it was all brand new and spotless. Incredible service.

Less than 6 hours from referral to me being slid in the machine.

Crazy I waited 18 months for a referral then a year for MRI bastards had to fork out for a private MRI then came to the NHS demanding a diagnosis with the results. Twats. Exactly what happens when the system is deliberately de funded

 

[inbetween]

The better funded the NHS the better the service. ‘Reforming the NHS’ is usually just code for ‘can we get a better service by spending less money’ and the answer is no. Any reforms that improve the service will cost more money.

The answer is always more money. The NHS is also under managed, but people get outraged at the idea of paying money to administer the NHS properly. People on the whole are very stupid and there is no cure for that.

A better funded NHS might result in a better service but that is only if the reason for the poor service is lack of funding but that isn't always the case. It may well be the reason for long waiting times but that has nothing to do with the actual service.

My mum was seen within 2-3 weeks of her cancer diagnosis, her treatment was just as quick but her experiences after that have been poor. Earlier in the year she unfortunately had a stroke which has meant she needed to learn to walk again, the care has been okay but the administrative side in sorting everything out has been abysmal. We've basically had PALS on speed dial over the last year.

Nothing sums it up more than receiving an appointment letter 2 days after the appointment. The worst part of it recently has come from the jokers who run the local authorities. The shear amount of comical red tape just to arrange her ongoing care is completely mad.

We wouldn't even arrange for a wheelchair ramp for her house because of the shear amount of assessments needed and no doubt risk assessments for the risk assessor, proof from the ward that yes she had a stroke and can't walk etc etc...... So we just bought our own ramp ourselves, it's comical.

You can't blame this all on funding and then call anyone who questions it as stupid, it's just lazy.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

We wouldn't even arrange for a wheelchair ramp for her house because of the shear amount of assessments needed and no doubt risk assessments for the risk assessor, proof from the ward that yes she had a stroke and can't walk etc etc...... So we just bought our own ramp ourselves, it's comical.

You can't blame this all on funding and then call anyone who questions it as stupid, it's just lazy.

Why do you think you have to jump over hurdles?

Because there isn't enough money to give it to everyone eligible. So they have to place barriers and encourage people to buy their own equipment.

That's how local authorities managing entitlements to extra services work, whether it's access to disability equipment or refurbishments or special education.

Bureaucracies can be a pain in the arse, illogical and inefficient but they are also necessary with a limited pot of money.

 

[Rascal]

The only way I would allow Private Healthcare to exist is if it was staffed solely by immigrants. That would be an interesting conundrum for the nutjob right.

I would scrap all tuition fees, loans, housing costs for medical students and nurses on condition they did twenty five years exclusive work for the NHS.

All NHS staff would be given a 20% pay rise and I would make it illegal for Private healthcare companies to pay higher wages than the NHS.

Every private care home would be nationalised and social care would come under the auspices of the NHS.

All outsourcing of services would be banned and taken back in house.

The NHS should be top priority for every government as you need a fit and healthy population to encourage productivity and help grow the economy.

The NHS is changing rapidly and the introduction of new technology will make it a very different service to what it was 10 years ago, but the country has to invest in these new technologies for it to be better for everyone.

 

[Pedestrian]

Flat screen TV’s and iPhones…..yawn.

 

[Pedestrian]

The only way I would allow Private Healthcare to exist is if it was staffed solely by immigrants. That would be an interesting conundrum for the nutjob right.

I would scrap all tuition fees, loans, housing costs for medical students and nurses on condition they did twenty five years exclusive work for the NHS.

All NHS staff would be given a 20% pay rise and I would make it illegal for Private healthcare companies to pay higher wages than the NHS.

Every private care home would be nationalised and social care would come under the auspices of the NHS.

All outsourcing of services would be banned and taken back in house.

The NHS should be top priority for every government as you need a fit and healthy population to encourage productivity and help grow the economy.

The NHS is changing rapidly and the introduction of new technology will make it a very different service to what it was 10 years ago, but the country has to invest in these new technologies for it to be better for everyone.

Would you be the king?

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

Would you be the king?

 

[Rascal]

Would you be the king?

I am not a monarchist

 

[Rascal]

The government urgently need to get some experts, and I mean experts - not some fella from their pub, to go and review the NHS. There's plenty of money to be saved if they look at it properly. Waste being the critical one. There's so much waste which means they're essentially throwing money away.

The "waste" line is often trotted out, problem is nobody explains what this waste is.

As a person who has spent over 3 years of my life in hospital, I would struggle to find any sort of waste on my usual ward. In fact its the opposite, it has been stripped to the bare bones and lost 1/3 of it beds. Stays are now shorter because of the pressure put on bed managers to move people out of hospital because there is a lack of beds overall. Staffing is at the bare minimum legal requirement, the cleaning has been outsourced and the ward manager/Matron has no control over them. If she wants cleaners to do a specific task she has to ring the head office of the cleaning company. Sometimes its easier for the nurses to do the cleaning tasks which detracts from the already slender nursing resources. The ward originally was a Dermatology ward, now its been merged with Rheumotology as the Rheum ward was closed down, meaning more pressure on beds and dermatology nurses having to look after rhuemotology patients.

The bed linen on the ward has been drastically reduced and the number of things like pillows, pyjamas, towels has diminished. The linen washing has been outsourced so sheets that were dermatology specific no longer get returned to the ward, which increases the amount of linen needed just when there is less of it. Everyday there used to be a change of bed linen, not anymore.

Phlebotomists now use plaster than do not stick but are cheaper, problem is you use more plasters so you do not save money. The food has been outsourced, it used to be cooked in house at SRFT and was very good, now you are lucky to get the meal you ordered and the portions are smaller. The floor was cleaned and polished every week not its been outsourced and its every two weeks increasing the risk of infection.

Last time I was admitted, i spent 3 days on the acute medical unit because my ward had no beds, that meant 3 days without specialist treatment and an acute medical unit bed being denied to somebody else.

I wish somebody would explain to me where this waste is, because i do not see it.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

I am not a monarchist

You might be if you we're king though. :)

 

[Pedestrian]

The "waste" line is often trotted out, problem is nobody explains what this waste is.

As a person who has spent over 3 years of my life in hospital, I would struggle to find any sort of waste on my usual ward. In fact its the opposite, it has been stripped to the bare bones and lost 1/3 of it beds. Stays are now shorter because of the pressure put on bed managers to move people out of hospital because there is a lack of beds overall. Staffing is at the bare minimum legal requirement, the cleaning has been outsourced and the ward manager/Matron has no control over them. If she wants cleaners to do a specific task she has to ring the head office of the cleaning company. Sometimes its easier for the nurses to do the cleaning tasks which detracts from the already slender nursing resources. The ward originally was a Dermatology ward, now its been merged with Rheumotology as the Rheum ward was closed down, meaning more pressure on beds and dermatology nurses having to look after rhuemotology patients.

The bed linen on the ward has been drastically reduced and the number of things like pillows, pyjamas, towels has diminished. The linen washing has been outsourced so sheets that were dermatology specific no longer get returned to the ward, which increases the amount of linen needed just when there is less of it. Everyday there used to be a change of bed linen, not anymore.

Phlebotomists now use plaster than do not stick but are cheaper, problem is you use more plasters so you do not save money. The food has been outsourced, it used to be cooked in house at SRFT and was very good, now you are lucky to get the meal you ordered and the portions are smaller. The floor was cleaned and polished every week not its been outsourced and its every two weeks increasing the risk of infection.

Last time I was admitted, i spent 3 days on the acute medical unit because my ward had no beds, that meant 3 days without specialist treatment and an acute medical unit bed being denied to somebody else.

I wish somebody would explain to me where this waste is, because i do not see it.

Everything has been stripped back to the bare bones except for levels of management. I’m a band 8 ANP and have at least 5 levels of non clinical management between me and the ceo. I struggle to see what they all do. They’ve just revamped the management structure in Newcastle at a cost of over £1m only for the ceo to put her notice in unexpectedly. The same ceo that resigned in Cumbria under a cloud and was allowed to take up a more senior role in newcastle. The senior level of management is corrupt to the core. The constant battles between senior consultants and the business side is embarrassing. When I started in the 90’s the ward sister/charge nurse was ‘human resources’ now there’s a whole office block on the city outskirts with over 500 HR staff.