Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
Spot on
NHS Code Black
- Thread starter merlin
- Start date
Spot on
sq225917
Bit of this, bit of that
To counter this. i was diagnosed with a right inguinal hernia 5 weeks ago. Went under the knife in Sheffield 21 days later, contracted out to local private hospital. The op was meticulous, the follow up first rate and I've been back on my bike since the start of the week. Just proves it can be managed well.
doctorf
left footed right winger
That's exactly how it should be but the problem is that NHS hospitals can't just do the easy stuff and get people in & out quickly enough like the gin palaces can. Most of the private hospitals who do NHS work have strict rules as to who they will see. They are very risk averse because their business model doesn't allow for extra nights in their hospitals.
merlin
Avatar changed - Town names deemed offensive.
Jack,
you know that I am on your side to a large degree but the rhetoric really does the argument no favours when trying to engage with people who may not share your views. Yours is particularly vitriolic and I'm not sure there's a purpose on a thread like this which seeks solutions.
I've had a seemingly enormous number of dealings with the NHS over the past two years in particular and I have been utterly shocked at the lack of coordination and communication between different departments when trying to get to the bottom of cases. I have been amazed at the continued reliance on letters and facsimiles in an age when everyone seemingly has a smartphone linked up to the web.
The list is endless. I've seen MRI's that have missed tumors because those were not what they were looking for. I've seem blood tests where the readings have clearly got mixed up but no one so much as notices them or raises the alarm. The list goes on and on. I put this down to pressure as opposed to inept staff (although there are some of those as will always be the case).
None of this is a party political issue IMHO. It's a football that needs to be tossed up and kicked about without boundaries designed around job security and electoral polls. These are people's lives we are talking about and right now, I would undoubtedly prefer to take my chances in France or Germany.
For me, the only way forward is with top up insurance as found in France. A responsible government will surely make the public aware of this and indeed bring them on side with the idea. Sadly to date, we don't appear to have been blessed with such a forward thinking parliament.
you know that I am on your side to a large degree but the rhetoric really does the argument no favours when trying to engage with people who may not share your views. Yours is particularly vitriolic and I'm not sure there's a purpose on a thread like this which seeks solutions.
I've had a seemingly enormous number of dealings with the NHS over the past two years in particular and I have been utterly shocked at the lack of coordination and communication between different departments when trying to get to the bottom of cases. I have been amazed at the continued reliance on letters and facsimiles in an age when everyone seemingly has a smartphone linked up to the web.
The list is endless. I've seen MRI's that have missed tumors because those were not what they were looking for. I've seem blood tests where the readings have clearly got mixed up but no one so much as notices them or raises the alarm. The list goes on and on. I put this down to pressure as opposed to inept staff (although there are some of those as will always be the case).
None of this is a party political issue IMHO. It's a football that needs to be tossed up and kicked about without boundaries designed around job security and electoral polls. These are people's lives we are talking about and right now, I would undoubtedly prefer to take my chances in France or Germany.
For me, the only way forward is with top up insurance as found in France. A responsible government will surely make the public aware of this and indeed bring them on side with the idea. Sadly to date, we don't appear to have been blessed with such a forward thinking parliament.
doctorf
left footed right winger
good post.
oldie
pfm Member
Could some of our "slightly to the right" friends explain to this poor old sole, why money can always be found by mainly the right ( this inludes that war criminal Blair ) to kill people but not to heal them . Cancelling Trident ( that we could never use without Americas permision, as all of it's directional properties are guided by American owned and controlled satellites. Scrapping Trident would cover the cost of the much more important NHS for decadeds
oldie
oldie
Tim Jones
pfm Member
In fairness, Blair increased the NHS budget by a quite staggering amount - 33 per cent in real terms between 2001 and 2008. That money was mainly used to deal with what at the time patients and the public told us was their number one priority - cutting waiting lists and waiting times by increasing capacity. It worked, to that limited extent. But it didn't really give anyone an incentive to pool budgets or look beyond their own organisation's bottom line.
Tim Jones
pfm Member
By the way, the annual cost of running Trident is around £2.4bn. The NHS annual budget (for England alone) is over £100bn. So, whatever the other arguments about Trident, it certainly would not 'cover the cost of the...NHS for decades' I'm afraid.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Don't let that and ignorance about GPS / navigation to get in the way of a good old "slightly to the left" rant.
Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
That's actually the tory way of doing things.
I think they need to increase prescription charges by over 1000%. You know, like they did last time.
We were at the Royal Berkshire Hospital yesterday.
All day it was in Code Black - not a single spare bed in the hospital.
That resulted in waiting around ten hours in A&E + AMU without more than a sandwich and a pair of paracetamol whilst the patient was suffering from acute pain and was unable to walk.
It's not even cold.
Ask moron Brown where all your money is. Oh wait http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/jul/05/pfi-cost-300bn
jackbarron
Chelsea, London
I know we see eye to eye on quite a lot of issues and I am sorry to hear that things haven't been going so well for you health wise. The NHS has some very skilled staff. Judging by what I see on television, read in the newspapers, and on forums like pfm, they are under a lot of pressure.
You might be right that the way forward is to top up with insurance like in France. I am not sure, because it's beyond my experience.
The line being peddled now is that hospitals are full, because patients are staying on due there being no elderly, recovery or social care centres. Taxpayers' money needs to be spent to deal with this situation and I don't think the Tories will do it. They would prefer to make people get private care and sell their properties and goods to pay for it. This undermines the NHS and welfare state and makes it a party political issue.
The way Blair and Brown used PFI and got the nation massively into debt, instead of directly borrowing more cheaply, is insane. Cameron and Osborne are continuing down the same road, despite the austerity cutbacks.
Corbyn and the socialist wing of the Labour Party offer the best solution. It remains to be seen whether they can hold onto power and get elected.
This ideological divide doesn't just apply to the NHS, but also to the government, civil service, welfare state and constitution, in fact life in general in the UK. I have no respect for Cameron, Osborne and Hunt, and won't pretend that I have.
Jack
eternumviti
Insufficient privileges to reply.
You have mentioned this before. What is that solution?
merlin
Avatar changed - Town names deemed offensive.
I suspect a genuinel socialist with a mandate is going to be the only politician with the front and commitment to reclaim the NHS.
Cloth-Ears
pfm Member
Everything should be sold off and then services charged at proper market rates.
That way, hey presto everything is rationed properly, by the magic of price.
For the poor, I suggest homeopathy and prayer.
That way, hey presto everything is rationed properly, by the magic of price.
For the poor, I suggest homeopathy and prayer.
jackbarron
Chelsea, London
I think you're right. What a great article about the doctor and NHS campaigner Youssef El-Gingihy, who has Hodgkin's lymphoma, the gradual privatization of the public health services and how it is has been happening.
Jack
merlin
Avatar changed - Town names deemed offensive.
I think one of the problems is the poor living so long these days. Now that fags and booze have become all but unaffordable and manual labour is pretty much a thing of the past, the life expectancy of those on low income has become ridiculous.
But you're also railing against the rise of obesity and diabetes. Can't have it both ways.
A German cynic once suggested a suicide premium, to be paid to someone of the future suicider's choosing, the amount dependant on a set of criteria including prominently the statistical life expectancy of the future suicider. The idea has yet to be passed into law.