advertisement


"NHS at breaking point, and broken"

Christmas week 2009, my mother was rushed to hospital with her ongoing health issues. Labour were in charge at this point & we had one nurse to 4 wards. I had to scour wards asking patients if they had spotted the nurse in charge. My mother sadly passed a few days later after being treated quite poorly by a couple of the nurses during her stay & getting hold of a nurse or god forbid an actual doctor to administer life ending treatment was nigh on impossible. By life ending i mean the doctor insisted there would no resuscitation treatment so morphine was the go to treatment to relieve suffering.

After 12 years of cuts & an NHS in utter crisis, i fear for anyone entering hospital today.
 
paulfromcamden said:
The article states the UK has the lowest number of hospital beds per capita in Europe - just a third of the number of beds Germany has.
Click to expand...

Strange that Germany had 18% higher excess deaths than average while the UK had 11% for the last 4 weeks of data available in 2022.

The first 12 weeks of the year the UK had excess deaths in the minus figures, never made the news though..

Nearly every country (all 31) show 10/20% excess deaths for last year. Bar the USA where it is nearer 10/30%.

Israel is an interesting look, didn't they have the largest early roll out of Covid shots.

https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=104676#
 
misterdog said:
Strange that Germany had 18% higher excess deaths than average while the UK had 11% for the last 4 weeks of data available in 2022.

The first 12 weeks of the year the UK had excess deaths in the minus figures, never made the news though..

Nearly every country (all 31) show 10/20% excess deaths for last year. Bar the USA where it is nearer 10/30%.

Israel is an interesting look, didn't they have the largest early roll out of Covid shots.

https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=104676#
Click to expand...

Not so strange following a pandemic where the UK experienced a much higher level of excess deaths than Germany and Israel.

For want of a better way of putting it we 'front-loaded' rather a lot of excess deaths of the most vulnerable in society in a way that Germany with their more effective covid response didn't.

Or is your argument that fewer beds means better care?

z7GSQ7X.png


https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-tracker
 
Nero said:
It may be different now, but when I lived in Denmark, it was a good example of socialism actually working. But it was a mentality too. At the time, the top rate of tax I paid was 68%, and on average, 50% of my salary went to the state, as well as paying stupid levels of car tax.
But a big difference was that if I tried to avoid/evade my taxes (maybe it’s an AngloSaxon thing), even my neighbour would dob me in. In this country, they would probably applaud.
Click to expand...

Was a purchase tax, like VAT, in operation at the time?
 
Nero said:
It may be different now, but when I lived in Denmark, it was a good example of socialism actually working. But it was a mentality too. At the time, the top rate of tax I paid was 68%, and on average, 50% of my salary went to the state, as well as paying stupid levels of car tax.
But a big difference was that if I tried to avoid/evade my taxes (maybe it’s an AngloSaxon thing), even my neighbour would dob me in. In this country, they would probably applaud.
Click to expand...
How would your neighbour know?
 
Taxes are just a great invention. I have a good salary hence a lot goes to the tax authorities. I get education for my children, healthcare for those I love, good roads and other public services, a safety belt in case my employer dumps me, benefits when I retire et cetera et cetera in return.
 
Which is an assumption . Of course he would like to solve the bed blocking crisis but it cant be done overnight . It does need action though and more beds
 
Seanm said:
Obviously you don’t say that part out loud, and I doubt he’s happy as such, but his actions suggest that he’s basically OK with it.
Click to expand...
People die every day. It's the usual triage - some will die whatever you do, some are teetering on the edge, some will get better whether you treat them or not. You therefore concentrate on the middle group. If you are in power, or in government, you get to choose to some extent how many people and which groups of people slide from the middle group to those either side and hence who lives and dies.
 
hifinutt said:
Which is an assumption . Of course he would like to solve the bed blocking crisis but it cant be done overnight . It does need action though and more beds
Click to expand...
Which he could have done when he held the purse strings as Chancellor of the Exchequer, let's not forget.
 
hifinutt said:
Which is an assumption . Of course he would like to solve the bed blocking crisis but it cant be done overnight . It does need action though and more beds
Click to expand...
It’s an interpretation of his actions as Chancellor and as PM, and of his party’s actions over the last several decades and especially the last 12 years. It’s an interpretation based on a wealth of evidence. If you can look at it all and say, “Yes, here is a Prime Minister and a party that is prioritising the health of the British people” then you have a remarkably generous spirit, but I fear it’s being taken advantage of.

None of this had to happen - it’s all very predictable and was predicted. The problems can still be addressed, it’s not too late - but Sunak isn’t doing anything. It’s not unreasonable to infer that he has other priorities than people dying as a result of inadequate healthcare. He’s basically OK with it.
 
hifinutt said:
Which is an assumption . Of course he would like to solve the bed blocking crisis but it cant be done overnight . It does need action though and more beds
Click to expand...
The bed blocking crisis is caused by privatisation of Care. It has failed. So no, it can’t be solved overnight, but neither can it be solved without a change of government economic ideology
 
stevec67 said:
People die every day. It's the usual triage - some will die whatever you do, some are teetering on the edge, some will get better whether you treat them or not. You therefore concentrate on the middle group. If you are in power, or in government, you get to choose to some extent how many people and which groups of people slide from the middle group to those either side and hence who lives and dies.
Click to expand...
Yep, it’s an ordinary part of government and in a way it’s unfair to hold individuals responsible for it. Not these guys though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top