NHS The sinking flagship

[geosname]

Just now, For Us All said:

NHS compensation payouts were £2.36billion in 2018/19,a rise of £137m from the previous year.Half of that total came from maternity blunders.

The Medical Defence Union said the cost had "spiralled out of control".

Easy solution...... don't keep screwing up.

The expression "lessons have been learnt " is wearing a bit thin.

[geosname]

A man who was mistakenly circumcised when he went to hospital for a routine bladder procedure has been awarded £20,000 in compensation

is this the bit ter end....... 

[mr.hobblesworth]

Channel 4 News exposes Boris' <ovf censored> regarding the 'new money' for the NHS England:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/05/boris-johnson-nhs-trusts

[TheSage]

The problem we've got with our health services is that the government has not not been spending enough money on them to keep up with demand. People are living longer. Treatments are improving all the time. The cost of drugs is rising. The population is increasing. If we add to this the fact that cuts have been made across the board to training programmes, grants, hospital beds, GP surgeries and care homes then it's patently obvious why the NHS is in crisis and misses all it's main targets. Spending is not keeping pace with demand.

But, I hear you cry, we are spending more money than ever before. That is true but context is everything and as a % of GDP it has hardly moved since 2010 and as a result there are problems galore.

It's a convenient and easy excuse to blame the problems on immigrants or on inefficiency. But the root cause of the problem is under funding and not spending enough. Eventually, down the line, it comes back to haunt you.

 

 

[Regal Beagle]

On average it is costing each UK income tax payer £4k a year just to fund the NHS.

27% of UK income tax is coming from the top 1% of earners already.

How do we fund an increase in spending on the NHS?

[TheSage]

Are you not in favour of increased spending on the NHS?

I'm not a minister but we are told that we have the fifth richest economy in the world so it can't be beyond the wit of politicians to devise a way of funding the most precious service that we have.

This government has deliberately cut services and reduced the amount of GDP that we spend on the NHS, despite the headline figure. 

Maybe it should become a priority, unlike Johnson's first words which were to cut taxes for the rich.

Tax evasion (and tax avoidance) should be clamped down on. The 'tax gap' is estimated at around £35 billion a year. That would be a good start.

Inequality is now greater in the UK than at any time since the war. The gap between the top and the bottom is wider than it has been for 70 years. I see no reason why those with the very deepest pockets should not contribute more. 

But if it means looking anew at the tax system and national insurance then so be it.

Of course we won't need any of this because Johnson has promised us an extra £350 million a week for the NHS. 😉

[Regal Beagle]

Of course I'm in favour of more NHS funding.

But not if bankrupts the country.

We are already completely dependent on the 1%. I don't think it's sensible to increase that reliance any further by promoting tax evasion/avoidance and emigration the only way they get to keep even half of their income.

So I believe that is why we have to look at other ways to squeeze as much value out of the NHS as possible.

 

[Conrad]

The problem with the NHS is all the managers, non medical staff and office wallers “ working” for them.

[For Us All]

10 hours ago, Regal Beagle said:

Of course I'm in favour of more NHS funding.

But not if bankrupts the country.

We are already completely dependent on the 1%. I don't think it's sensible to increase that reliance any further by promoting tax evasion/avoidance and emigration the only way they get to keep even half of their income.

So I believe that is why we have to look at other ways to squeeze as much value out of the NHS as possible.

 

According to the BBC and Channel 4 if Labour increase funding for the NHS it's the best thing since sliced bread but if the Tories do it it's bribery?

[Fosse69]

1 hour ago, For Us All said:

According to the BBC and Channel 4 if Labour increase funding for the NHS it's the best thing since sliced bread but if the Tories do it it's bribery?

After years of underfunding, and then claiming an increase when it was money already in the NHS, surely a lie so who would fall for it? Nor does it provide 1 doctor or 1 nurse.

[TheSage]

This government has been in power for about 9 years. To try and blame previous governments for issues in the NHS is a bit rich.

I don't recall the NHS missing all it's targets a few years ago. And how Brexit will help with recruitment goodness only knows. Take away all the EU workers and the NHS would collapse. There are nearly 400 of them working locally and with the vitriol and hatred peddled by some leavers about foreign workers, immigrants and Europe in general who would want to come here? 

[For Us All]

59 minutes ago, TheSage said:

This government has been in power for about 9 years. To try and blame previous governments for issues in the NHS is a bit rich.

I don't recall the NHS missing all it's targets a few years ago. And how Brexit will help with recruitment goodness only knows. Take away all the EU workers and the NHS would collapse. There are nearly 400 of them working locally and with the vitriol and hatred peddled by some leavers about foreign workers, immigrants and Europe in general who would want to come here? 

Who wants to take away all the EU workers?

Having control of who comes here would improve things though.

[Regal Beagle]

7 hours ago, Fosse69 said:

After years of underfunding, and then claiming an increase when it was money already in the NHS, surely a lie so who would fall for it? Nor does it provide 1 doctor or 1 nurse.

You do know the financial state the country was in after labour?

We had to cut costs, there's no way around it.

6 hours ago, TheSage said:

This government has been in power for about 9 years. To try and blame previous governments for issues in the NHS is a bit rich.

I don't recall the NHS missing all it's targets a few years ago. And how Brexit will help with recruitment goodness only knows. Take away all the EU workers and the NHS would collapse. There are nearly 400 of them working locally and with the vitriol and hatred peddled by some leavers about foreign workers, immigrants and Europe in general who would want to come here? 

It is labours fault though? I saw the stats the other day, labour were borrowing 1 in every 4 pound they spent. It's something like 1 in every 31 pound now. Not great but significantly better.

And this is pure project fear Sage, you keep trying to turn that into a joke but then you keep repeating these lies you've been fed. Not one person has said that we're taking away EU workers from the NHS.

Not one person has said we don't want to encourage medical staff from the EU to come here.

What vitriol and hatred is being peddled by leavers?  

It's not true sage, none of it. You can probably find some old idiot who "hates" foreigners. Every country has them. To try and turn that into a brexit thing is crazy.

And to actually answer your point. Brexit will do no end of good for hiring NHS workers. That is the definition of brexit. CONTROL. We can do whatever we want.

5 hours ago, For Us All said:

Who wants to take away all the EU workers?

Having control of who comes here would improve things though.

It's not even funny that they're ignoring this now.

3 years on and we're still getting threatened that the lie that the NHS will be gone if we go through with brexit.

Here's an idea, let's encourage nurses and doctors to come to the country from anywhere in the world? If they're good enough they're in.

[For Us All]

Latest official figures from Public Health England show that we spend £606m on HIV treatment excluding testing.This figure compares with the amount spent on breast cancer care.

44% of HIV patients were born in the UK.

 

[TheSage]

The BMA has stated on several occasions that leaving the EU will be bad for the NHS. The UK has 1 doctor per 366 patients. The EU has 1 per 288. We currently have 10,000 doctoral vacancies and 41,000 nursing vacancies. And, no, it isn't all down to Brexit. Anti-immigration diatribe from the right and the Windrush scandal is still affecting recruitment. So is the falling pound.

80% of our medicines and drugs come from the EU.

Since 2016 there has been a 91% fall in EU nurses coming to work here. Over 7,000 left last year.

We will no longer be members of the European Medicines Agency.

Cancer drugs remain a concern as isotopes cannot be stored for hours on end and currently most are sourced at the drop of a hat from the EU.

Last winter there were more trolley waits of more than 4 hours than the total amount in the same months in the previous 4 years combined. 

Yeh, Brexit is a great idea for the NHS.