NHS HOSPITALS

I am sick of the NHS asking for more money

What they need to do is stop wasting money

How on earth did they get tied in to long term contracts that sees every hospital paying £28 for a pack of printer paper that costs £3.99 in a shop?

agreed with big h

Get rid or the tory government who are starving it of funding in an attempt to destroy something they have never believed because it doesn't make a profit

has teresa got a health policy ?

nhs means nhs sounds quite catchy !

It was the Tories original idea in the early 90s to start with the PFI and that Blair and Brown carried on this policy which was wrong , but in the last 6 years the social care budget has been slashed by about 5 billion by the tories who try to blame anybody and everybody for their abject failure

what has jeremy 'unt been doing lately in usa?

Simple fix for NHS ...

1. Take everybody in every NHS building into their respective car parks:

2. Ask every NHS worker when they last touched or were close to a patient:

3. Send all those people back in to carry on working unhindered:

4. The rest, ask them to write down what they do every week and for each activity how long they do it for (and FFS don't let them back into the building);

5. Ask them to name the beneficiaries of each activity;

6. Ask beneficiaries about the value they are receiving;

7. Make a simple judgement and fire the w@nkers who are sucking the NHS dry by not adding any value.

The above is an abridged version of how industry gets rid of waste (well it was when I advised companies how to cut costs).

Always works ... gets at least 30% cost out.

Gordon Brown made some mistakes yes but he wasn't responsible for the world wide crash in 2008 , if the tories  had have been in power they would have de-regulated the banking sector even more so , regarding your support for compassionate conservatism didn't that die out with Jim Prior, Francis Pym and Ted Heath

Try and create as many issues as possible, then -

'Isn't it such a bad service.  We will have to change it for the better.  I know.  Let's charge people for it.'

Privatise through the back door so to speak.   

It isn't just the tories and lab goons but the total and utter empire building tiers of management getting in the way of looking after sick people.
I refer you to mememe's post above.

'

and there is no pressure from the 5 million extra foreigners either working or skivving in this country

just like housing - we are told no pressure!!! 

all the new houses to come -  half will go to immigrants

it is the same pressure on the nhs as well

then they say we can't do without immigrants - who will run the nhs?

so who cut all the nurse and doctor training coz it is cheaper to get third world employees instead

who on here said years ago

'I told you so'

i know i know i know  it is racist to say so

It's biggest strength is also it's biggest weakness.  ie, it is FREE always at the point of delivery and no questions asked.  No responsibility placed on the patient whatsoever.

What happens when something is free.  People inevitably take the p!ss and overuse it even when they don't need it.  Take plastic bags in supermarkets for example.  Might seem a daft comparison but the change in mindset is the same.  When they introduced an affordable nominal charge of 5p everyone stopped to think if they really needed them.  Result > change of behaviour that let to a 95% drop in usage.  If that example doesn't work with you, then look what happened in Cyprus when they recently introduced a €20 fee for A&E and GP appointments.  Result > an 80% drop in hospital admissions.

Not saying we should go that far, but I think a nominal charge of say £2 for every non-emergency hospital or GP visit would cut hundreds of thousands of needless visits, cut out many of the time wasters and malingerers, and free up much needed time and resources for those that really need them.  Considering that most visits cost hundreds or thousands in medical staff, medicines, equipment, man hours etc, I don't think a couple of quid is unreasonable.  Of course, this will never happen because politicians can't see past the ludicrous position they've set in stone that it should always be free without question to anyone at any time.

Furthermore, and with a view to the longer term, another big failure of the system is that we never ever ever blame the patient.  Half my family have worked in the NHS in medical, clinical care or nursing for decades.  Nowadays in particular, about 2/3's of the people they see are there because their ailments are down to their lifestyle choices.  By far and away the biggest contributing factor to most problems is down to alcohol, but also due to poor diet, no exercise, and a frankly lifelong cavalier attitude towards their own health.  But because it's always free, they don't think they need to take any responsibility for their own health because someone else will pick up the tab.  But the symptoms are the result of long term neglect.  Eg, bad back brought on by overweight and not enough muscle mass in the legs to support the weight above.

There are also massive cultural problems to address that didn't exist a generation ago, but would be political suicide for any MP to address.  Eg, within nursing, they offer privately refer to ALS which is Asian Lady Syndrome.   Basically means a lifetime of doing no exercise because it's just not in their culture to do anything other than stay at home and raise the family, leads to terrible health problems in their 50's and 60's.  How the hell do you address something like that?

What we really need long term is a cultural revolution that places far more emphasis on looking after your own health.  The simplest way to do that would be to start at the beginning and make physical education a much bigger part of the curriculum (eg, 1 hour a day minimum).  That would need to be combined with making more publicly funded sporting and activity facilities available for kids and adults.  Subsidised swimming for example.  Go to Australia and there are tons of 50m public pools where you'd struggle to pay more than 50p.  Here in the UK it costs about £4.50 to use the council leisure centre pool; and about twice that for 40 mins on the squash court.  The government also needs to be tougher on the food industry; better healthier meals for children, restrictions on sugar (not penalising the consumer with taxes which is stupid).

So many things that the government could do that would help in the long term, but political decisions need results within a four year cycle, so the easiest thing to do is chuck more money at it, then boast you are investing record amounts in the NHS.  Please elect us again.  Jesus H Christ.

Danno  you make some good points but the fact remains that Britain has fewer doctors , nurses , medical equipment and Hospital beds than most of the Western world , also the current crisis in social care affects mainly older people and many with mental illness and learning difficulties im not sure walking about and eating salads would cure these conditions, this is a direct consequence of reduced government spending in these areas, I do agree that prevention is better than cure and that a comprehensive examination of the system is needed.

Please ...stop calling it the NHS ! (National Health Service) it's not!
It's the WHS ...World Health Service !..and that's why it's in trouble !
It's simple ..if you get sick in the Middle East, Asia etc ...it's much cheaper to buy an Airline ticket for £ 500 than pay
£ 20,000 for an operation!
And the numpties that have been running our Country for decades let it happen.
How phucking simple would it be ...when these immigrants  ("health tourists") arrive in the UK to ask at immigration - show us your "Health Insurance Certificate" ?
No Health Insurance ...ya can't come in !
SIMPLE INNIT !

just who set up this private joint funding - both lots!!

who slashed nurse and doc training - both lots

they have never spoken for or done things for the people.

all Labour ever did was flood the place with the people likely to vote for them

that is where the rot started and the tory lot have continued it

anxious,

yes post war labour govt did some good things, but Tony Blair, Gordon Brown ... you should be ashamed to be in the same party as these 2.

Tony Blair warmongerer millionaire - didn't he do well!! and how many deaths is he in part responsible for?  Gordon Brown ... well then yes Mr Banker, you do what you want then.  Taxpayer will pick up the tab if it goes belly up.  Mr No more boom and bust my ar$e - worst chancellor ever?

Aren't they culpable for anything in your eyes?

And just saying the tories are as bad or started it or whatever doesn't wash with me.  Not a lot between them but at least the tories don't pretend to care. (unless you're gullible and believe them - I'm not).

Mememe  I  had no time for Blair and what happened over Iraq it was disgraceful and Labour have made mistakes especially over immigration and the banks , but are you seriously suggesting that he 2008 crash was browns fault when it was world wide recession caused by the housing market ,  greed of the financial system etc, but you lambast Labour but fail to mention the sins of Thatcher and her cronies, selling oof north sea oil to pay for 4 million unemployed, destroying british manufacturing and throwing people on the dole , privatising the utilities which have robbed the people blind for the last 30 years all aided by the filthy right wing press headed by Lucifer himself Rupert Murdoch.

we need missiles not bandages.

killing is more important than helping little girls with head injuries.
more money for tin submarines and skyships with pineapple bombs to drop on
guys in tents in the sands o Khurdastan? you know it makes sense.

Sing out - kill em all - kill em all - the long, the short and the tall.

How on earth did they get tied in to long term contracts that sees every hospital paying £28 for a pack of printer paper that costs £3.99 in a shop?

Probably a Few large Brown Envelopes Involved H .