11 replies to this topic

[Michelle]

The NHS could start charging for some services and treatments within the next 10 years after new research suggests a further decade of austerity will leave the status-quo unsustainable.

Public funding for health, social care and welfare is set to be tight for at least 10 years, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), which means radical changes are needed to keep up with the growing demand from our aging population and rise in chronic conditions.
The research, funded by the Nuffield Trust, concludes that “serious thought” must be given to NHS spending which must include reconsidering which services should be free and increases in taxation to finance the service.

cont...

http://www.independe...rs-7906714.html

[Coffey]

They should sort out some of their staff before even considering this.

[questionmark]

Every second summer one of these studies pop up without consequences. The reason being: Politicians want to be reelected.

[Michelle]

questionmark, on 05 July 2012 - 05:45 PM, said:

Every second summer one of these studies pop up without consequences. The reason being: Politicians want to be reelected.

So there is no risk of this then?

The comments and other articles on that page were very enlightening too. It seems that whenever anyone questions how well the NHS works people get defensive, but talking about it among themselves it is a different story.

[questionmark]

Michelle, on 05 July 2012 - 07:18 PM, said:

So there is no risk of this then?

The comments and other articles on that page were very enlightening too. It seems that whenever anyone questions how well the NHS works people get defensive, but talking about it among themselves it is a different story.

No, it will be more likely that they increase the VAT from 20 to 21% then trying to take away the NHS. And yes, the NHS has a lot of problems, problem 1 that nobody realizes what something costs if you don't have several control instances, and that leads to fraud waste and abuse. Instead of the government running the NHS it should be a non-profit organization independent of the government but accountable for every penny they spend... but oh well, nothing ever comes of it when I try to improve the world.

[skookum]

They do charge, it's called National insurance.  You pay whether you get care or not.

They have been talking about this for years like claiming on car insurance for RTA's.  Will never happen it is too disorganised.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

I think charging for some services is a fair idea - nothing life saving mind, nothing emergency care related either. Arms in plaster, sprained ankles, false call-outs that sort of thing could have a nominal fee.

[smurf0852]

it is more likely they will start charging to vote than it is they chip away at the NHS. the NHS is the closest thing the UK has to a religion .that said they should start fineing people for ringing 999 because there snowman is melting or to ask how long to cook a turkey
(im not joking)i think a fixed penalty of £200 would be enough and considering how many bloody idiots their are out there it would earn our emergency services a fortune.

[smurf0852]

Coffey, on 05 July 2012 - 05:34 PM, said:

They should sort out some of their staff before even considering this.

i agree in a way and they are trying to however as usual the people that need to be cut get the job of cutting.case in point my wife works for the NHS as medical PA recently at the hospital she works at they had a managment restructure which ended in the managers being moved around and getting a pay rise (this is true i swear).this restructure moved down the pay scales until it has got to the bottom which in the peking order is the medical PA's .except when it got to them they are all expected to take a 4k a year pay cut "and be glad they have a job" the problem is with this regrade the medical PA's will have a huge chunk of there job taken away which will then have to be done by the medical staff .the result of this is in the small department where my wife works the consultants will have to see 64 fewer patients a week .the cost of which runs into the 10's of thousands a year .when the managers who all gave themselves a pay rise are challanged on this by the consultants they say well its a different budget ? .wtf is going on i have allways known the civil service is managed by idiots but how does this make sense ,i really cant figure it out it is going to cost across the hospital millions from one budget to save 150k from another one !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[and then]

Since I think that we in the US are probably headed for a similar system to the NHS in the coming years, I'm curious.  If a doctor in that system makes an entirely avoidable mistake that costs a patient their life, can they be sued?

[smurf0852]

and then, on 12 July 2012 - 01:25 AM, said:

Since I think that we in the US are probably headed for a similar system to the NHS in the coming years, I'm curious.  If a doctor in that system makes an entirely avoidable mistake that costs a patient their life, can they be sued?

you can sue the NHS and the royal collage the doctor belongs to deals with the dicipline side of it unless there is criminal neglect then it is handed to the police.

[questionmark]

smurf0852, on 12 July 2012 - 10:05 PM, said:

you can sue the NHS and the royal collage the doctor belongs to deals with the dicipline side of it unless there is criminal neglect then it is handed to the police.

I guess his question was more along the lines of:" If a doctor breaks one of my freshly lacquered nails can I still sue him for a fantastillion dollars with Obamacare?"

The answer is: In the US, yes. Everywhere else you will surely not be awarded more than a broken fingernail is worth.