Watching the news this morning and getting frustrated. Before I say anything I must say I love our NHS and have always supported them. The guys and girls that work there are amazing.
But now it's being banded about that we should pay for GP appointments and then pay again if you get referred to a specialist. Just recently there have a couple of posts about prescription charges, add on top of that paying for treatment too?
I'd hate to think what the grand total would be for me going to various appointments and then eventually onto transplant and then further appointments.
Sorry for political post but I'd be interested to hear what other people think.
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Identity75
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It's a timely post, and although political, is a subject that should concern most of us here as most of us rely on the NHS.
To avoid the inevitable creeping privatisation and underfunding that will lead to these kinds of costs we cannot let the Tories get a huge majority.
Believe it or not, a failing NHS is in the Tories plan. They've used this tactic to privatise rail,fuel, telephone etc. Make it so bloody bad that privatisation is the only option left.
We can not let this happen. People fought hard to form the NHS in 1945.
The system is broken in so many ways, not just the NHS but most civil service jobs.
I don't really know much about the American system but I'd be intrigued to know what its cost some of our friends across the water how much it had cost them or their insurance company to pay for their treatment.
I live in the states I pay about $500 a month for insurance and my employer pays about $500 a month on top of that. I pay $20 every time I visit a doctor and if I require tests like an ultrasound or endoscopy I pay for that up to a maximum of $2000. Healthcare is very expensive in the states.
in the past i paid for private treatment due to getting nowhere. It was unbelievable. If we had to pay we would be stuffed. In hospital after a major surgery i was charged by the wipe ( used to wash me) syringes etc. A chart on my door. Total cost for surgery icu room toiletries medication 30,000 absolutely ridiculous & it didn't cure me got passed to another consultant after at 150 to see him plus 2000 blood tests every week. It's just not affordable at all. That's private. Not sure if it would work out as much ?
At the moment all parties are going on about the national health, paying to see GPs seems to be the way the NHS is going to be paid for. I remember when someone years ago the National Lottery was going to be used for NHS purposes. I can also see free prescription's being stopped. Like identity75 I'm sorry for being a little political but after 17 years working at an airport I saw a lot of tourist having treatment on the NHS maybe we should charge them..
Depending on where you look health tourism costs between 2% and 0.3 % of total NHS expenditure. The first figure includes A&E, expats and foreign students, the second is purely foreigners not requiring emergency treatment or what I would define as health tourism.
From what I understand the NHS is costing more every year because there are more and more older people, and we have treatments (such as transplants) that were not previously available.
People like some stars who live abroad come back to the UK for treatment, one in mind is Petulant Clark, she lives in France but came here to have her children. Why would expats who live abroad claim heating allowance. I have seen young ladies get off planes then a month or so later get back on carrying newborns. Is it a crime for elderly people to get I'll , I don't smoke never drank to excess but had an autoimmune disease which led to a transplant. The NHS is a wonderfully thing but gets abused in different ways, let's charge drug addicts and drunkards who get taken to hospitals for their treatments and save a few Bob there..
I agree with you on the expats, but no govt would ever implement that particular one. And as for fuel allowance, that's just wrong anyway, let alone if you're living in Malaga. My point was that somewhere between 2% and 0.3% is the amount spent on "health tourism". If you were trying to fix the NHS then concentrating on this will claw you back an absolute max of 2%.
I wasn't accusing the old of getting ill, and I wasn't saying we shouldn't save lives with new treatments. I also had a liver transplant. My point is that the NHS is relatively more expensive to run today than it was 30 years ago. This is why it needs a real increase in investment. A healthy happy workforce is a productive one. A productive workforce is a strong economy. That's how we get to strong and stable.
The cost of healthcare has gone up more than the rate of inflation for many years this is due to the introduction of new techniques for diagnosis such as MRI and new expensive treatments like Havoni for Hep C which cost around $1000 a pill in the states.
i know now if i get an appointment reminder it says on it failed appointments cost £130 or similar. Try getting a docs impossible its hard luckily ours run 2 emergency surgeries yet each month a note is up saying 35 or however people failed to turn up. Dentist & hospitals are the same. Without an explanation fine them i say. Everyone gets reminders now
There is a real challenge facing the NHS at the moment and I am drawn to this analysis by Naom Chomsky which you can see at politicsbitesize.wordpress....
Obvious solution come Election Day if you want to protect this much loved service.
I would hate it if that happened. My daughter first of all suffers from a very rare genetic condition. Genetic, meaning that while I was pregnant with her the genes had mutated and she ended up with her condition. She suffers from global development. The first 4 years of her life was hell so to speak. She was not able to feed through mouth and so was fed through tube and then later on it turned into a tummy tube. She has a lot of specialists in her life so I'd be gutted if that happened. I'm in the middle of fighting for a wheelchair/buggy for her. She's over 9 years old now and we've never really taken advantage of the system. We have always bought her several buggies as she only walked after she was 4 years old but even now she struggles and has special footwear. I've been passed pillar to post trying to get access for equipment but also some respite for my husband and I. We also have a nearly 4 year old that is currently killing us with his tantrums.
And then there is me. So people like us will definitely struggle. I am thinking of going back to work if they can sort my health out first and hopefully support my husband.
Let's hope Labour gets in this time and they use the money wisely.
The last election was one I had my surgery I think or a few days after that. When I came around I could hear on the radio that Cameron had won. I was hallucinating and basically I thought Cameron was after my life and he won the election because of my transplant LOL. A little bit of humour there for you. The next day I thought I was someone famous because of my transplant and again Cameron winning had everything to do with my transplant. My transplant was on the 4th May 2015.
Take care
I too have nothing but respect for the staff working in the NHS. But what is the NHS? The NHS in Wales is different to the one in England as it is supported by the Welsh government. Here the 5p price of a plastic bags goes to paying the free prescription charges so at least you know what the tax is being spent on.
In England we have the NHS Trust. This is broken down as follows: 136 acute non-specialist trusts (including 84 foundation trusts) 17 acute specialist trusts (including 16 foundation trusts) 55 mental health trusts (including 43 foundation trusts) 34 community providers (11 NHS trusts, 6 foundation trusts and 17 social enterprises).
How the billions of pounds are divided up is an enigma. But I feel this is were the problems of poor financial control are made. This is where the NHS pays £3.83 for a packet of 16 tablets of Paracetamol, where the same tablets can be brought for 30p.
In 2015, GPs in England wrote a staggering 22,900,000 prescriptions for paracetamol, costing tax payers a whopping £87,600,000.
Also my wife last Christmas was having to use crouches for a few weeks, while she was waiting for a damaged heel to repair. When we tried to return these crouches to the hospital we were told to just throw them away. What a total waste of money. They could of at least offer them to third world counties.
So, I've yet to be convinced that the NHS is cash strapped. I just think it's badly financially managed. I think all these Trusts should be annually audited just like any other tax run service and someone should be held responsible and accountable.
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