"Carrots" for doctors to join private hospitals!

[DippyDame]

theguardian.com/business/20...

The creep of privatisation!

Apologies admin if this is inapproptiate, I'll understand if you delete

Thank you

DD

[RedApple Administrator]

DD, Your post is informative, so personally I'm ok with it staying, as long as the thread doesn't go off on political tangents!

[userotc]

So our NI (often >£100k each for a typical career) is used to train NHS doctors and they then go off to private care where we would have to pay again! This sort of thing used to be prevented (maybe still is) in the commercial world via legal contracts limiting such moves.

As you say, its part of ongoing NHS privatisation which is inevitable. Personally I would mainly only pay for a qualified Nutritional Therapist who can PREVENT serious disease. For acute symptoms, I'd have to bite the bullet and use a doctor whether NHS or private.

[Confused01 in reply to userotc]

Hi,

Many places that effectively pay for training tie the person in on a contract to ensure they stay working for that company for a minimum of say 3-5 years. Perhaps this is something the government/NHS need to do.

There is so many things the NHS can do to improve themselves both financially and staffing but quite simply they don’t. Seen first hand.

Also there are large chunks of healthcare flying under the flag of NHS but are actually private companies. It’s been going on for at least 15+ years. Public just aren’t made aware of, so privatisation is well on its way already.

Often own worst enemy.

X

[userotc in reply to Confused01]

Precisely. I think the bottom line is confidence (or lack of it) with NHS and it's procedures.

As another example, our NHS dentist recently switched to private plans and sent us details to join. We've decided against but look after our teeth as best we can then go private if/when needed. That's largely driven by a lack of confidence in an NHS dentist that will likely follow the same procedures in private eg regular scrape/polish which has debatable benefits (link below).

Alternatively we would consider a holistic dentist for dental health that deals with root (pardon the pun!) cause, as with Nutritional Therapists for general health

www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.amp...

[csj113]

My OH is a senior consultant in the NHS. FWIW he is vehemently opposed to the privatisation of the NHS and the stealth takeover of our NHS staff by US health companies as indicated in this article. The vast majority of his colleagues feel the same, because in reality you don’t go into medicine in this country to be rich (of course conversely you do expect decent salary and working conditions). The blame for this should not be laid at NHS workers doors. I know a lot of healthcare workers and to a man and woman they are opposed to this.

[SarahJane1471 in reply to csj113]

well said 👏

[DippyDame in reply to csj113]

Thank you for that insight.

It doesn't surprise me at all, but the fact remains this situation exists....and, as in all walks of life there are people whose integrity is less than robust! They will follow the money and take their UK funded medical training with them!

To be clear, my intention in posting this was not to "blame" NHS workers...it was to point out that this situation exists. They are the rock on which the NHS stands

I'm not going to discuss political issues here....but they obviously exist.

It's an imperfect situation in an imperfect world...and it affects everyone from the poorest to the wealthiest. Complacency is not an option.

I have several reasons to be hugely grateful to the NHS in general, but sadly several reasons to find fault with it too...not least their treatment of thyroid disease!

In it's present state it is a miserable reflection of it's former state, and that is truly lamentable.

FWIW...I was born before the NHS was established so I've watched it develop "in all weathers"!

It must weather this storm...but temptations are out there and they will be grabbed!

[csj113 in reply to DippyDame]

I know and it’s becoming seriously tempting for junior docs who are getting shafted at the moment. My son plans to study medicine and quite honestly right now I’d encourage him to go where he can have better conditions. Here the constant negative press from certain elements of the media is also taking its toll on our NHS staff.

[Marz]

NHS transferring our records to Palantir in the US.

[raglansleeve]

I find this absolutely horrifying and I fear that my Canadian system is heading down the same road. We only have a few services (in Ontario, at least) that are done via a private system, but those are fully paid for by the province. People can get things like colonoscopies and cataract surgeries done in the private setting, but don't pay for the service themselves. We are about to open more facilities, that will be doing things like knee and hip replacements though. Again, all covered by the health system, but we could be on a slippery slope here. Already, there is much concern about losing doctors and nurses to the private facilities because they treat the staff better, with more reasonable hours, choices in shifts, etc. Are services in your private facilities paid for by the NHS, or do you pay out of pocket like it seems you do for private endocrinologists? We haven't gotten to that point yet, and endos are all working under the provincial health system. I am so glad that things aren't quite so bad here yet, and our only hope is that they follow what is happening in the UK and don't follow suit! Also, this isn't a criticism of your system, but from where we are here (already a bit scary), these possibilities are frightening.