Healthcare - NHS/Private

[d000hg]

Must admit it is worrying the number of people who have had bad experiences with the NHS.

When you consider how many millions of patients they have each year, is it? You have to look at failure rates, not absolute numbers.

My wife's a nurse so knows, first hand, how incompetent and lazy some people are. You would not believe some of the stories she tells me.

People are crap and lazy, end of... in every area of work! Remember just how many doctors and dentists do NHS+private work, even sometimes when treating the same patient e.g. the filling is NHS but using this material is private.

Obviously it is also a bureaucratic political nightmare with gross inefficiencies. But how is that different from any giant corporation in the capitalist world? For instance the ones hiring IT consultants at £2k a day...

[MyUserName]

Just for all of you who remember me mentioning my lazy and slack brother in law - he works in a hospital as a health care asssistant. A few days ago he got his father to drive him home because he could not be bothered with the 10 minute walk.

[Platypus]

Just for all of you who remember me mentioning my lazy and slack brother in law - he works in a hospital as a health care asssistant. A few days ago he got his father to drive him home because he could not be bothered with the 10 minute walk.

Well presumably he was tired after working very hard all day long ......

[DodgyAgent]

When you consider how many millions of patients they have each year, is it? You have to look at failure rates, not absolute numbers.

People are crap and lazy, end of... in every area of work! Remember just how many doctors and dentists do NHS+private work, even sometimes when treating the same patient e.g. the filling is NHS but using this material is private.

Obviously it is also a bureaucratic political nightmare with gross inefficiencies. But how is that different from any giant corporation in the capitalist world? For instance the ones hiring IT consultants at £2k a day...

And this is exactly how the left defend their precious citadel. They make it so big that any failures are written off as small fry!
So this is all a drop in the Ocean then? Mid Staffs NHS trust: Why is nobody being punished for this disaster? - Telegraph

As for your lame comparison with the private sector I will highlight what happens in the real world when people mess up:

If a captain allowed his ship and crew to fall into the lethal state of disrepair that existed at Mid Staffordshire, he would be court-martialled. Company directors would be prosecuted for corporate negligence and even manslaughter if 1,200 people perished on dangerously inadequate premises. NHS managers, however, in their Orwellian world, not only escape punishment; it’s been made almost impossible for them to commit a crime.

In the private sector we have choice even if they are small in certain sectors. We can change our bank, we can change our energy supplier and we can change our hairdresser whenever we want. These companies cannot ignore their customers to the detriment of their business. If they do they go bust.
furthermore health care is a fundamental need in society more so than banking or energy. its provision cannot be provided by anyone other than experts.
If the NHS is the sole provider it cannot be allowed to deliver a poor service to anyone.

[vetran]

Its a Sacred cow like Education, its patently obvious they haven't changed their administration practices since the 60's, excluded non eligible people or used statistics to improve their offering.

We spent billions on systems to provide a backbone to the NHS instead of buying it in.

A decent booking system & email would do the vast majority of what the NHS need.

[minestrone]

The wife has been getting mails recently asking her place of work to be 'quite sure that when they refer on a patient to the hospital they are confident that they need that level of care' which she says is NHS speak for 'we have ran out of beds'. Been a few ''patient dies in agony on trolly in corridor' stories in the news over the last week.

[DodgyAgent]

Its a Sacred cow like Education, its patently obvious they haven't changed their administration practices since the 60's, excluded non eligible people or used statistics to improve their offering.

We spent billions on systems to provide a backbone to the NHS instead of buying it in.

A decent booking system & email would do the vast majority of what the NHS need.

In education the left have been shown what can be achieved by the private sector and they do not like it.

[SueEllen]

Don't mind NHS for emergencies its just everything else they're useless for !

From personal experience on both points I have to disagree with you.

The only thing I do agree with is that it's a postcode lottery and also a lottery depending on your socio-economic background and your age.

Also if any person in your family goes into an NHS hospital for an operation as an in-patient be prepared to have someone stay with them at all times. Some medical staff do behave better if it's clear one patient's visitors are keeping an eye on them.

[Fishface]

imagine having to produce a credit card at the emergency room and agree that the card is left 'open' everytime you had to visit - *even with medical insurance* and the health care was no better - this is where it goes.

They need to introduce a way of paying for it that people take pride in it as a very valuable service - contribute, volunteer or whatever and stop sucking it dry. Stuff goes wrong everywhere private or insured or social or whatever - NHS are no worse.

I have private and my boy was born with the cord around his neck three times it was a very close call - we had the best facility, doctors, midwives, nurses etc etc etc - I believe luck was with us rather than private health excellence.

[vetran]

In education the left have been shown what can be achieved by the private sector and they do not like it.

Agree completely. My Eldest is at an academy they seem to be doing a good job.