Reply to: Taking the P155

[Joe Black]

There's a reasonably interesting brief analysis of gummint IT failure (including NHS's NPfIT) in The Times today, here:

The cycle of cover-ups and failure that costs us millions.

It includes an anecdote about the Criminal Records Bureau system.

Love the quote "In fact 80 per cent of applications for background checks were on paper, but the computer screens had not been designed for the keying in of paper forms.".

Joe in "just how many £m does it take to build an on-screen form" mode.

[Troll]

But aren't they being treated and looked after mainly by immigrants from third world countries?

1st question to ask a consultant when using the NHS is "where did he or she qualify"

UK,Europe,N.America is OK

Australia or any other third world country and you should really walk away

*note in this context Europe refers to western European

[Flubster]

And who do you think trains those DRs you pillock!

DRs - Disaster Recoverers?

They're all Indian/Pakistan imports, mate, so no loss to us....All our decent doctors go to the States...

[sasguru]

Exactly - and well done for highlighting a problem with a surge in immigrants from third world countries, with chronic third world illnesses putting an intolerable strain upon the NHS

But aren't they being treated and looked after mainly by immigrants from third world countries?

[Numptycorner]

We do. It's called Private Medical Insurance. The NHS is for the immigrants and under-classes only. Permie!

And who do you think trains those DRs you pillock!

[Flubster]

...putting an intolerable strain upon the NHS

Coped with by sub-contracting out procedures to the Private Sector. Everyone's a winner. And expect an NI hike at the next budget.

[Troll]

We do. It's called Private Medical Insurance. The NHS is for the immigrants and under-classes only. Permie!

Exactly - and well done for highlighting a problem with a surge in immigrants from third world countries, with chronic third world illnesses putting an intolerable strain upon the NHS

[hyperD]

Old Mother Hewitt was on R4 Today this morning.

Jim Naughty confronted her with the fact that all large-scale NHS IT projects are invariably unmitigated disasters.

Hewitt deftly countered saying the the NHS's investment (i.e. haemorrhaging of tax-payers money) into IT had produced miracles such as MRI scanners!

WTF???

Sadly, old Naughty, out of his depth once more, let it lie.

Bogey - I've noticed this alot recently: there we have an almighty clusterfuck of government incompetence that even your slack-jawed, minger infested, dole engourged, blinged up chav can contemplate, and the BBC anchormen fire a warning shot across the bows, get faced with a government prepared soundbite and never take it any further.

We need to take a leaf out of the common Hungarian man's solution - invade the fecking studios and broadcast the truth.

[Flubster]

Should we not disband the NHS and adopt a insurance based approach to health care?

We do. It's called Private Medical Insurance. The NHS is for the immigrants and under-classes only. Permie!

[Troll]

Should we not disband the NHS and adopt a insurance based approach to health care?

[BoredBloke]

the fact is that there are more cat scans in California than the whole of the UK. Also, the ones we do have are not utilised to their maximum.

From the beeb

Concerns over private NHS clinics

Cataract surgery is one of the operations carried out by ISTCs
Private clinics doing NHS operations have not carried out all the treatment they have been paid for, figures show.
Independent sector treatment centres have been phased in since 2002 to drive down waiting lists and increase choice.

But statistics obtained by the Tories showed 59,960 procedures - 73% of the number paid for - were done by April.

The Tories said the clinics were not providing value for money, but the government said the shortfall now stood at 87% and would be made up in time.

The clinics carry out minor surgery, including hip operations, ear, nose and throat treatment and cataract operations.

The government has involved the independent sector without delivering value for money

Andrew Lansley, shadow health secretary

The Tories say the under-performance is because the first-wave of ISTCs were given guaranteed levels of work, meaning they get paid regardless of the amount of work they carry out.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "The government has involved the independent sector without delivering value for money.

"Centres are not working to their optimum capacity and cost significantly more than the same service provided by the NHS."

Doctors agreed the figures were worrying.

Money

Paul Miller, chairman of the British Medical Association, said: "This shows what we have been saying for a long time.

"They have got preferential treatment of the kind the NHS can only dream of. The money spent on them would have been best invested in the NHS."

But the Department of Health said the situation had already started improving, with 87% of treatment paid for being carried out by July.

A spokesman added: "It's wrong to suggest that money has been wasted. No money has been lost.

"ISTC contracts are calculated over five years, not month by month or year by year.

"This means that any under-referral early on - while local GPs and patients are getting used to the new facility - is made up by the end of the five-year contract."

It comes after the Commons' health committee recently warned the centres had not brought a "major benefit" to the NHS and could actually end up starving hospitals of work and, therefore, money.

[bogeyman]

There's a reasonably interesting brief analysis of gummint IT failure (including NHS's NPfIT) in The Times today, here:

The cycle of cover-ups and failure that costs us millions.

It includes an anecdote about the Criminal Records Bureau system.

Old Mother Hewitt was on R4 Today this morning.

Jim Naughty confronted her with the fact that all large-scale NHS IT projects are invariably unmitigated disasters.

Hewitt deftly countered saying the the NHS's investment (i.e. haemorrhaging of tax-payers money) into IT had produced miracles such as MRI scanners!

WTF???

Sadly, old Naughty, out of his depth once more, let it lie.

[wendigo100]

There's a reasonably interesting brief analysis of gummint IT failure (including NHS's NPfIT) in The Times today, here:

The cycle of cover-ups and failure that costs us millions.

It includes an anecdote about the Criminal Records Bureau system.

[Mailman]

mailman prints off invoice for NHS so they can pay him lots of money for doing nothing...almost as if he worked there

Mailman

[BoredBloke]

Having spent 9 months working for a consultancy at a recently announced and soon to be partially outsourced arm of the NHS I can see why the thing is on its @rse. The financial mismanagement in the place is almost criminal.

We had instances where trusts were paying suppliers about 2 million per year but could not tell us what they got for their (our) cash. We had cases where suppliers sent quarterly invoices with just a figure outstanding and with no breakdown as to what they were paying for and the trusts paid up. We had cases where two trusts would buy exactly the same ICD (like a pacemaker) and one would pay £17k and another would get it for £12k.