Can the NHS be fixed?
Discussion
Just seeing all the news headlines from the new government about fixing the NHS.
How would you go about fixing the NHS? Will just throwing more money at it give the results people want without bankrupting the country?
Personally I support the NHS but don't care whether the care is provided directly by the NHS or by a private company contracted to the NHS so long as the care is timely and high quality.
Thoughts..
How would you go about fixing the NHS? Will just throwing more money at it give the results people want without bankrupting the country?
Personally I support the NHS but don't care whether the care is provided directly by the NHS or by a private company contracted to the NHS so long as the care is timely and high quality.
Thoughts..
Yes, but it needs a 15-20 year strategy and managed by a cross party board so it can't be used as a political pawn every 5 years and decision u turns. Its not easy due to the size of it.
But it needs social care reform/investment more than anything. Hospitals are just clogged with old people who they can't send anywhere but don't need to be in hospital anymore.
But it needs social care reform/investment more than anything. Hospitals are just clogged with old people who they can't send anywhere but don't need to be in hospital anymore.
Gecko1978 said:
To fix the NHS I believe you would need to focus on public health diet exercise lifestyle etc.
Prevention v Cure
As its unlikely we are going to make people eat better exercise more then no money won't fix it
Encouraging people to eat better can and should be done through taxes on unhealthy food, similar to smoking which more than pays its way (long may the smokers continue to subsidise tax bills for the rest of us). George Osborne tried to do it IIRC but failed - hopefully a large Labour majority can help it be introduced.Prevention v Cure
As its unlikely we are going to make people eat better exercise more then no money won't fix it
Exercising more is a little harder to do.
Yes but it needs massive root and branch reform.
It also needs to be taken away from the government and looked after by an independent body that does not change when a new party gets elected.
It wont be quick or easy and may need the overall scope of what it covers looking at, as the nhs we have now compared to what it was when first created are two totally different things. People are living longer and illnesses that would kill people when the nhs was created are now capable of being cured.
And thats before we get to things that hadnt even been thought of when the NHS was created such as IVF, Gender reassignment etc.
It also needs to be taken away from the government and looked after by an independent body that does not change when a new party gets elected.
It wont be quick or easy and may need the overall scope of what it covers looking at, as the nhs we have now compared to what it was when first created are two totally different things. People are living longer and illnesses that would kill people when the nhs was created are now capable of being cured.
And thats before we get to things that hadnt even been thought of when the NHS was created such as IVF, Gender reassignment etc.
E63eeeeee... said:
Wrong question. You should be asking "can public health in the UK be improved?", to which of course the answer is yes.
You're concentrating too much on the tools instead of the job.
So is the new Government doing the wrong thing?You're concentrating too much on the tools instead of the job.
I suspect they are fire fighting i.e. trying to resolve short term issues which I suspect they will spent the next 5 years doing and any long term changes that are needed will never happen..
FMOB said:
E63eeeeee... said:
Wrong question. You should be asking "can public health in the UK be improved?", to which of course the answer is yes.
You're concentrating too much on the tools instead of the job.
So is the new Government doing the wrong thing?You're concentrating too much on the tools instead of the job.
FMOB said:
E63eeeeee... said:
Wrong question. You should be asking "can public health in the UK be improved?", to which of course the answer is yes.
You're concentrating too much on the tools instead of the job.
So is the new Government doing the wrong thing?You're concentrating too much on the tools instead of the job.
I suspect they are fire fighting i.e. trying to resolve short term issues which I suspect they will spent the next 5 years doing and any long term changes that are needed will never happen..
Improving public health is arguably itself a virtuous circle, fewer sick people reduces demand on the NHS, a stronger economy makes it easier to pay for it. Basically the opposite of the death spiral we've been in for the last 14 years. Of course it can only be talk at this point, but it's a perfectly sensible strategy to recognise that the country is a complex system and think about how the different bits of it can work together to reinforce each other.
Mr Penguin said:
Gecko1978 said:
To fix the NHS I believe you would need to focus on public health diet exercise lifestyle etc.
Prevention v Cure
As its unlikely we are going to make people eat better exercise more then no money won't fix it
Encouraging people to eat better can and should be done through taxes on unhealthy food, similar to smoking which more than pays its way (long may the smokers continue to subsidise tax bills for the rest of us). George Osborne tried to do it IIRC but failed - hopefully a large Labour majority can help it be introduced.Prevention v Cure
As its unlikely we are going to make people eat better exercise more then no money won't fix it
Exercising more is a little harder to do.
Without the following actions - No
- Firing all the workshy lazy fat idiots who the place is riddled with.
- Cutting out any woke diversity posts
- Making it a 'Pay upfront only' for all health tourists (I've seen 1000's)
- Treating people as customers, not patients (we have paid for this service over a lifetime)
- Finding out who is working in the NHS, I've seed 'Doctors' who I doubt have any real qualifications from Africa, Pakistan etc etc.
- Start treating junk processed food like cigarettes. I mean pictures of fat people without a leg etc on the packaging, just like cigarettes (After all its just as bad, however nobody bats an eyelid when we are bombarded with crap food adverts 24/7)
- Start running it like a private sector business, its a mess and only getting worse. The whole approach needs to change.
- Stop pretending its good!
- Firing all the workshy lazy fat idiots who the place is riddled with.
- Cutting out any woke diversity posts
- Making it a 'Pay upfront only' for all health tourists (I've seen 1000's)
- Treating people as customers, not patients (we have paid for this service over a lifetime)
- Finding out who is working in the NHS, I've seed 'Doctors' who I doubt have any real qualifications from Africa, Pakistan etc etc.
- Start treating junk processed food like cigarettes. I mean pictures of fat people without a leg etc on the packaging, just like cigarettes (After all its just as bad, however nobody bats an eyelid when we are bombarded with crap food adverts 24/7)
- Start running it like a private sector business, its a mess and only getting worse. The whole approach needs to change.
- Stop pretending its good!
PurplePenguin said:
Countdown said:
Make it so that the patient is required to part-pay
Based on weight…. 
BikeBikeBIke said:
It can't be fixed.
If a massive state monopoly was a good way to run healthcare plenty of other nations would be doing it.
Judging by the hints made today we might be seeing massive reform over the next five years.
This. The best performing health care systems in Europe are more expensive than ours but deliver a much better outcome. And none of them resemble our model. If a massive state monopoly was a good way to run healthcare plenty of other nations would be doing it.
Judging by the hints made today we might be seeing massive reform over the next five years.
The public think that health care is either ‘free’ like the NHS or unaffordable and you will die unless you are rich like in the US.
IMHO the NHS isn't a national treasure never to be touched - or a jewel in the crown that's the envy of the rest of the world - the reality is it's failing badly and has been for a while. Personally I don't think just throwing more money at it is the answer, I think we need to look at other countries who do it better and learn from them to understand how they manage to achieve better outcomes. The first stage in all of this is to acknowledge there's a fundamental problem and to be fair to the new government they seem to be doing that.
Therefore, while I didn't vote for them, if they now use their substantial majority to push through some radical reform that will be a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Whether the unions and those on the left of the Labour Party will support them and allow them to do it is another matter....
Therefore, while I didn't vote for them, if they now use their substantial majority to push through some radical reform that will be a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Whether the unions and those on the left of the Labour Party will support them and allow them to do it is another matter....
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