How would you solve the NHS crisis?
The NHS is in crisis so what should we do?
The NHS “crisis” is being caused because patients are going to A&E for ailments that would have been treated by a GP 20 years ago, Iain Duncan Smith has said.
He said a “change in culture” was causing more people to go to emergency departments than their local doctors, for basic problems.
“The pressures are greater, 20 years ago a lot of the things people go to A&E for now, they wouldn’t have.” But the former Tory leader said he didn’t think the current state of the NHS was different from previous winters.
The Red Cross has recently described the health service as being in a “humanitarian crisis”.
There is mounting pressure for GP surgeries to be open 7 days a week, to alleviate the crisis. Some GPs in England have been warned they could lose extra funding if they fail to meet their commitments to keeping surgeries open for longer.
The government wants surgeries to open between 08:00 and 20:00, seven days a week, unless they can prove the demand is not there.
Increasing funding via National Insurance contributions is another solution being proposed. A senior Labour MP has suggested NHS spending should be entirely funded by National Insurance in order to safeguard the future of the health service.
An immediate increase in National Insurance and further reforms to the tax would help close a £67.7bn funding gap over the next five years, the former minister, Labour Frank Field said.
He called for the Government to raise National Insurance to a level that would entirely fund the health service and social care – but to cut general income tax in by a “commensurate” amount.
So what are your views? How is the NHS crisis affecting you? Would you like your GP surgery to open 7 days a week? Do you think a rise in NI contributions is an acceptable solution? Should National Insurance contributions be means tested?
How would you solve the NHS crisis?
254 people have already voted, what's your opinion? Insist GP surgeries open 7 days a week Increase National Insurance contributionsWhat are your views?
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We don't tolerate swearing, and reserve the right to remove any posts which we feel may offend others... let's keep it friendly!
We have a rule in our house .... Wait 7 days before calling the GP. (Within reason ) So far it has worked.
Just 2 thoughts here ....
Cancer can't survive in an alkaline state and Turmeric reduces inflammation. (arthritis) I can personally attest to the efficacy of turmeric.
Psychiatry is also a waste of money it is ineffective and often damaging. Their invented diseases are not cured with psychotropic drugs electric shock treatment or prefrontal lobotomies. Turning someone into a zombie is not a cure. Pharmaceutical companies only care about profits, not people. Doctors are misled and dictated to by these companies. There have been recent court cases where it has been proven that research results were faked. Check out this link. cchr.org
Having said that I think that there are many other reasons which contribute to the apparent breakdown in our system.
The suggestion that a small charge at A&E for those who could have gone to a chemist or the online helpline is a good one.
A LARGE charge for those who abuse the ambulance service and A&E by drinking to excess causing self abuse of alcohol and accidents.
Non essential surgery or medical aid should not be on National Health, such as plastic surgery and in vitro treatments. I accept the deep desire for a child, but please look at adopting the little ones who are in need of a family and love.
Plastic surgery should only be for those seriously affected, not those who cry that their nose is ruining their lives. Also those who have had private elective plastic surgery that has gone wrong should elect to have it repaired at their own cost not expect NHS to foot the bill..
Charge all foreign patients unless we have reciprocal agreements with their country of origin and in advance of treatment unless it is a life threatening situation.
My last plea is to bring back the old fashioned Matrons. We do have superb, underpaid nurses who have a very high standard of training but who are being overworked in many cases. There should be a secondary staff, also well trained but more simply, who could undertake the less medical duties under a Matron. A Matron could also oversee the general standard of cleaning within her/his wards as they once did. I accept that this requires more funding so see my fist sentence! Rant over for now!!
You can ask ur pharmacist for advice as well..
Also they must prove that they have sufficient founds for further expenses. Why should we have to increase NIC to pay healt tourism. All doctors surgery should do the same. Tax payers are fed up watching those sponges reaping us off.
Ultimately the NHS could do with more money but by the same token looking at hospitals alone, regardless of how we value our Doctors and Nurses, there is one heck of a lot of bad management, wasting money, wasting time. just so much bad organisation.
Also hand outs to Doctors from the Pharmaceutical Companies to try this drug or that on those who may just be gullible enough to be their guinea pigs.
Lionel my fault. End of address should read 3xAPncQp8WJo6w
As you can see the capital "O" should be a "Q"
Regards...........Alan
As you can see the capital "O" should be a "Q"1
Regards...........Alan
I am organising an e-mail petition to Parliament, which will read as follows:-
“Cut foreign aid, and use all the monies saved to help the NHS,
It is obvious that the NHS requires more financial help. This extra financial help could come from cutting the foreign aid budget.”
I need the endorsement of five people so that my petition can be published: thus enabling people to vote in its favour. I believe that if I can get 100,000 signatories a debate can be forced in Parliament.
Please click this link to sign the petition.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/177775/sponsors/Tay3xAPncOp8WJo6w
I have obtained the site moderators permission to publicise my petition. I have been helped by Lionel, who confirms he will be one of the five signatories the petition requires.
Should you agree please send your endorsement to the above address.
Many thanks.
Taking into account the posts on here and voiced by the populace in United Kingdom which cover most that is wrong, rectify that which does cost unnecessarily.
My simple posts,as others, are from knowledge, experience and the chance to use free speech.
Also over the same period of time litigation has made an impact on doctors time spent on patients. G Ps must refer for higher opinion. Tie that in with The scanning if you know what I mean.
Deplorable. For every pound of NHS money paid out in settlements there is at least a pound not devoted to patient care. But isn't patient care what the NHS is all about? Or am I mistaken here? Is little Jonnies finger nail, broken by an over worked A & E more important than someone in a ward needing surgery but sadly, theatres are so full, staff so over worked ...
I would say, ring fence the NHS. No further litigation after this night.
What should be stopped is legal companies eagerly seeking claims for little Johnnies finger nail and those people always looking for someone to blame when there is no blame, that is expensive.
If it doesn't work out quite as we expected; if the condition we have is too far advanced for present treatment levels ...
Let's just accept life, life as it is. Let's not sue the NHS because they were less than perfect, because a mistake occurred. Instead, let's just be grateful there are very hard pressed people in the NHS willing, and often, able, to help us.
Gratitude is something which has passed from our times. Instead we have 'rights,' which are not rights at all but privileges. If the NHS cannot restore us to a perfect 'me,' or there is a failure, let's be glad someone was in place to try for us.
Is that too simple a view? Perhaps.
I grew up in a homestead that had 2 out of us 3 brothers born with defective urinary systems which were detected at birth, but when my parents and I would visit them in turn, 6 years apart, we would hardly see anyone other than the medical staff.
In the large hospital serving our community and others just outside the city, the cafeteria's are rammed, the wards are always full, and A & E is constantly busy. I think that the fear of the big C is so prevalent in today's society, the problem will only get worse...we've not all got it; have we?
One of my few indulgences is reading the online press, most of it anyway. Last Spring, on one day, the Mailonline carried 11 health related articles, four of which were contradictions of others that day. Only this week an article stated crisp chips, toast and some crisps contain a carcinogen and therefore could cause cancer. It's not news! But what is news is that one would need to eat three tons of badly burned potatoes a week to be at a detectable risk. That was in the Mailonline the next day!
I believe far too many people, particularly in the younger generations, have become neurotic about health. Our postman's wife has WebMD site bookmarked. The slightest sign of a sniffle she's checking symptoms and running to her doctor.
In short, there's an excess of information. Information overload, in a limited sense.
Like you I was brought up not to fuss. Victorian grand parents raised me for the first eight years. Yes, I'm well familiar with hot wet crusty bread, as well as Kaolin Poultice and Friar's Balsam, to name but a few traditional remedies. Oh, let's not stop there ... Dr Collis Brown's stomach potion, (lovely), Indian Brandee, syrup of figs (why did that need to be given at night - always meant a midnight trip up the yard in the cold), and a bad gash in my left hand, well, white cotton soaked in Dettol and a needle. Granny did a neat blanket stitch! Still got the scar.
No WebMD, not a doctor for miles and an ambulance would take an hour to arrive from the nearest hospital. But we all survived, tough as old boots!
I believe it is true of the NHS as well. We can't tear it down in one go but piece by piece take down and re-build.
My wife and I shared a similar A & E experience as you've related. Two years ago she was playing with our three Collies on a winter's Saturday evening. She made a mistake. One doesn't humiliate a masterful lead dog in front of his pack. She got bitten on the face. Blood poured. Late in the evening I raced fifteen miles to the nearest A & E only to find the others in waiting were drunks and crack heads. She was still pouring blood, faint and unsteady on her feet, but still they had their turn first.
Now, I'm not criticising the hospital here, no. There must be some order in their dealings at A & E, but an emergency patient pouring blood onto the floor warrants quicker attention than a drunk still slurping from a can and vomiting on the floor.
My GP maintains that there is a tremendous waste in today's N.H.S, and he is in a position to know.
Yes, I'm coming around to the way of thinking that says we must charge for missed appointments etc.
We don't mind paying a small surcharge for prescriptions, no not at all. And I so agree, the NHS must be around for our grand children, my step grand children whom I've raised, when they're our age. What better legacy may we leave them, better than money, what think you?
Do not agree with charging for GP appts, but do agree with charges for missed appointments.
I think a number of us support the idea of the NHS being removed from the political sphere.
I read on an SS forum on alcoholism that recognising there is a problem is the first step. When we recognise and indentify the problem areas with the entire healthcare system we will have taken a brave first step. Without that first step there is not going to be a realistic overhaul and expansion of the HNS services we need so badly.
I am instigating an e-mail petition to Parliament, and need five endorsers. I will not write more as this is not the place to publicise my petition without the agreement of the site moderators. Once I get the 5 endorsements my petition will get a website. If I get 100,00 signatories Parliament must debate the petition: this may be a way forward. My MP just sends a "template" reply.
Please, nettap, if you care to Private chat with me, I'll be very pleased to support you and endorse your petition. It is not a good idea to put private email addresses on a public forum, so, again, use chat. I'll look out for you.
Perhaps I may put it this way: first, identify the enduring weaknesses and strengths, through the eyes of NHS staff and the public.
Rigorously search out anomolies in sound performance in every area.
Perform a brutal assessment of expenditure. View the present situation in the light of both known and estimated demographic changes and additional burdens through malnutrition, bad life style choices and any other factors.
Bring each part of this assessment into a cohesive whole and lay out a way forward, with realist expenditure.
Could all this be achieved in three months? I think it could if judges, politicians, accountants and other top management were not consulted.
It is then for government then to come up with the funds.
maybe open an on-street drop-in shop for health care;
cut nursing hours to 7 1/2 hours rather than 12 hours and therefore employ more nursing staff.
People using A&E as a Dr's surgery for minor ailments should be Charged £20 for treatment, and people with alcohol and drug addiction should be turned away unless it is life threatening. It is their choice to get in that state in the first place and the NHS should not have to be held responsible for their lack of discipline.
I would stop the methadone programme, that is just a substitute and does not break the habit and is costing the country a fortune. I would legalise drugs. Thus getting rid of drug barons and let the addicts get on with it. As I said before it is their choice.
I would try to employ more nursing stagg, this in turn would reduce the ridiculous pricing by companies supplying bank nurses. It s time to stop this softly, softly, regime and get tough again.
Reduce the ridiculous amount of paperwork required -ensure doctors can refer straight to a specialist if necessary .
In the West Norfolk area I came from we had a main hospital in Kings Lynn, about fourteen miles away. There was a doctor's surgery four miles away in the nearest market town with two doctors. They made home visits and one conducted a surgery in a village pub every Tuesday.
In that market town was a cottage hospital. Instead of blocking beds in the main hospital, elderly, and other patients, were taken there for rest and recuperation when unfit to be returned home. I spent a few days there after falling out of a tree into a shallow river at ten years old.
Sadly, a now long past review some wealthy bureaucrats found these cottage hospitals to be too expensive and without a defined purpose within the new framework they were putting forward. A Socialst government accepted that and very closed many.
These cottage hospitals freed up beds for patients needing urgent attention. I doubt a case of bed blocking for two years (recently in the press) could ever have occurred.
If it were left to me, and it won't be, I would establish cottage hospitals around the country; a dozen beds, supervision by local doctors and care staff could be used in place of so many highly qualified nurses. That would relieve bed blocking!
*A review of management in hospitals is urgently required. Hospitals are over run with managers.
*Existing staff are not paid there own pay scale to work overtime so won't work to cover shifts leaving no option but to pay agency staff at a considerable higher cost. Pay existing staff more and reduce costs to agency.
* Health and social care services cannot continue on the current provision. There needs to be more access out of hrs and public holidays.
* Costs providing transport home for patients needs a drastic review. Patients and families expectation is that transport should be provided at no cost. Transport should only be escalated to nhs providing once family or other means have been explored. Only vulnerable and unwell patients should be provided with transport home from hospital.
*PFI hospitals should be scrapped. These will and are proving to be counter productive to saving costs
* Legal tax evasion should be stopped and increased revenue used.
* Money used for delayed discharge should be diverted to opening more beds. Throwing money at delayed discharge is not going to solve the problem of an ageing population that is increasing the demand on the NHS.
* local authority care homes and step down step up beds are required to prevent admission and for discharge from hospital once medically stable.
* Nationwide campaign to educate the public on the correct use of AE to prevent unnecessary presentation.
I could go on.............
Just a few thoughts from a recently early retired nurse where capacity meetings on a daily basis sums up the need for actual beds.
Truth or Fiction?
I'm afraid it's fiction, make it a part truth.
Staffing - staff should be completing 'exit interviews'. They are leaving in droves (and I include friends and family members in this) because they are unhappy. Why? And who on earth would want a job with a one year contract? People have mortgages, rents, etc., etc. You cannot run your life when you know as soon as you start a job, you will need to be looking for another one.
Trained nurses are in the minimum because care assistants are cheaper. At one time the ward had a sister, probably three staff nurses, and one auxiliary (care assistant). Attention was pain to the detail of the patient care.
Recently in for a knee replacement, drug rounds were often delayed for two hours, medication that should be given prior to meals, was not, and of course pain relief was an issue too. On day three I was told I could go home and at lunch time while eating lunch a nurse carrying fresh bedding and the next patient for my bed, carrying her surgical gown etc., were standing at the foot of my bed waiting for me to eat lunch, get dressed, pack my things - and finally, without finishing lunch I was in a wheelchair half dressed and off to the 'departure lounge' where I waited three hours for drugs from the pharmacy - also overstretched.
I speak as someone who worked for the NHS for 37 years.
Our culture also appears to suggest a number of people firmly believe there is a 'pill' for every ill. I have lost count of the number of people who have become verbally aggressive when not given antibiotics for their 'sniffle'.
No organisation as large as the NHS, the largest employer in the UK, can survive without layers of managers, and it is treated as a business that looks at all the areas you have mentioned. It is probably because it is treated as a business that layers of management have evolved. Plus all political parties use it and all public services as a bargaining tool and constantly set measurable, but not necessarily attainable, targets for their own purpose.
As a business the largest cost is drugs and yes they should be looked at, but pharmaceutical companies are profit making companies and thus not totally altruistic in their approach. The second largest cost is staff.
As for GP's I agree they should look at the service they provide but many do. I'm lucky, my practice is always reviewing its service and involve patient groups in that review but in general we, as patients, also have a responsibility. As an example, at the moment the practice I use has one GP on maternity leave and one on long term sick leave. They are unable to get locum cover because there are insufficient GP numbers out there. Add to that they receive approximately 140 'urgent' calls every day for a same day appointment but from the 1st January alone have had the equivalent of 4 days missed appointments, for either a doctor or nurse.
I suggest that next time the government announce the billions of pounds they have given to the NHS, we all ask the question "How much does that mean for every hospital and health centre in real terms"? It is estimated that Type 2 diabetes costs the NHS 1 million pounds per day and that is just one chronic health disorder without considering acute services.
If we want changes surely we, as the public, have to give our support to the NHS rather than constantly deriding them for not meeting our demands. You need more than doctors and nurses to run a health service.
I don't have an answer to the problems but do recognise it will get worse as more and more people use it. I agree that throwing more and more money at the service won't solve the problem because each year all costs increase. There is so much emphasis put on the front door without recognising it's the back door causing a problem.
Invest more money being sent as foreign aid.
Employ more GP's and then they can stop moaning about how many hours they work and their workload can be more easily shared. They get paid huge salaries so let them earn it. There are days every week where they are closed for staff training. No weekend appointments. If you want an appointment. you ring the surgery first thing in the morning and so does everyone else. You can't get through and give up. If you work you try again at lunchtime to be told all appointments have been taken and ring again tomorrow. It's no wonder people go to A&E.
In addition, those of us that do pay in simply don't pay enough for complex modern healthcare.
The final point is that the NHS is inefficient, simply throwing money at it will never solve that.
Why do people try to blame anyone from overseas for the problems within the NHS, it is far more complex than that.
Stop dealing with drunks and drug addicts at A&E
Treatment for victims of crimes of violence should be passed onto the guilty persons to pay the NHS this can be seized property and goods to the value of treatment given.
this system can be also be used to deal with any injured victims of drunk driving.
Stop all overseas aid
Cut the number of managers in hospitals and in health centres.
Stop giving free prescriptions to people for Paracetamol when it costs pence for a box over the counter.
There's been a serious misconception about the NHS. Under Blair they were pushed into running themselves as a business. Too many private contractors were brought in. They offered inferior services and made a profit. There cannot be a profit in the NHS! Simply, it is not a profit making concern.
A close look at the entire set up is needed, from Hospitals, A & E, G.P.'s and care services. A close look at supply companies and their rpices, Big Pharma and what it is charging. There must be a tight integration of the NHS with care services. I was in the care industry for some years and know first hand how disjointed the entire system is.
I would suggest the review be conducted not by judges, Civil Servants and the like, all of whom have a vested interest, no, not them, but a body of ordinary people, well used to the work place. Afterall, the NHS serves mostly ordinary people, like me.
And funding? What are your thoughts Ginntonic?
I think MPs should take themselves into local pubs etc., and just listen to the world being put right by the general public. Among the rubbish talked after a few beers - there are a few gems.
I agree with you that the problems in the care industry are causing a bottleneck in the NHS, and old people are getting the blame for living too long!! Let's keep going.
Republic of Ireland, consequently, surgeries and health centres are not full of people with minor complaints. Every one does pay into a Health system,,and claim for
treatments,, as they do if they have a car accident.
Pensioners are not charged for anything, and ,having lived in southern Ireland for a number of years, I found
nothing but excellence from every arm of the system.
People did not travel from across the world for free medical attention, because it is not available to them
the U. K treats every one and anybody who sits in an A&E department. And,,, the whole world knows about our FREE to all comers system, which, will sadly collapse , has to be stopped,
Picking up a point you made, over many years I've been sickened by the young mums crowding waiting rooms because little Jimmy has a sniffle, They feel the need to see a doctor when common sense and their mother's experience would serve them better.
You are quite right. Health tourists must not be treated unless they have provable means of payment, and perhaps a significant deposit should be taken at reception?
We live in a time when people think so much is free when it is not. Nothing is free. Someone must pay.
To walk into A & E and get free treatment ... it's not free.
I have three Collies here. They're lively to say the least. About five years ago they were barking at the postman, a friend of mine. My face got too close to my lead dog and he savaged it. Made a bit of a mess.
It was my fault. Having had Collies for then forty years I should have known better. But, so much blood, it was pouring out of me. My wife took me to a minor injuries unit thirteen miles away. No waiting, straight in for treatment. Thirty stitches and getting home made peace with my lead dog. He's down beside me now.
We must pay for that service, yet so many people moan about taxation and still use the NHS.
I have pleaded on SS, with my MP and even with Cameron ... we must properly fund the NHS. This health care system was, and can be again, the envy of the world. It's our NHS, which keeps us oldies alive and well. As best it can, bearing in mind the demands upon it.
It seems to me, a mere citizen of the UK, a top down review of the NHS is needed; to take account of todays demands upon it and predicted future demands, given this aging population. That's not a re-organisation, just a review. That includes G.P. practices, funding, training and the supply of required services. Then our government must fund what is needed and what is projected.
If I believed a hike in tax would go to the NHS and not to general taxation I would support it. But sadly, it may become like Road Fund Tax, just general taxation and roads which are pitiful.
We have now a reforming government, like it or not. If they could enshrine in law a tax hike would be devoted to the NHS for all time I would be well pleased.
The NHS must be properly funded or we oldies will be compelled to tread the Liverpool Care Pathway when that should never have been instituted. It is death by starvation.
So, what we do for ourselves we do for our children and grand children.
It is a case of pay up or die!
What are peoples thoughts on rationing services? Can we really afford to fund everything that is now requested? It is estimated that Type 2 Diabetes now costs the NHS £1 million pounds a day and that is just one chronic disorder without even considering the cost of acute services.
My husband's GP is another matter entirely. You have to ring at 8.30 for an emergency appointment on the same day or they can't see you for 3 weeks - it's hugely stressful, especially if you really are ill.
I had another experience when I tore my calf muscle and called my GP when I got home as instructed by the French Doctor who treated me. It took my GP 3 days to call me back despite the fact that I gave the receptionist the diagnosis from the French Doctor. Then, eventhough the injury was several days old, he told me to go to A&E and refused to see me! I think it was because he'd been so bad at getting back to me that he was worried that if I had a thrombosis he would be liable.
It's no wonder the hospitals can't cope!