The NHS (National Health Service) Thread

[pleatout]

59 minutes ago, Eurofox said:

Not all National insurance money goes to the NHS...

 

None of National Insurance goes to the NHS.

 

NHS is paid for out of general taxation.  NI pays for benefits

 

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/what-national-insurance-is-for

 

[Captain...]

5 hours ago, kenny said:

I'd pay at point of use if it meant it was available when I needed it.

You are free to choose private options in the UK.

[Foxdiamond]

3 minutes ago, pleatout said:

None of National Insurance goes to the NHS.

 

NHS is paid for out of general taxation.  NI pays for benefits

 

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/what-national-insurance-is-for

 

Ah yes, thank you for the correction 

[Captain...]

5 hours ago, Fazzer 7 said:

In 2005 I ruptured my achilles tendon, It was a Spring Sunday around midday. My wife drove me to LRI. I was told the wait was 6-8 hours. We drove to Kettering and was seen almost immediately. Long waits at the bigger hospitals are nothing new. You’d have thought by now they could have had a better system in place. The NHS needs to evolve with the times instead of spending resources on bureaucracy and non medical staffing. 

Perhaps if politicians focussed their energies on improving the inefficiencies in the NHS and reducing some of the crazy costs rather than using it as a political football and trying to sell it off piece by piece it might be in a better state.

[pleatout]

4 hours ago, Fazzer 7 said:

I remember years ago a documentary about addressing inefficiency within the NHS. I think it was by a guy called Tony Francis a business management consultant or similar. I don’t remember the hospital which featured. But the one thing I do, was that the operating theatre’s stood unused on Fridays simply because the surgeons and consultants didn’t want any interruptions to their weekends in the event of there being any complications to deal with. Please tell me that sort of thing is not still practiced. 

***Sigh***

To run the NHS 24/7 needs a LOT of people.  More than there actually are.  It isnt "beds" or "wards" or "operating theatres" that are the problem.  It's staff.  Not just Drs and nurses but physios, OTs, DNs, the whole lot.  There are 1.3 million of us (yep, I'm one)  that run the show 9-5 m-f plus emergencies evening and weekends.  Imagine how many it would take to run it 24/7.

 

The subject of fridays/weekends.  Some surgeons (stress the some)  leave the difficult patients to then end of the week, thursday/friday.  They know they'll probably have to go  "back in" and so leave them to the end of the week, knowing that they have all weekend to operate if needed.  It's actually much more efficient that cancelling other patients mid week.

 

 

[pleatout]

2 minutes ago, Captain... said:

Perhaps if politicians focussed their energies on improving the inefficiencies in the NHS and reducing some of the crazy costs rather than using it as a political football and trying to sell it off piece by piece it might be in a better state.

Study after study show the NHS to be as effiecient as any other healthcare system around the world. we're miles better in some areas, worse in others but overall quiote good really

 

[kenny]

10 minutes ago, Captain... said:

You are free to choose private options in the UK.

I do where I can.

[Captain...]

2 minutes ago, pleatout said:

Study after study show the NHS to be as effiecient as any other healthcare system around the world. we're miles better in some areas, worse in others but overall quiote good really

 

Maybe inefficient was the wrong word, fixing the problems with over crowding and staffing. The case in point being LRI having 6-8 hour wait time while Kettering had none.

[Fazzer 7]

BBC news just now, saying that some operations may have to be cancelled tomorrow and Tuesday due to operating theatres being too hot. Are they not air conditioned?

[Wolfox]

On 15/07/2022 at 11:18, kushiro said:

 

I watched all of that…. Was quite surreal!!!

[pleatout]

32 minutes ago, Captain... said:

Maybe inefficient was the wrong word, fixing the problems with over crowding and staffing. The case in point being LRI having 6-8 hour wait time while Kettering had none.

UHL is erm...a bit different.  My two pence worth.  From personal rather than professional experience...

Glenfield is second to none.  Staff wise and patient care.

The General is old and tired.  They've been trying to shut it for as long as anyone can remember.

LRI - difficult to get to, no parking, some staff are brilliant but some staff have an "attitude" - patients are an inconvenience.

 

I think everyone recognises your point but its very difficult.  LRI A&E serves 1 million people.  Kettering a lot less.  That said QMC in Notts serves a similar if not bigger area.

 

[pleatout]

19 minutes ago, Fazzer 7 said:

BBC news just now, saying that some operations may have to be cancelled tomorrow and Tuesday due to operating theatres being too hot. Are they not air conditioned?

Some are some arent.   However there's all sorts of issues around airflow, recirculation of air etc.  Aerosol generating procedures have nothing to do with deodorants!

[Captain...]

5 minutes ago, pleatout said:

UHL is erm...a bit different.  My two pence worth.  From personal rather than professional experience...

Glenfield is second to none.  Staff wise and patient care.

The General is old and tired.  They've been trying to shut it for as long as anyone can remember.

LRI - difficult to get to, no parking, some staff are brilliant but some staff have an "attitude" - patients are an inconvenience.

 

I think everyone recognises your point but its very difficult.  LRI A&E serves 1 million people.  Kettering a lot less.  That said QMC in Notts serves a similar if not bigger area.

 

I think my point was there is still room to improve the NHS, but politicians spend more time using it for their own political agenda and not focussing on making it the best health service it can be.

[pleatout]

6 minutes ago, Captain... said:

I think my point was there is still room to improve the NHS, but politicians spend more time using it for their own political agenda and not focussing on making it the best health service it can be.

oh absolutely.  if they left us alone long enough to make the last lot of reforms be implemented before they change it again.

 

I worked with a radiographer that claimed same office, same desk, same white lab coat, 7 different employers.  I was employed by 3 different organisations in 12 months doing the same job in the same office with the same boss.

 

Still bring on ICBs (must admit my mind still goes straight to intercontinental ballistic missiles every time someone says ICB) 

[Claridge]

17 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

Possibly because some Tories would like us to be like the US. 

any proof?

 

[Foxdiamond]

Plenty of articles in the press that part of the proposed US trade deal was lots of the NHS to be sold off

[kenny]

30 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

Plenty of articles in the press that part of the proposed US trade deal was lots of the NHS to be sold off

Been on LBC today that trade talks under biden have never started.

 

So I doubt there is much truth in that.

 

And seriously, why would anyone want to buy it?

[Foxdiamond]

1 minute ago, kenny said:

Been on LBC today that trade talks under biden have never started.

 

So I doubt there is much truth in that.

 

And seriously, why would anyone want to buy it?

I think it was when Trump was in office that the story really kicked in.

[kenny]

4 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

I think it was when Trump was in office that the story really kicked in.

It was one of those stories that has no detail and no source and doesn't make any sense.

[Bellend Sebastian]

14 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

I think it was when Trump was in office that the story really kicked in.

I think it was when he stood up in a press conference with Teresa May and said the NHS would be 'on the table' as part of negotiations that gave the story legs

[grobyfox1990]

1 hour ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

I think it was when he stood up in a press conference with Teresa May and said the NHS would be 'on the table' as part of negotiations that gave the story legs

Surely it would be on the table, its an absolute goldmine. Sack half the staff, operationalise/automate everything, make the remaining staff work 12 hour days and pay them loads, and the next crop of the best kids don't want to work at Apple or a hedge fund, but at Glenfield Hospital.

[Tommy G]

Given its a public service the exec's running the NHS have no real desire to run it efficiently. They are poorly paid vs private sector, have no drive to improve efficiency and make profit like you would in the private sector, incentivised by bonus' etc. 

[Raj]

My sister and I had anv appponitment at General at 1.30 yesterday to take my dad who has stage 4 kidney failure for a care plan consultation.

We got to his house rang his door numerous times, rang his telephone with no response( this is a common thing now as hes getting deaf too- hes about 86)I have the keys so let us in. Basically hes on the floor collapsed.

We ring 999 who say it's an EIGHT HOUR WAIT for an ambulance even though he'd  collapsed and with his fragile nature,(Hes about 6 stone now).

We rang General up to tell them about the appointment, they said we have cancelled it anyway due to the heat and ots now a telephone conference  call but didnt tell us!!

To say we were fuming is an understatement  as my sister drove down from Birmingham  especially.

Anyway we drove him down to AE and 1.30pm, but luckily we got seen and admitted into a bay by 6pm, which I suppose isnt too bad. We left him at 9pm as they said 50 patients are waiting for beds and it could take another 4-5 hours.

I walked around Infirmary  close to get a lift home and there were AMPLE ambulances  in the bays BUT they just dont have the resources when you get INTO hospital. I presume that's why it's an 8 hour wait?

Feel really sorry for the foot soldiers on the ground, the receptionists and initial people you see  at A and E especially as they seem non stop.

is this standard atm for people who work in nhs?

 

 

 

Edited 20 July 2022 by Raj

[Jon the Hat]

On 18/07/2022 at 20:00, Tommy G said:

Given its a public service the exec's running the NHS have no real desire to run it efficiently. They are poorly paid vs private sector, have no drive to improve efficiency and make profit like you would in the private sector, incentivised by bonus' etc. 

Are they? I'm not so sure, especially given they have guaranteed funding and essentially no risk.

[Daggers]

On 17/07/2022 at 21:49, Captain... said:

Maybe inefficient was the wrong word, fixing the problems with over crowding and staffing. The case in point being LRI having 6-8 hour wait time while Kettering had none.

Err…sorry? When? Who shared this nugget of nonsense with you?

 

I can absolutely state there has been no point in the last decade where the wait time at KGH was 0 minutes. Sunday, it was missing 45 HCAs, 17 doctors and a whole host of admin staff. There was not one ED porter working at the start of the day. As a consequence it had breached yet again (an almost permanent condition) and had redirects requests in place to other regional Trusts - one of which was fully staffed but refused. Arguments ensued.

 

Staff can’t be found on whim because *checks notes* we told them all to f*** off with a braindead vote. Cover can’t be brought in because it either doesn’t exist, won’t work anti-social hours or tight budgets were destroyed by Covid. KGH currently functions on the last remaining strands of goodwill it has. It is not a paragon of the NHS functioning normally.