Is it time to stop medicating to prolong life?

[Charl91]

I'm sure there's many other things that could/would be cut before you even consider taking away medication to keep people alive.

[OzFox]

I wasn't really sure how to word the title.

 

What I mean is, the NHS is in a critical situation and I wondered what people thought about the way our society treats illness.

 

We all know the pressures caused by obesity, smoking, alcohol and these are not areas I am asking you to give your opinions on.

 

In my experience, (limited to front-line emergency work, I grant you), it's by far the increasing elderly population that use the majority of our NHS services.

 

Almost all the ones I see are on heaps of medications that help to prolong their lives when, in past generations, they would have passed away from illnesses that can now be treated but not cured. This is the essential point. We aren't curing the conditions the elderly would have succumbed to, we are treating them and in doing so we are extending the cost of treatment for how ever many years the person is on medication or using the NHS services. This will only continue to rise as we continue to (artificially) live longer.

 

By prolonging life artificially in this way we are increasing the finacial burden as well as the workload of a struggling healthcare system.

 

I'm not making any proposal, I just wondered what other people thought.

 

There is no right or wrong. Just your thoughts, please

 

From what I can see, modern medicine prolongs life but beyond a certain point it doesn't do much to improve the quality of it.

 

I just spent three days in and out of an old peoples home visiting Granny-in-law.  She's like the living dead - so weak she can barely get out of bed, lost so much weight her dentures are falling out, covered in skin lesions and bed sores, too confused to read, listen to radio or watch TV. She just sleeps or stares at the wall waiting/hoping for the end to come. The scary thing is, she could go on like this for years. And there's plenty worse than her. One of the old boys in the home recently took matters into his own hands while he still could, tied a load of socks together and managed to hang himself.

 

I can't see any benefit in this kind of medical "treatment" either for the elderly, or the families who watch them go through it. It's a truly bleak experience and as you pointed out, very expensive.

[Monk]

Alright, here's a suggestion. It would be immensely unpopular and would lose the election for whoever tried it on, but it coud work:

 

Prescription charges don't reflect the market price of the drug, but do a job to offset some of the cost of the medication. Do something similar with other parts of healthcare. Charge £10 for a GP visit (and you would see the number of dropped appointments fall like a rock), and charge for standard diagnostic procedures - eg scans etc. Keep operations and ongoing treatment free. Charge cost price for hospital meals. Offer exemptions in exactly the same way as is the case for prescriptions.

 

That would offset some of the cost, and would at least make GP surgeries cheaper to run.

[Monk]

To add to that I do think a fast food & sugar tax would be practical if done properly.

[MooseBreath]

Yes as I said before, we already pay for routine dental treatments, we could charge for routine medical stuff too. Would be deeply unpopular of course but I think that will end up being our first major move to address the imbalance.

Making people pay for self inflicted problems would be the next step after that.

[davieG]

Alright, here's a suggestion. It would be immensely unpopular and would lose the election for whoever tried it on, but it coud work:

 

Prescription charges don't reflect the market price of the drug, but do a job to offset some of the cost of the medication. Do something similar with other parts of healthcare. Charge £10 for a GP visit (and you would see the number of dropped appointments fall like a rock), and charge for standard diagnostic procedures - eg scans etc. Keep operations and ongoing treatment free. Charge cost price for hospital meals. Offer exemptions in exactly the same way as is the case for prescriptions.

 

That would offset some of the cost, and would at least make GP surgeries cheaper to run.

Charging for diagnostics etc could be counter-productive as I'm sure if caught early most problems are cheaper to deal with.

[Monk]

Making people pay for self inflicted problems would be the next step after that.

 

TBH this is fairly easy if it's done by tax. The government already classes goods and services into categories for VAT purposes - we could just levy a higher rate of VAT on sweets, fizzy drinks, cakes and fast food. Could do that tomorrow if the will was there.

 

Charging for diagnostics etc could be counter-productive as I'm sure if caught early most problems are cheaper to deal with.

 

You could say the same thing about prescriptions and dental treatment - the balance is found by giving exemptions where needed and setting a reasonable price point.

[davieG]

TBH this is fairly easy if it's done by tax. The government already classes goods and services into categories for VAT purposes - we could just levy a higher rate of VAT on sweets, fizzy drinks, cakes and fast food. Could do that tomorrow if the will was there.

 

 

You could say the same thing about prescriptions and dental treatment - the balance is found by giving exemptions where needed and setting a reasonable price point.

Possibly but so many prescriptions are avoidable anyway if only doctors would grow some balls and tell patients that time will heal many ailments, dental treatment is unlikely to be life threatening or lead to a ife time of medication/care if neglected.

[Webbo]

Alright, here's a suggestion. It would be immensely unpopular and would lose the election for whoever tried it on, but it coud work:

 

Prescription charges don't reflect the market price of the drug, but do a job to offset some of the cost of the medication. Do something similar with other parts of healthcare. Charge £10 for a GP visit (and you would see the number of dropped appointments fall like a rock), and charge for standard diagnostic procedures - eg scans etc. Keep operations and ongoing treatment free. Charge cost price for hospital meals. Offer exemptions in exactly the same way as is the case for prescriptions.

 

That would offset some of the cost, and would at least make GP surgeries cheaper to run.

The only problem with that is that you'd have more people turning up at A&E to try and avoid the charge. I think the NHS should expect a contribution for certain treatments though. 

 

IVF can cost thousands if you go private, I don't think it would be too much to ask for say £500. to be treated on the NHS.

[Captain...]

The only problem with that is that you'd have more people turning up at A&E to try and avoid the charge. I think the NHS should expect a contribution for certain treatments though.

IVF can cost thousands if you go private, I don't think it would be too much to ask for say £500. to be treated on the NHS.

Is ivf freely available on the NHS? If so I would cut that before I start charging for potentially life saving diagnostics and prescriptions.

[Webbo]

Is ivf freely available on the NHS? If so I would cut that before I start charging for potentially life saving diagnostics and prescriptions.

In some areas I believe but limited to 3 attempts(I think).

[Monk]

In reality if you tried to charge for IVF the media would hound you out of office. This is the real problem with the NHS - Dogma.

[Guest]

Is ivf freely available on the NHS? If so I would cut that before I start charging for potentially life saving diagnostics and prescriptions.

 

I understood it was free but never understood why.

 

I think there's merit in a charge for seeing the GP for those who can afford to pay. Not going to happen though so other forms of funding are needed. Income tax would be a good idea.

[Captain...]

In reality if you tried to charge for IVF the media would hound you out of office. This is the real problem with the NHS - Dogma.

Don't charge for it, just don't offer it there are better things to spend money on.