NHS a sinking ship?

I agree roses. The NHS has become unmanageable and throwing bits of money here and there at it isn't going to solve the basic problem.

No party is going to have the guts (or the wherewithall) to do what needs doing, i.e. complete redesign.

It's not the fault of any one political party, in fact am not at all sure it's the fault of any political party really.The services the NHS provides have grown and grown, the population has grown and grown, and it's reached the point ( a while ago) where something has to give!

The Tory government are to blame, they spent money on an unnecessary and expensive top down re-organisation and then starved the system of cash. They undervalued and persecuted Junior doctors and removed nursing bursaries. You might almost think that they wanted to damage the NHS permanently!
But of course as that nice Mr Cameron said they are totally committed to the NHS. (Remember him he was the one in charge before he jacked it in and handed over to that nice Mrs May)
If you were a bit cynical you might think that they were plotting to get rid of it, but they have said they're not and they always keep their promises don't they? (Well except for the one about No top down reorganisation, oh and not resigning oh and a few other things)

I agree that the present Government isn't doing anything to rescue things but I worked in the NHS for 20 years and in my last 10 yrs the then Labour Government were already bringing in private Ambulance Services to take over Patient Transport Services.
As I say I cannot hand on heart trust any of the present Politicians to 'do the right thing'. I could actually weep for its loss as people seem to be so blind to the reality of life without our NHS. ???

I agree with both roses and teetime!

The NHS was never meant to cope with all the expensive advances that have come along since it's inception. Add 'managers' and fear of being sued to the advances in medical treatment and it's no wonder it can't cope. And people expect too much of the creaking system!

I have had good treatment from the NHS in the last few months. I had my cataracts done very quickly and efficiently after referral.
My lungs have been giving me trouble for some time and I discovered that one of the GPs in our practice is interested in respiratory problems so I started to pester her.
Eventually she sent me for a CT scan where a problem was detected and I have had other tests, seen a respiratory consultant and feel well looked after.

The NHS treat thousands and thousands of people day after day after day after day. If the successive governments stopped tinkering with it and heaping on an enormous bureaucratic burden, allowed clinicians rather than administrators and jargon ridden 'managers' to manage it things would be much better.

I can't see how it can continue in it's present form .They have been talking about it's many problems for years without an answer.The only answers are put up Taxes ( not a popular move) or change things somehow , more like other countries.

It's not a sinking a ship. It's a totally underfunded service that is deliberately being destroyed bit by bit. It can be saved simply by a large injection of cash.

Who's to blame? The government. They decided to reduce the funding. They decided to sell of chunks of it to the private sector. Us for not shouting about it from the roof tops.

If we want a free at point of need NHS then we'd better start fighting for it. Look at the election literature. Look who is promising not only to fund the NHS but to fund it sufficiently and keep it in public hands not slyly sell it off and vote for that Party.

Only one political party can do anything about it at the moment and they don't want to.

If we want to keep the NHS we need to ensure they do not get back in on 8th June.
Otherwise it will end up like a US style health service, and you can see what trump is going to do to that.

I agree with you that A & E seem to be just about coping but I fear for the future of this wonderful institution. There don't seem to be any answers to its steady decline, not one political party seem able/willing to halt it's demise.

"are" not is.

"Ambulance" of course

No it is not a sinking ship but the Ambukance service along with A&E are like a lifeboat. And you don't expect them to launch the lifeboats if you got your feet wet in a puddle.

If one needs emergency treatment eg via a blue light ambulance, the treatment is second to none as I have experienced but common and garden problems like getting a joint replaced is becoming more difficult.