NHS - oh dear!

Using private companies to provide care as this gov't has done costs more as the managers/shareholders expect a hefty return on their investment so when the gov't says they have spent more this is where our money goes. Also, they often include the cost of PPE in their assessments.

Labour will have to let these contracts expire but they are going to have a value for money office which I guess will exclude pricey private companies & we'll go back to self managed like it used to be

nightowl I'm sorry to hear of you husband's experience. It seems like a postcode lottery. When I had a heart attack, I was in central Cambridge. I suspected what was happening and rang 999. The ambulance arrived in minutes. I was wired up in the ambulance and told I was having a heart attack, given aspirin and blue lighted to Papworth Hospital, which at the time was still located outside Cambridge, the ambulance reversed directly into the entrance to the cath lab and I was fitted with a stent within less than an hour of my original 999 call. As a result, I didn't suffer heart damage. Quite honestly, it couldn't have been any better. It's a disgrace that some areas are so much better than others, but what we now have is dozens of organisations working independently of each other.

spabbygirl

Using private companies to provide care as this gov't has done costs more as the managers/shareholders expect a hefty return on their investment so when the gov't says they have spent more this is where our money goes. Also, they often include the cost of PPE in their assessments.

Labour will have to let these contracts expire but they are going to have a value for money office which I guess will exclude pricey private companies & we'll go back to self managed like it used to be

Did you mean PFI?

growstuff

Dickens My real problem with leaving a complete reorganisation of the NHS to politicians is that we'll end up with something we really don't want, which forgets the principle of a universal healthcare service - but it will fulfil the demands of those who advocate a complete reorganisation. I think we should be very careful what we wish for.

I couldn't agree more.

Not everyone is signed-up to the principle of universal healthcare.

Growstuff my husband had excellent care when he began having heart problems 20 years ago but not for many years now. I am very much afraid the next heart attack will kill him, for lack of urgent care. Our GP practice offers only phone appointments for everything now, my husband is not monitored for his various health conditions, I feel we are nothing but a nuisance to them. I have not heard anyone speak positively about their GP experience locally. Despite living near a major university hospital and supposed centre of teaching excellence the care provided by our local NHS is shockingly poor.

growstuff

Norah

M0nica The NHS is superb in emergencies, and you will read that a lot on GN, but in the ordinary every day running of the service it is awful. The best evidence for that is the way the private sector is growing. Follow this link to this very interesting Gaurdian article

www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/08/private-healthcare-could-become-a-new-normal-as-nhs-grows-weaker

The tile of the piece, given in the link, really is sufficient.

Brilliant piece!

Why is it brilliant? Genuine question.

growstuff The article is concise in expanding precisely what seems to be happening here. Perhaps excellent rather than brilliant?

Norah

growstuff

Norah

M0nica The NHS is superb in emergencies, and you will read that a lot on GN, but in the ordinary every day running of the service it is awful. The best evidence for that is the way the private sector is growing. Follow this link to this very interesting Gaurdian article

www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/08/private-healthcare-could-become-a-new-normal-as-nhs-grows-weaker

The tile of the piece, given in the link, really is sufficient.

Brilliant piece!

Why is it brilliant? Genuine question.

growstuff The article is concise in expanding precisely what seems to be happening here. Perhaps excellent rather than brilliant?

The fact that private healthcare could become the new normal will not be good news for those of us who do not have the funds to accommodate it.

We may well be able to afford an advanced MRI body scan from only £199 - but can we afford the treatment that might be necessary as a result of such a scan?

Are there healthcare 'plans' for those of us who are elderly, with pre-existing and complex medical problems? I'm not sure they even exist.

But, it's good news for the healthcare industry - which is booming and one, I'm sure, the current government (or future Conservative government) will be keen to expand.

Of course, there will be a safety net for those of us who cannot get health cover and who cannot afford the £thousands for private treatment. However, I think it will be minimal and basic. A government that wants to cut public-spending in favour of market forces, is not going to splash out on such a service.

The article is neither brilliant nor excellent - but it does explain in concise terms what is happening.

Thousands for private treatment!You're thinking domestic pets.Those gene therapy treatments that you see on the news for spinal muscle atrophy or cystic fibrosis, they cost 1 million plus. If that was your grandchild could you afford that? Could you accept that they wouldn't see 30 or / never take a step because you weren't rich enough? NHS does ensure that those children who are highly likely to be cured are given this miracle cure, regardless of income.

Norah

growstuff

Norah

M0nica The NHS is superb in emergencies, and you will read that a lot on GN, but in the ordinary every day running of the service it is awful. The best evidence for that is the way the private sector is growing. Follow this link to this very interesting Gaurdian article

www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/08/private-healthcare-could-become-a-new-normal-as-nhs-grows-weaker

The tile of the piece, given in the link, really is sufficient.

Brilliant piece!

Why is it brilliant? Genuine question.

growstuff The article is concise in expanding precisely what seems to be happening here. Perhaps excellent rather than brilliant?

But anybody who follows current affairs and knows anything at all about how the NHS is changing already knew that. Sorry, but I don't even think it's excellent.

nightowl

Growstuff my husband had excellent care when he began having heart problems 20 years ago but not for many years now. I am very much afraid the next heart attack will kill him, for lack of urgent care. Our GP practice offers only phone appointments for everything now, my husband is not monitored for his various health conditions, I feel we are nothing but a nuisance to them. I have not heard anyone speak positively about their GP experience locally. Despite living near a major university hospital and supposed centre of teaching excellence the care provided by our local NHS is shockingly poor.

I agree with you that GP practices are the weak link. I've had a heart attack and breast cancer over the last six years. Apart from issuing repeat prescriptions, my GP practice has not given me any follow-up care for either condition. Nobody has ever even asked about either condition. I've seen my patient record and they've ticked the boxes to say they have, so I insisted they untick the boxes.

My diabetes care is better, including an annual review. However, the diabetic nurse is clueless about the latest diabetic research and never considers how my heart or post-cancer medication affects my blood sugar or mood generally (which also has a huge impact on diabetes).

Two years ago, I saw a doctor at the practice who was really on the ball about diabetes and initiated various actions, but she didn't stay long. The other GPs look at me with glazed eyes whenever I mention anything diabetic related and just tell me to make an appointment with the nurse. None of them seems to know anything about nutrition.

growstuff, I didn't know numbers, it was concise, well written, informative.

I, of course, knew we both did 4 tkr privately, but no idea total numbers.

Thinking about it, I think one change could be to go back to the idea of GPs being "family doctors" and training them to treat people more holistically. After all, we all only have one body, with the different body parts hopefully working in tandem. We're not hundreds of different parts all working independently, which can be treated by AI and the patient answering computerised questions. That would include a better understanding of psychology and how low mood can impact on physical health. I suspect GPs would have greater job satisfaction too.

Norah

growstuff, I didn't know numbers, it was concise, well written, informative.

I, of course, knew we both did 4 tkr privately, but no idea total numbers.

Fair enough! If people really don't know how often patients resort to private healthcare, I guess somebody does need to make the figures public (not that those who can afford it will care).

But it appears that many people who can barely afford it are seeking private treatment because they’re waiting so long, and in pain, or disabled by their condition. I know one such lady who had waited two years in considerable pain for a hip replacement. In the end she went private because she was in too much pain. She and her husband are certainly not rich. They must have had to dip into whatever small pot of savings they had, unless they did a repayment plan with the hospital.

According today's papers, 898,000 people opted for private treatment last year. A rise of 7% on the previous year.

I am im total agreement with nightowl, except that I would add, that like her we live near a major university hospital and supposed centre of teaching excellence and our experience their, except in emergencies is as poor as that of our local surgery.

M0nica

According today's papers, 898,000 people opted for private treatment last year. A rise of 7% on the previous year.

I am im total agreement with nightowl, except that I would add, that like her we live near a major university hospital and supposed centre of teaching excellence and our experience their, except in emergencies is as poor as that of our local surgery.

Well, that confirms the postcode lottery. I live near a major university teaching hospital and I have never received anything but truly world class care there. It's not my "catchment" hospital, but the nearest to where I live, so everybody from the area opts to go there.

maddyone

But it appears that many people who can barely afford it are seeking private treatment because they’re waiting so long, and in pain, or disabled by their condition. I know one such lady who had waited two years in considerable pain for a hip replacement. In the end she went private because she was in too much pain. She and her husband are certainly not rich. They must have had to dip into whatever small pot of savings they had, unless they did a repayment plan with the hospital.

I read stories like this all the time, which is why I'm curious that somebody I know has had both hips replaced within a couple of months of being on the waiting list. She makes me mad because she does very little to help herself and doesn't do the follow up exercises, so the surgery will have been a waste of time and money.

I live near the John Radcliffe in Oxford, a world class research and university hospital. lik everything in the NHS, in an emergency it is superb, but unless you are blued and twoed there, forget it.

M0nica

I live near the John Radcliffe in Oxford, a world class research and university hospital. lik everything in the NHS, in an emergency it is superb, but unless you are blued and twoed there, forget it.

I can't fault any of the routine treatment I've ever had at Addenbrooke's. Their online "MyChart" system also means I'm always informed.

Thank goodness we are hoping to move to St Neots, that gets us into the catchment area for Hinchinbrooke and Addenbrook hospitals.

I’d take a one year wait to see a neurologist. In Northern Ireland there’s a seven year wait to be seen.

Would that be the Labour Party as Tony Blair started this privatisations nonsense

They are not proper doctors. They are people with a bachelor of science degree who do a 2 yr course at Anglia Ruskin and call themselves GPs. Standard diagnosis are stress or virus issued by over inflated egos in my experience. A huge danger to anyone who doesnt recognise their blind incompetence.

They are in a mess. I was meant to have an operation today, under 2WW, I arrived on time (7am) to find out that I wasn’t on the list. Turns out I had failed the pre op assessment due to my sugar levels (I am diabetic) but no one told me.

Doctors understanding nutrition. This report doesn’t bode well.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8000414/#:~:text=Undergraduate%20nutrition%2Drelated%20medical%20education,of%20postgraduate%20training%20%5B18%5D.