NHS

Did you not mention to your son that as we die off, he grows older?

Sorry to take so long coming back(very busy and stressful day! ). The ad. I saw on the tube said N.h.s. It mentioned see a Dr within 24 hours, but I did think it was probably largely via phone or Skype. Couldn't see any small print from where I was sitting!
D.S. reckons that the numbers of older people will decline over the next 20 years, so the pressure on the system should slowly decline (not much use for most of us!) And of course we shall have the effects of greater use of A.I. to factor in. Don't u just hate it when the youngsters have all the answers!!!

I saw a good thing in hospital today:
A greengrocer in the foyer!

"Parsa launched Babylon, a mobile healthcare app, in April 2014.[3] Babylon is a subscription health service provider that enables users to have virtual consultations with doctors and health care professionals via text and video messaging through its mobile application.[4]

Parsa is an advocate of more private-sector involvement in the NHS, believing it improves efficiency, profitability and quality of healthcare.[5] He claims that Babylon " is the beginning of the end for the old-fashioned way we use healthcare" and that within a few years computers will perform better than doctors at making diagnoses.[6]

He was named by the Times among the 100 global people to watch in 2012, and by Health Service Journal among the 50 most influential people in UK healthcare. He was the UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals.[1]"

Wiki.

Set up by Ali Parsa. Remember the name?
He was the first to set up a private hospital, Hinchingbrooke,
which was run by Circle. It had to withdraw from the franchise.

www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/AAAG6526.pdf

This is babylon's CQC inspection.

It's as NHS as Virgin Care.

www.babylonhealth.com/our-mission/

Wow! That’s amazing! Can we all move to London!

NFK. Yes, you can see a doctor really quickly. I use GP at hand, which is an NHS practice but most of the consultations are done via Skype, with a face to face when needed.
I think it's miles better. Sometimes it's immediate, sometimes a wait of about an hour. 24/7 too, which I think is excellent.
It's just a different way (better imo) of offering a GP service.

NFK We can see a doctor within a couple of hours..I call at 8.30 see the doctor anytime after 9 that suits me ..if its an emergency they tell me to go straight down .Sadly Labour deprived us of our A and E a number of years ago and we all know its harder to get something back than to keep it going so its been an ongoing battle with the Labour led Health Authority who have no interest in this area and prefer to spend their money in the city .

I think the 70s must have been a low point for construction. I was surprised to hear that a large 70s building used by several public sector organisations was to be demolished, then I realised half the buildings in the same road were gone. Either something fishy is going on making it profitable to demolish and rebuild, or the buildings which were all built in the 70s were not built to last. Probably a bit of both, given all the concrete, glass and metal single glazed windows.

I totally agree Iam64 the brand new “state of the art” school I started in 1973 was knocked down years ago ( it wouldn’t have taken much) ditto several other 70’s botch ups . A lot of building corruption going on in the NE at that time .

It's interesting (!) isn't it, that many of the public buildings dating from Victorian and Edwardian times are still standing and in good order. The contrast with those built in the 70's that are now crumbling and need to be demolished rather than refurbished is stark.
It's the usual nonsense that you save a £1 this year but have to spend £20 before long to replace or repair the building you 'saved' on.
Hospitals are of course, central to this.

The new Norfolk and Norwich Hospital was built by PFI in 2001. Conceived by New Labour it was the first to be built under PFI so being a bit of a trial run and civil servants being the innocents they are, the agreement was bad. Really, really bad and they've now repaid enough for several more hospitals. It was also built with many fewer beds than the old Victorian pile it replaced, the reasoning being that Care in the Community would take over - and obviously the population wouldn't grow any more, would it! I don't blame any government or MPs for the inefficient way it was handled, or Brexit, or anything else. It happened and we've got a lovely, well designed, new (albeit much too small) hospital which we wouldn't otherwise have had. But I do blame the civil servants who should have known better. Should we outsource the whole Civil Service?

Perhaps they can see a doctor within 24 hours. In London. Its a different country.

A very powerful video on the NHS tonight, by the Labour party.

It's probably a private company.

www.londondoctorsclinic.co.uk/about/about-us/

Did it say NHS or GP?

I get really cross when they interview Hunt on T.V and never challenge the false facts he quotes. Why don't the interviewers do their homework? Today I went into London on the Tube and there were posters advising people that they could see a doctor within 24 hours. How can this be?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-42705857/i-m-really-sad-i-can-t-be-an-nhs-nurse

Lots of interviews on here with NHS staff, showing how they feel about their work.

theconversation.com/shortage-of-nurses-in-uk-is-affecting-patient-care-and-threatening-lives-89734

fullfact.org/blog/2018/jan/corrections-jeremy-hunt-vs-ralf-little/

Can't find the source of some of Hunt's statistics.

Me neither. I have enough trouble working out who my second cousins are and I only have a small family!

Still, I know I don't have useful connections in my family that I could call on. Actually, that's not strictly true. Three out of my aunts by blood were nurses and they were useful!

Yes, very tenuous - I have never called such vaguely-connected-by marriage-relations 'cousins'.

Virginia Bottomley and her family are very well connected and she's one of London's top headhunters. I'm not surprised at how many public figures are related to her because that's her family's background. She's quite an admirable woman IMHO.

MazieD no, I don't follow the blog. I was just searching Google for some explanation of why Hunt was allowed to say 'no' to TM.

Jalima from what I can gather, Virginia Bottomley is a cousin by marriage.

Hunt also has another interesting relative – a cousin by marriage. Admiral Sir John had an elder brother, Roland Colin Charles Hunt, who married Hilda Pauline Garnett, sister of one W. John Garnett. WJG had a daughter called Virginia Hilda Brunette Maxwell Garnett – the maiden name of Virginia Bottomley.

Pretty tenuous maybe BUT, when Jeremy Hunt was first elected to Parliament, guess who was the previous MP?

Virginia Bottomley is also related to Tristram Hunt BTW.

The Conservatives are deliberately running down the NHS so they can privatise bits of it for investors without blame.

The Conservatives are doing the same strategy with schools and universities.