Our bloated NHS - it’s beyond ridiculous now.

We pay 25 euros for each visit to the Dr part of that is refunded. Also 20 euros foe each visit to Urgences - A&E.

vegansrock

Jeremy Hunt got a nerve criticise the NHS- he was health secretary for 6 years and did nothing except put the backs up of doctors and nurses who left in droves.

Got everybody’s backs up. Rubbish Health Secretary.
Nephew of Virginia Bottomley.
Smarmy git.

Surely everyone agrees that the NHS has been sorely in need of a radical overhaul for years, decades.
The reported planned cull of some civil servants may help a little, but I suspect no government of any persuasion would have the courage to authorise the massive overhaul which is required.

Kate1949

Someone close to me works in the NHS in admin. She said the waste makes her blood boil. She has to attend meeting after meeting about nothing at all. They have caterers in to provide their lunches while they waffle one. If their meeting rooms aren't suitable, they hire somewhere.

I read once (somewhere) that in the private sector many meetings are shorter and held standing up. People don’t get too comfy and waffle on!

It’s not support staff I’m talking about (or the Telegraph). I was one myself. A hospital medical secretary, full time for over 30 years. Admin staff.

It’s the bureaucracy. The layers and layers of managers who then report ‘upwards’. The quangos. Those with vested interests to keep the gravy train trundling along.

Actually he did vegansrock - he apparently lengthened the queues for treatment and presided over an unprecedented loss of front line doctors and nurses.

AGAA4 Yes, those good old days. My mother had an operation on her arm done by the doctor. She was lying on their kitchen table while her dad held her down as a pad of chloroform was put over her nose !
Yes and they had to pay.

Jeremy Hunt got a nerve criticise the NHS- he was health secretary for 6 years and did nothing except put the backs up of doctors and nurses who left in droves.

NotSpaghetti

kittylester

I think we all love the NHS but we mustn't allow it never to be criticised.

This is so true kitty

No one is saying it shouldn't be criticised.
But if you want your house surveyed and valued you don't ask the property developer who wants to pull it down to do it.

kittylester

I think we all love the NHS but we mustn't allow it never to be criticised.

This is so true kitty

Will we go back to the good old days my mum told me about when she had to pay the doctor for each visit?

growstuff

Kate1949

Someone close to me works in the NHS in admin. She said the waste makes her blood boil. She has to attend meeting after meeting about nothing at all. They have caterers in to provide their lunches while they waffle one. If their meeting rooms aren't suitable, they hire somewhere.

NHS admin covers a range of grades. What job did this person do?

My sister used to be "NHS admin" at quite a senior level and worked her socks off. Before she retired, she was doing her own job and part of a more senior job which had been abolished, but wasn't paid any more for it. Meanwhile, she had to delegate some of her own work to more junior staff, who didn't get paid more for taking on more work either.

I know quite a few people who have been made redundant by the NHS. There seem to be regular appraisals which always seem to find someone who is considered unnecessary and who can be removed. From what I have heard many people hate this constant checking and find it very stressful.

AGAA4

The aim of the Tories is to privatise the NHS. Not much of a problem for the well off but catastrophic for the poor.

Of course it is! Those who can afford private healthcare will probably do better because they will be able to buy in the scarce resources. Meanwhile, A & E and the rump of the GP service will be left to struggle with the rest.

The aim of the Tories is to privatise the NHS. Not much of a problem for the well off but catastrophic for the poor.

Kate1949

Someone close to me works in the NHS in admin. She said the waste makes her blood boil. She has to attend meeting after meeting about nothing at all. They have caterers in to provide their lunches while they waffle one. If their meeting rooms aren't suitable, they hire somewhere.

NHS admin covers a range of grades. What job did this person do?

My sister used to be "NHS admin" at quite a senior level and worked her socks off. Before she retired, she was doing her own job and part of a more senior job which had been abolished, but wasn't paid any more for it. Meanwhile, she had to delegate some of her own work to more junior staff, who didn't get paid more for taking on more work either.

Lido

Urmstongran

She can’t help herself kitty. She lies in wait for me I think!
No matter.

On those who peddle propaganda rather than facts.

I agree.

The Policy Exchange is behind the initiative to get rid of the current model of GP practices. The idea is to buy out the current partnerships and for all GPs to be salaried. Their bosses would be private companies contracted to provide NHS services, thus providing a nice income for some real "fat cats".

The move would be towards more remote consultations in any part of the country or, as the Policy Exchange suggests, different parts of the world. This would work for some consultations, but by no means all. Gone would be the days of GPs spotting a condition which the patients don't know they have, a smartphone, camera and video facilities would be essential, even for the elderly, the disabled, the deaf/blind and the poor. Patients would be directed to apps and to non-doctor/nurse staff. Patients would have to diagnose themselves and only ask for help if they could no longer self-medicate. Or pay for private consultations.

waffle on

Someone close to me works in the NHS in admin. She said the waste makes her blood boil. She has to attend meeting after meeting about nothing at all. They have caterers in to provide their lunches while they waffle one. If their meeting rooms aren't suitable, they hire somewhere.

Well surprise surprise! It's how to privatise a health service in three easy steps.
1. Deprive it of money so people are dissatisfied with the service
2. Pick holes in it by sending out information targeting anyone (except doctors and nurses the public love them)
3. Sell it off to the private companies waiting in the wings (because of course that will provide better care won't it).

For anyone wondering what care is like under a private system read Barbara Kingsolver's new novel Unsheltered.
There's a character in it with diabetes, an old man who has feet and leg injuries. His nice middle class family don't have the right insurance to get him treatment. It's harrowing but it makes you appreciate the NHS. (They eventually qualify for Obamacare but it takes time)

NHS Ward Clerks earn £18,546 to £19,918 so not exactly fats cats.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the internal markets resulted in thousands of staff being needed to administer commissioning, ie buying in services and awarding contracts.

This, too... Tory 'reform' of the NHS (softening it up for more privatisation by creating lots of nice saleable units))

kittylester

Good post, urms.

I don't see that there was a need post in that manner volver.

Are you disputing the facts?

So this is what I'm disputing...

Right wing media will put a spin on things to appeal to their right wing audiences, some of who have no idea how society works. And many of whom have no idea how to interpret things.

I see that Lido and others have made some good points, so apologies to them if I repeat some:

No indication of how many "front line staff" who are not doctors or nurses are included in the million or so; physios, phlebotomists; medical secretaries, etc, etc.

What constitutes an official? Is my SiL who did the contact tracing an "official", what about the people who keep the IT systems going?

Is it a good thing that former marine who led the invasion of Iraq is going to review the NHS? Somebody who appears to have no medical experience whatsoever? It might be, maybe he has transferrable skills, we'll have to wait and see.

As for Good post urms, its a direct quote from the Telegraph. Verbatim. Cut and Paste. No analysis, no opinion, no critical appraisal.

Urmstongran you are absolutely right. The NHS is top heavy with too many chiefs and not enough Indians. It’s become a sacred cow that everyone pretends is too wonderful to criticise. The truth is it’s run by morons that couldn’t organise a social event in a brewery !
Sixty years ago it ran efficiently and then with modernisation it fell down the grid. For the last ten years every single winter our local hospital ( one replacing about eight that existed in the past ) has declared an emergency over either winter flu or the norovirus. Then came the pandemic which the NHS has and is using as an excuse for ineptitude and moronic decision making. Plus there’s the matter of privatisation - not a recent movement towards it as it was being planned over thirty years ago. How do I know this ? Because a family member was a manager in the NHS. Privatisation is a disgrace. The idea you can’t be seen for months by a consultant but if you pay you can see the same person within days is an abomination. Doctors and consultants/ surgeons who do private work should be made to repay the cost of their training/ bursaries and grants in my opinion.

Perhaps an 110,000 shortfall in jobs might be skewing the figures somewhat.

Of which nearly 48,000 are medical staff.

www.theguardian.com/society/2022/mar/03/staffing-crisis-deepens-in-nhs-england-with-110000-posts-unfilled

The Kings Fund explainer on NHS staff and the distribution of tasks

www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/nhs-workforce

This government are past masters at blaming others.

One day the population will wake up and understand that everything has happened under the Tory watch.

Mismanagement and underfunding on an industrial scale.

When the took over in 2010 the NHS was in the best shape it had been in decades.

Now look at it.

Firmly on the head of this government. The link MaizieD posted makes chilling reading.