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Is The Nhs All It's Cracked Up To Be?

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Khandro | 11:07 Sat 14th Nov 2020 | Body & Soul
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This, written by a doctor, is one case only, but one case too many don't you think?

https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/read-this-shocking-account-and-decide-if-our-nhs-is-wonderful/
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I trained as a nurse in the 60s. We did not have trusts, managers or university education. We were taught in the hospital, in class and on the wards. The tutors were all nurses. We had Matrons who knew what they were doing and how to make others do what was right. The problem as I see it is that the running of the hospitals is not in the hands of those who know what they are doing. No one takes responsibility and there are too many outside contractors
No and its treated like something holy that is worshiped and must not be touched or tampered with and when people refer to it as 'our amazing nhs' its ridiculous. Do any other countries worship their health system?
No.
I didn’t need to read the article to give an answer, but I did.
Poor woman.
The NHS does what is best for the NHS, not what is best for the patient.
Too much namby pamby self help nonsense is expected to be done for conditions that used to get treated straight away, and GP’s aren’t interested in seeing you. Not that you can get an appointment within a decent amount of time anyway.
I know someone who cut her hand very badly recently. She was bandaged up in A&E and sent home.
Turns out it should have been operated on straight away. Hand is now permanently damaged.
Don't let TTT see this as he will have a heart attack.

Cases like this happen in any health service in any country and happily is the exception rather than the rule.
It is an UNACCEPTABLE standard of health care.
I'd rather have one than not, whether to be praised or otherwise. It also in many cases depends on individual experiences and areas, any problems sooner or later are ironed out, and answerable to the powers that be.
no, having experience of it's inefficiencies, wastefulness and the like i would say that it needs some serious pruning of top level so called management.
Never mind another boneheaded question about the failings of the NHS.

What about the alternatives?

In the third world, sitting and waiting for 3 days for an aspirin?

In the Land of the Free, mortgaging your house (if you have one) to pay for the most basic medicines or treatment?

Come off it! Our parents, god bless them, helped set up this wonderful system, which with ALL its faults, is still the envy of most countries.

All praise to the NHS. God knows, they do their best under the most trying circumstances.
the NHS cares for what, 65 million people? It's bad luck that one (and doubtless many more) get substandard treatment, and that doctors aren't perfect. But I would prefer not to go back to the days when only the wealthy got good health care (and doctors were just as fallible as they are now).
No it isn't all its cracked up to be but then I think its cracked uop to be too much. Nurses aren't angels, doctors aren't miracle workers and while we think of it as soooooo marvelous, nothing will be done. It needs management but it needs excellent management. I think mostly what is lacking is accountability.
How much does NHS pay for medical negligence?
Read more about sharing. NHS trusts in England paid out more than £1.4bn in medical negligence claims last year compared to £583m in 2008, analysis shows. The NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), which handles claims on behalf of trusts, said it was trying to reduce the costs. It blamed big rises in claims and legal costs from claimants.
it's not rubbish, it is just top heavy with management
A rather unintended (I hope) contribution from Mariana Bell in the comments underneath the article.
It certainly needs an overhaul.
I expect we’ve all been into a hospital and seen how it looks over staffed in some areas, particularly admin.
Waiting to be acknowledged, whilst three giggling young receptionists finish their conversation.
Watching someone moving folders. One at a time. On a trolley!
I think calmck is correct with her last couple of sentences.
Of course it needs overhauling! Gerry Robinson’s TV series some years ago showed that.

But don’t you think this problem is the result of our rotten political system? Thatcher and Blair started this ‘free’ revolution 30+ years back. This is Free Enterprise! This is crap.
The opening sentence "WE are told repeatedly that the NHS, which receives more than £130billion of taxpayers’ money a year, is among the finest public health systems in the world." is an accurate statement of two facts.

The first is that all public health services are among the finest in the world, it's just that they may compare badly with others anywhere on the list from top to bottom - each is one of those on the list (i.e. among). The chosen interpretation is the other fact.

The other is that the UK consistently labels everything about itself as "The Best", "World Class", "World Beating", etc. - it is a firmly reliable habit. No proof either way is desired nor is it welcomed, the "facts" go without the need for such nonsense.

I will repeat a link which I posted on AB a while back - it has been known for years, probably decades that the NHS is well below the best in the world but that has been rigorously ignored/hidden/denied in the way religion pushes away any scrutiny. I have been lambasted on AB as being anti-British for this and much else when drawing attention to the truth. Here it is again
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2818%2930994-2/fulltext#seccestitle190

Recently the veneration had very large numbers of the citizenry clapping on their doorsteps to reinforce this particular belief/mindset while the performance was manifestly falling to new lows. The NHS can perhaps shake off some blame for the deaths of people in their homes (including nursing homes) but were medical staff nowhere near, and if so why not ? But slice away that approximately half of the 50,000+ death toll so far from Covid and ask yourself why such a high percentage of those admitted to hospital came out from there in a box. The NHS has and is failing miserably in keeping alive people who are brought/turn to them needing help to stay alive - comparison with the best performing public health services amply proves this.

In fact, it is very difficult to get many types of figures (again the lack of transparency so common in the UK - by comparison) and I have failed to find out the running totals nationwide for Covid patients admitted to hospital.

I am pleased to see there are people who do not swallow the mantras hook, line and sinker.
// ask yourself why such a high percentage of those admitted to hospital came out from there in a box //

that's a little unfair. the disease was first described about a year ago, and the NHS (along with most other european health services) has been dealing with it for about 9 months. they did know from the outset that it's a virus and as such the only treatment available (save for some very expensive drugs that help relieve some symptoms in some cases) is to help the patient stay alive long enough for their body to fight off the infection. other than that there's still only a sketchy idea of the total damage the infection actually does, but more is being learned as experience is gained.

according to a friend in an ITU somewhere in the home counties, they had expected in this 2nd wave that mask wearing would have reduced the amount of virus load patients were exposed to (and thus how sick they were), but this seems not to be the case. Patients who need intensive intervention are just as sick, and just as awkward to deal with; but the clinicians have (with experience) got better at keeping them alive.
Having seen the huge number of cases in the USA, I wonder if you catch Covid there and end up in hospital, possibly on a ventilator, are you later (assuming you survive) presented with a bill for your treatment?
Can’t see anything wrong, Webbo
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allen //... which with ALL its faults, is still the envy of most countries.//

I don't know which comparable countries you are thinking but not other EU countries. Having a shower one morning I noticed a small red rash on the side of my waist, Mrs K. thought it could be shingles & phoned my doctor, I was given an appointment for 11:am it was diagnosed as the start of shingles & by midday I had taken the first of the medication, certainly preventing a full attack.

Recently writing in the Oldie magazine 'Theodore Dalrymple' (a pseudonym for a real doctor), related that he was unable to get an appointment to see a doctor on the NHS in less than 3 weeks, even when trying telling them he was a doctor.

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