AIBU to ask if you believe that a labour government will go some way to fixing the NHS?

Look, I know you really, really don’t want to hear anything remotely positive about the NHS but the fact is that over the course of three outpatient appointments at two different hospitals, encountering several members of staff I can find nothing to criticise. And I’m a grumpy old bag. I’m so sorry that my experience doesn’t fit your agenda.

Historically they have improved the NHS but I think it may be beyond help now.

No.

No government can. It is really in an absolutely terrible state.

The NHS needs to be removed from politics.

And you know that they are actually working well because you had good care

you know that all the staff are not under pressure because departments are not understaffed, they are not reliant on bank staff, they are not having to wait longer for results, they are not having to juggle patients, they are not having to chase supplies, they are not dealing with patients who are frustrated with the length they have had to wait for treatment

you received good treatment that is not a sign that things are just fine becuase they are not because the long waits, the understaffing, the cut backs that are having to be made, the back log from covid is impacting every area and all departments as it all has a knock on effect

They were always individual businesses. The Attlee government just left them that way.

And it was Labour who privatised GP services in the first place.

No, don't be naïve.

No. Not really much more to say. It will never improve until the NHS stops being a political football which all political parties use to sling mud at each other.

Cardiology in two Cambridgeshire hospitals.

Working fine

like to know what department is working fine in the NHS

that some (and certainly not enough) patients are getting good care doesn’t mean a department is working fine

I think they'll do a better job than the Tories for sure!

It doesn’t need replacing, it needs work to make it run properly. My very recent experience is that it works just fine when you access it, the problem is the length of time you have to wait to get there.

Dentistry is in the state it is because NHS levels of payment are far too low and the range of treatments it offers is too restricted. That’s down to the government and its reluctance to fund it properly.

I think that The likes of you are why The NHS is so bad, and you do agree that it is terrible don't you?

It is supposed to provide a service. The service it provides is dreadful. Look at the state of dentistry in your blessed NHS.

Always judge a service on your own experience, not on some ideological stance, or because you have a vested interest.

My experience is mostly negative, lthough I have come across great individuals working in The NHS. The actual organisation as a whole is beyond help I'm afraid. It is too far gone, and more funding will not fix it.

Now, the discussion should be how do we replace it with something that actually works. That is the tricky question.

We need a brave government to set up a cross-party, multi stakeholder committee that will set longer term strategies and goals, with funding guaranteed over the long term

It's called the 10 year plan, and was written exactly as you describe. It happens all the time, that's what APPG's do.

@Zonder GPs are part time because the hours for a part time 3 day a week GP are already 36 plus.

To be honest, I'm getting quite sick of these sneaky threads popping up all over the place, where a Tory or likely Tory employee/s come on to pretend to ask seemingly innocent questions. Be transparent with people-we see through you.

Part time doesn't mean lazy! That's hilarious. I'm a part time teacher, does that mean I'm lazy? At the end of the day it's the number of GP hours that counts, not how many each specific GP does. Our favourite GP at our surgery is part time because he shares child care with his wife. Does that make him lazy?

Can you really not see that it's about funding? If the surgery had enough money they could employ more GPs to cover more hours.

I think the receptionist at your mum's surgery sounds like a right gossip with a poor grip on reality.

Everybody keeps saying the NHS is struggling because we have an aging population. That's only happening because of decisions that consultants and relatives make about prolonging life. I wish they would think about the quality of life that a person can look forward to, before they make the decision to treat

I think we ourselves need to have a national debate about this stuff, and where money should be spent, and what is a compassionate approach to medical care for the elderly

I couldn't agree more, @WhenIsTheGeneralElection - and for context I'm fairly elderly myself

However if you dare to suggest anything but the prolonging of life at all costs you'll instantly be accused of eugenics on here

Nonsense...... As the receptionist at my mums GP tells me. To many of The GPs are part time. Stop trying to defend the indefensible.

It's a shambles. When they say "an equal health service for all" they are right. It is equally bad for all. It needs ripping up.

Yes please.

I would quite like to have an election to find out. (understatement of the century)

What is actually in the news tonight (BBC) is a story about people of all ages dying in A and E for lack of staff or a timely ambulance.

I don't know if I believe it, but I really hope so. My family can't afford private healthcare and got lots of health issues (also why we can't afford private healthcare as too many expensive pre-existing conditions) so without the NHS we're screwed

On the surface, they did last time.

The trouble is they lumbered us all with lots of poorly built PFI hospitals at vast cost, on uncompetitive rates that we will be paying over the odds for decades..

So it was good for the duration of their tenure and the downside didn't become clear until they were out of office.

Like most politicians. 🙄

Thank you for saying this.

I see the problems in all the public servics and it's heartbreaking, honestly. The austerity generation of children are growing up with no trust in the NHS, or schools, or even police. It's makes me think the 80s were quite nice really, and they were pretty awful already.