To wish I could stop paying into the utterly broken NHS black hole

When you contribute a penny come back because on £30,000 a year you don't even come close.

Gently YABU, however you do deserve better.

The NHS needs reform and a fair few people in it need an attitude change. The treatment my father has received from some staff has been appalling and the mistakes made downright dangerous. The ones that are excellent are fighting against the system constantly.

Generally in an an emergency or acute care, they are good, but hopeless at managing chronic conditions and prevention.

For any reform to stand a chance of working and being accepted, everyone needs to be bought into the system, both figuratively and literally.

“Every month I pay out about a weeks worth of wages in tax towards the NHS,”

Pedant point - your taxes don’t just pay for the NHS. They pay for police, teachers, fire, army, government, civil servants etc. All of which you benefit from by having society not utterly fall apart.

However yes, the NHS is in a state. I’m paying a small fortune to private physio to keep myself able to work whilst I linger 20 months into a waiting list for severe joint pains. All the nhs had done so far is throw painkillers at me and give me no diagnosis.

I was ill earlier this year. I had to get an emergency appointment to see my GP. It involved filling out a long form online so they could triage patients and then I was given an appointment the same morning. The GP sent me to A&E. I was again triaged and sent through to the waiting room of a treatment area within 90 minutes. I was treated straight away and admitted by the evening to continue treatment. Every single person I saw from the GP (who had never actually seen a case of what I had in person before) to the nurses, doctors and care assistants was professional and kind.

Lack of GPs to provide appointments is about funding. Long waits in A&E are about funding. Lack of hospital beds are about funding. Strict limits on the criteria for treatment and bouncing back referrals from consultants is about funding.

This is what 14 years of underfunding has done to the NHS.

We spend a lot less than other counties on healthcare and it shows .

From a quick rough calculation you pay £83 a month towards the NHS.

It’s terrifying. I’ve had good and bad experiences with the NHS.

Two years ago I coughed up blood sent for an urgent chest x ray which showed an enlarged heart which was then referred urgently to cardiology. I waited 18 months to see a cardiologist - I was told 2 weeks I chased it up 4 times. He said ‘you are female, under 50 you won’t have a heart issue but if you insist I will refer you for tests’ - I had the tests 3/4 heart values are failing and I have blood flow back against 3 valves and need surgery, I was told in the letter ‘once you have the tests we will see you in clinic without delay’ despite phoning his secretary 4 times I have been waiting 3 months to see him and I have no date and keep getting fobbed off.

Women and taken less seriously and the nhs is totally broken

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-public-spending-was-calculated-in-your-tax-summary/how-public-spending-was-calculated-in-your-tax-summary

https://www.reed.co.uk/tax-calculator/30000-annually

So 19.8% of the £5,029 pa someone pays in tax (from a £30k salary) goes on health. That is £995.74 a year which divided by 12 = £83 a month.

NHS is not in a good way.

My daughter in law has a brain tumor. She was fobbed off by the GP three times and was told by an A and E doctor that it was her anxiety.

It's a large tumor in her brain that is pressing on the optic nerve (so she can't see well) and on other nerves (so she is having trouble walking and can't type).

No date for any operation no date for anything and she had to go private to get the type of tumor it was diagnosed.

It's scary.

If I got cancer I'd want the nhs to diagnose and treat it not spend six months telling me it's anxiety.

An average tax payer on 30 k uses more from the NHS than they contribute

"Either we have a state funded healthcare system or we don't."

@TheSnootiestFox I completely agree with you here. Either we have a working NHS and welfare system that we are all paying an exorbitant amount for through our taxes, or we ditch and it's every person for themselves and our taxes go down accordingly.

Other countries manage one or the other of those quite successfully, and it only seems to be the UK and the US that struggles with it. We are currently getting the worst of both worlds: taxed to the hilt for a failing system that is nigh on impossible to access. Coming from someone who spent 14 hours in A&E earlier on this week...

"I'm so sorry you're having to wrangle this. The NHS screening going from cell changes to HPV is an absolute fucking joke."

@VotesForWomen and it's something they don't talk about so a lot of women do not even know about this policy change and there are plenty (myself included) who do not need ongoing smear tests from the NHS as I will remain HPV negative. I don't need a HPV screening, I would like a cervical cancer screening which is no longer offered by the NHS if you are HPV negative.

I'd be surprised if you were a net contributor given your income.

YABU - you should be angry with the Tory government. They destroyed our previously good NHS.

So sorry your dil is going through that, myself and your dil aren’t the only women that I’ve heard of that have had cancer and been dismissed as anxious and have had to look to get a diagnosis privately. It’s not on.

YANBU. It’s five years here inbetween smears btw.

@Octavia64 No date for any operation no date for anything and she had to go private to get the type of tumor it was diagnosed.

I'm sorry to hear about your DIL and I hope she will be okay. But just to point out, this happened to my uncle in 1991. He had to go private to get a diagnosis, so it's not a new failing of the NHS.

Exactly. I have no idea why people can't see why the NHS is on its knees.

The biggest cause of bankruptcies in the US is medical bills.

Does that mean she shouldn't be able to complain about a lack of care? Can only the rich complain?

The point is that we are all paying for services that are becoming increasingly difficult to access, and for a growing number of people, we are paying twice as we are having to pay for private insurance and treatments.

Are you happy to pay for a service you cannot access in other areas of your life?

Since it's been shown world over that a national health scheme costs less for a given quality of care than a private system - we need a national scheme

And it's been shown that there is a strong link between how much people pay and the quality of care

And it's been shown that the UK is very tight with health spending

And since it's clear we want better care we need to pay more ... not as much as people in private schemes , but more as a nation

Simple

But with years and years of tories running the nhs to the ground it will take time foro fix

The toties, who would rather a profit making private system - profit out of your pocket if you can afford it and naff all healthcare if you can't

Okay, but what about Germany or Finland or the Netherlands etc etc? The options are not just what we have or the US system.

If I was in a car accident I’d want a functioning healthcare system where I can get an ambulance quickly and not risk ending up on a gurney in a&e for days on end. Also, how do you know she got her ‘money’s worth’ by having two children? Did I get my money’s worth when I ended up with ptsd after almost giving birth on my own in hospital because the midwife on duty refused to examine me or believe I was in labour?

There are good, dedicated people working in the NHS and it does save lives. But that doesn’t make up for the cases where it’s just not good enough and people end up suffering needlessly, whether it’s through systemic failures or staff who just can’t be bothered to do their job properly.

I’m sorry you’re going through this, OP. I don’t know what the solution is, but this is not good enough.

Have you got your Math right? On that income you are not even close to paying 25% to the NHS. Sorry for your situation but don't post you are massively contributing to the NHS, as you are not. Taxes are just not for the NHS, are you going to stop paying them if the police upset you as well, or the school your children use for that matter?

Change your GP and ask for a referral to another hospital. I don’t who you have been dealing with but smears are available to anyone who needs them, for free.

You are definitely not a net contributor to the NHS.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/cervical-screening/how-to-book/