How would you fix the NHS?

No more than Blair/Browns "extra" percentage on NIC to "save the NHS". It doesn't have to need a completely new set of rules. Just add a percentage point or two to income tax rates, or council tax, or VAT, or whatever, but ring-fence the amount generated to go straight to the NHS. (If that's the answer which I highly doubt!). After all, Brown/Blairs extra NIC didn't "save" the NHS it all - the money was just wasted on poor decision making.

It's been like that since the inception of the NHS. Most GPs have always been "private" businesses. Likewise most opticians and dentists offering NHS services. And pharmacies.

If you build a new hospital, you don't expect the builders to be employed directly by the NHS do you??

These systems are more efficient. Some competition and choice is good. And people should be made to pay out of pocket for certain bits of healthcare.

By all means spend more.

Vets and Private hospitals buy the equipment and have service plans but NHS hospitals rent equipment and upgrade when new are available

DH is one of 4 people employed to cover the UK by an overseas worldwide company who do this for the NHS.

He says he would rather be operated on in the NHS because the equipment is always latest model and stay at private because they are cleaner and more hygienic.

He also said ideally it would all happen at a private Vet because they score highest for equipment and cleanliness

Okey dokey. How about measles, mumps, rubella and whooping cough? AIDS?

It’s not true that living standards have fallen since 2008. More to the point, every major indicator has been improving over time since 1945, the time you chose as a starting point.

Wouldn't that just be another "tax" ? with another layer of administration on top...

European countries spend more per head of population on health than we do, having done so for decades, so until that fundamental difference is addressed, healthcare in the UK will continue to lag.

Rickets in those born post war ? Polio was vaccinated against from 1955 in 1961 there were only 161 cases worldwide. Yes if you were born at the beging of this period and v. unlucky you might have caught it, but most were vaccinated at school. Again rationing ceased in 1954 when the oldest of this age group were 8 or 9.

Living standards in the UK are falling and have been since 2008.

The NHS should stop being worshipped. We should keep universality but adopt a more European social insurance model.

No, I’m in the right. You’re just spouting slogans.

You re in the wrong and you know it, making yourself look foolish by digging in.

Services previously owned and provided by the NHS, "sold off" into a private company, is privatisation.

Caring on arguing with yourself.

Lost my DGM this year aged 96. She was average aged the care home. One is 104.

The last veterans of WW1 died 93 years after WW1 finished. With the life expectancy increasing, it would not surprise me that someone who fought in WW2 lives until 100 years after the war finished - ie 2045, another 21 years. This is probably someone who turned 18 in 1945 (born 1927) and saw a couple of months of fighting.

Yeah, rationing, rickets, polio, national service, post-war prefabs, the joys abound.

The standard of living has improved for every generation against the last. Financially, the assets held by the ‘blessed’ boomers will pass down. Then the inheriting generation will be whinged at by their children and grandchildren.

I get really riled up when people talk about the war generation as if the old soldiers are alive now. They're not! If you were born in 1939 you would be 85 now. There is no (pre)war generation left anymore.

There are very very few people alive who have living memory of pre-war Britain, they are not who benefited from the property boom. We all know those born '45-65 have absolutely had blessed lives, born at the inception of the NHS, affordable housing, stable employment, consitently improving standard of living.

No it isn’t. Privatisation is ownership of the service or asset. It’s not being a contractor.

When Labour nationalises the railways it’s not going to make the trains itself; the tracks will be made by private steel mills; there will still be catering suppliers; and so on. Will rail still be in private ownership? If so, you’d better tell the government.

No, because these were services provided solely by the NHS, then moved across into a private company, taking the former NHS staff across too, in order to keep the service running.

Thats the very definition of "privatisation" and you know it too.

& Livewell is not owned by the NHS.

Er, why does paying a sub-contracting private company (or even a doctor who practises in the private sector, as do many have always done) to do the work privatise anything? It’s all still owned by the NHS.

I’m not sure that you understand the meaning of ‘privatise’.

That is endemic throughout the public sector... a new fire door plus fitting and disposal of the old door will be very expensive, so its patched because the budget doesn't allow for a new door.

Same with chucking a shovel full of tarmac into a pothole, they know it will wash out again but they don't have the 1000s required to resurface the area for a permanent fix.

To cost save, they buy cheaper quality tarmac, so they can do more temp pot hole repairs......

Err i'm not following your reasoning, you do know what a private company is don't you?

These were services provided by the NHS, now run by private companies... ie privatised....

There is if it helps narrow down what is causing severe pain. My 86-year-old mum had two forms of life-limiting, incurable and aggressive blood cancer and appalling bone and nerve pain that severely affected her remaining months. I’m glad she was allowed scans to see if they could do anything. Otherwise her diminishing number of good days would have been spent lying down on her sofa rather than driving to see her friends or sitting up to play online bridge. Her life still mattered and she still enjoyed it.

I think we should expect to pay more while we undergo a culture change to promote wellbeing rather than sickness. It does feel like a sickness culture prevails in this country, and then the public expects the NHS to work miracles when it’s too late.

Could there be an assessment of care needs that takes place either at a certain age or when there are certain health markers? So it’s not a case of someone finding it increasingly difficult to live independently, then they fall and end up in hospital, get worse while they are waiting for assessments and then can’t cope with just carers 3 times a day by the time that gets sorted, so they end up back in hospital again. I have a relative who wouldn’t admit it, but her house is getting more cluttered, it’s getting harder for her to do things but I feel unless she takes some action personally she will succumb to the last few years of life of multiple hospital admissions. She feels it’s too late for her to change her diet and she can’t exercise so is on a slippery slope.

Hilarious 😆 I agree!
Hundreds of new cleaning trolleys were bought within the NHS Trust I work for, costing £1,000 each. After a few months they realised some of the cleaning equipment wasn’t good enough and had to purchase some “I-Mops” which cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds. This is just a small example of purchasing mistakes made.

They try to save money by buying cheap gloves, aprons, etc which end up splitting. The paper towel dispensers keep breaking but in the past they were simple with no moving parts, therefore, there was nothing that could break/snap off.

They are constantly “patching” things up rather than renewing, which often does not solve the problem. For instance, a badly damaged door - which needed replacing - was fixed by nailing some hardboard onto it 😆

So it’s not privatised at all, is it? Private companies are commissioned to provide services that are free at the point of use. Like the private contractors that have always supplied the NHS, from its start.

Sack the entire management layer responsible for purchasing medical supplies would be a good start - they waste billions…