To wonder what's happened to the NHS?

The cost of collecting a small revenue like this will be much more than the benefit- this has beenn demonstrated in countries time and time again.

It’s awful. They are not recruiting in several Trusts now. It’s the management that I see as an issue and that includes support functions like housekeeping and facilities. The actual clinical staff are generally good but they are working in a terrible culture and with lack of decent equipment and facilities and have to do lots of non clinical tasks which detract from their core role.
I don’t think they need to pour more money into the system but they need better leaders and better support functions who see their role as creating the very best environment for clinical staff and patients rather than depleting everything or not being bothered.

The good old waiting for the pharmacy.

It’s absolutely infuriating for the patients and blocks beds for the hospital and it keeps going on.

The awful thing - like most things in this country - is that the Government of any colour will not admit it's a mess and won't even instigate some relatively simple rule such as a 5 / 7/ 15 pound payment to see your GP - I suppose a Gov will insist you can't possibly do this because the unemployed/ those on benefits/ those with children / etc can't afford it. It's the cry with everything but the whole lot of us are and our country are falling into an abyss. There has to be someone or something with a hidden agenda wanting and trying to destroy the UK that we can't do a simple thing that many other countries do.
And once you set this up (perhaps excluding some people ) the set up can be used for prescriptions etc Most people I know pay for dental care now on a monthly contract and you pay to see a chiropodist, or private physio. There is some availability for free nhs care for those that can't afford it. I haven't seen rioting in the streets over this change.
Are the ones with an agenda to destroy the country in Gov?

Depends on what the problem was a bit - it’s not always that clear. Risks and benefits of spinal vs GA are different for different operations/medical circumstances/stages of life. Realistically there aren’t many people who can ‘never’ have a GA for anything, but it does need someone to review the scenario at each presentation to decide what is the safest option. For something like a difficult airway/one of the rare reactions to GA drugs then the patient does need to know because that’s more likely to be a recurrent thing, but if it was just something like low sats/BP or whatnot then that’s less useful and the decision re what’s safest the next time depends on the exact circs the next time.

The system wherever the OP is seems to work well for anaesthetics at least if the anaesthetist on the day had been able to access the old chart, spot the problem and make a plan based on the current operation (even after a previous failed spinal it is often still reasonable to have another go if getting it in would be the lowest risk plan). Problem with telling people they’ve had this-or-that problem with a GA is that whatever we say they often seem to take away that they can ‘never’ have a GA for anything and then they don’t present/get referred for things that they could easily have done.

They can have as many as they want. Their purchase of it actually helps to pay the wages of those make it.

Wealth corrupts. There are other values in life. The level of wealth in modern times is just unaffordable for the planet. How many superyachts does a billionaire actually need??

And the level of inequality it leads to is staggering. The poverty in the US is unbelievable for such a rich nation.

Wealth is good.

Yep staff see this and similar tales. When we talk about entitlement of patients we are not kidding. Some out there genuinely believe the y are entitled to live like this and face no consequences to their health, because it’s their ‘choice’ not to!

Yes. Britain copies America and follows its cultural developments fairly closely. We copied their attitude to wealth, we copied their privatization program, their extreme consumerist program, we copied their material culture, we even had their looks imported - plastic and large. I remember when working class culture used to laugh at the American culture, but the working classss have been disadvantaged ever since the 80s. So, surely everyone can now see the level of open corruption there, and one would hope that sensible people would reject that culture. But of course it’s an insanity.

So, I trained as a nurse qualified in 1997, worked in cardiology an left as a then band F some years later and retrained and have worked in Frontline child protection ever since. If you want functioning public services they need to be funded. Years of austerity and outsourcing to private companies backed by middle eastern wealth funds means lots of public services have been privitised via the back door. Obviously the answer is to bring them back in house, accept this is impossible whilst paying these companies to ensure statutory duties are met means there are no funds for local authorities/the public sector to achieve this. At the same time, funding from central government has been cut year after year. This is the same for the police, probarion, the prison service, adult social care. We are now seeing years of under investment and not pissing of tax payers/voters. Something needs to change, I doubt it will and we will blame the tiny proportion of the population who are immigrants.

If so she should be told, surely, so she'd know to mention it, just like if you have an allergy you should tell them. I'd question that, so you know the actual details OP. But they do get people mixed up-I had a nurse talking to me about a procedure and they'd got me mixed up with another patient.

I was in surgery last year, it was a real eye-opener. I had excellent treatment and surgery, but the ward! what particularly stays with me was the woman who was claiming to be pain and could not eat. Every time the Surgeon’s came round, she was telling a story that she could not eat or drink. When the Surgeon’s left, she was jumping in a taxi and in her pyjamas to go to McDonald’s and when she was back in bed drinking Vimto and eating salt vinegar Pringles. The surgery could not be conducted because she was so overweight. I have to say it was one of the most dismal experiences of my life and the NHS is dealing with crazy people who won’t follow instructions or look after themselves . I am not surprised it’s on its knees

Trump is in America?

Our own government ministers’ personal fortunes also seem to be growing by the day.

That is irrelevant to the fact that the Tories still took on a country in a huge recession from Labour. You seem quite happy to blame the Tories for the economic problems caused by Covid lockdowns and furlough - things Labour not only supported but wanted more of.

“Events, dear boy, events”

Could it be experiences vary.

I will tell you my son had been diagnosed with a lung tumour. From referral to MRI is was 2 weeks, surgery rapidly followed. His recovery team was excellent, with nurses being outstanding and every single professional who dealt with him being aware of his needs. Within a week he was home and 7 years later he has an active and healthy life. He is a typical 7 year old. Zero health conditions.

In the US children are routinely aborted for my son’s health condition because insurance companies will not cover it. Parents are faces with going into debt by MILLIONS or a prying their baby.

So yes. The NHS has issues. It isn’t perfect and lots of times it falls below standards but it is still a life saver for many. We must invest.

I really wish we could ditch the ‘he said - she said’ of modern party politics and get some politicians who would actually come together to fix our country before we go into total meltdown.

They seem to be able to team up all right to bring us neoliberalism and corruption.

Surely everyone can now see where Trump is leading. The most openly corrupt presidency ever, with his personal fortune growing more and more every day. So much for American led democracy.

The entire world was in recession. Painting it as the result of government ineptitude is simply misrepresentation of the facts. But you know that.

Does it change the fact that Labour handed over an economy in huge recession?

It certainly wasn’t the reason they sold off the gold reserve in boom years when gold was at an historic low.

It was a global event that began in the US. Obviously you know that but it suits your purposes to push an erroneous narrative. It doesn’t wash.

As opposed to the Tories who received the biggest recession and financial crisis since the Second World War from Labour when they went into office?

Ooooh… I love a good conspiracy theory, Hotshitmum. What did he sell for good press coverage? His soul perhaps? I think he is not keen on privatisation of public services.

Starmer had no chance, he was left with a shitload of issues no new goverment will be able to sort in decades. He paid for what the Tories left to rot.

Burnham is a snake oil salesman. Give it time!
Yvette Cooper took £300k from a mogul who’s been given NHS contracts.
That sticks but the MSM don’t cover it.

Baroness Mone defrauded the Gov of hundreds of £ millions during Covid. And so it goes on.

In Peterborough the main hospital was replaced by a new PPI one with several hundred less beds, in an area of huge demographic growth!
I never did think it made sense given the aging population, the closure of cottage hospitals, the closure of the psychiatric hospitals, and the exponential national population growth.

Theres so much pressure from all sides on the NHS and no clear thinking.

Aging population may be under 20% but in average they need far more medical care, are more likely to be consuming medication long term and I’m sure you already know how much a nursing home is likely to charge a week.

I’m sure there are large aging populations around the Mediterranean, which are made even worse by the amount of people from other countries who choose to retire there.

Doesn't the ward have a lounge of some sort? I had to wait to see a doctor for my discharge notes and medication (not in the UK) and they sent me to a lounge, with tea and coffee making facilities, to free up the bed.