To wonder what's happened to the NHS?

Yes it was always going to benefit investors - and rightly so because otherwise why would they invest? The point is that the contracts were poorly negotiated by people who hadn’t a clue what they were doing. The DoH should have recruited a crack team from the big four to negotiate all the contracts rather than leaving it to individual trusts. If they’d done that they wouldn’t have been so eyewateringly expensive.

I agree to an extent. However, I occasionally scan my local hospotal's board papers. Hundreds and hundreds of pages produced regularly. Rafts of data noting what is wrong and where the risks are, everybody in the system knows what is wrong but it seems that repetitively writing it down is a legitimate aim, whilst nothing ever happens to put it right. Money to spend on navel gazing but not to translate the gazing to doing.

Ditto, review after review after review where standards are unacceptable and probably every patient or parent has provided feedback but it's never acted on except to initiate a months long complaint investigation that results in NHS double speak and recommendations that never appear to transfer from letter to practice.

The issues appear to be worse now than five years ago because the patients are no longer prepared to accept the notion that the NHS is a UK religion that is beyond criticism and for which we should be grateful. We simply are no longer prepared to be grateful for diabolical standards and the people in charge have run out of slither space.

It isn't fit for purpose and hasn't been for decades. Polotically there have been too many stickong plasters admonistered because no party or politician has been prepared to be honest about what can be done for the money under the current model which is not morrored anywhere in the Western World.

I do not think PFI loans should have been taken out. It was questionable at the time by many Labour MP's. You have to work with budgets when you do not their is a price to pay in the future which is what has happened. Services needed improving not just nice shiny new hospitals being built

I would have increased taxes or preferably moved over to an non profit insurance based healthcare system modelled on the German and French healthcare systems, but far superior to our across the board.

Hospitals are falling apart but a significant amount of money is being paid back on loans that are making a few people extremely wealthy, it was always going to benefit investors more than anyone else

Kyle Donahue is alive only due to the medical might and advanced treatment in the USA.

And there are plenty who’ve died in the US who would have lived in the UK and not been disbarred from treatment because they couldn’t pay for it.

There are some people who would have died in the UK but lived in the USA

Falling into the trap of blaming patients is a valued strategy by those who don't want you to think or understand about how the cash cow is being milked while they prepare for change that will earn for those who lobby hardest rather than those who can run the most efficient and patient centred system.

What should us aging retired types do then?

Wastage in the NHS is insane. 5 years ago, I sold nearly £100k worth of light fittings to a hospital near Birmingham.

I paid the hospital a visit, and found that these light fittings were sat unused in a plant room.

The same hospital now wants to buy another £50k worth of light fittings from us, as the previous lights will probably now be scrapped.

What announcements? Public services have always marked their own homework.

You think we shouldn’t have had new hospitals then? The principle was fine, the execution was appalling because the NHS didn’t employ experienced contract negotiators and had shit lawyers so the private providers ran rings round them. Presumably you’d also be wailing if that government had borrowed to pay for them?

Yes but Labour took out huge PFI loans with eye watering interests costs, great for short term voters satisfaction poor for long term budgeting - it was a very short sighted plan to keep the NHS

This had to be budgeted into Trusts expenses some paying over 10% of their funding back to loans

there will be a kitchen/drinks station on the ward somewhere - if you can walk safely you could just go and help yourself?

Our healthcare system is not like America's you will not be asked how you are going to cover costs before/during/after treatment for a start

The failure of the NHS its down to mis management and how funding is managed and areas of lack of investment and poorly managed projects. The money wasted is criminal. Better and streamlined management is needed, better IT systems, more link up with trusts and departments. And to give up on this idea that having free at the point of service is worth it, it isn't as that not is all the NHS is good for we have accepted poor service because its supposedly free

The NHS is crap.. everyone I know (and us included) receive much treatment once you go private.

Just think how much better the NHS will be ( or appear to be) given the recent announcements that there will be no independent or outside scrutiny going forward - the NHS will just mark its own homework! Fabulous. It never makes mistakes so we’ll all sleep safer in our beds.

That’s a reason not an excuse.

There’s always an excuse not to change anything, isn’t there?

They tried to fob me off with no pain relief at all and me having some paracetamol. I had to be firm with them and at the pre-assessment appointment then l was told general was the best option by the member of staff l saw there. Anything else wouldnt be appropriate. So my instinct is it’s to save time and money, if clinically it isn’t a good idea

Health spending increased in real terms under the last conservative government. Sadly though a chunk of that money was eaten up in interest payments on the previous Labour government’s PPI projects. The NHS is having to pay back several times what those projects cost (and entered into in a time of economic boom).

We now have record national debt and are on the verge of IMF intervention that will make previous so-called austerity look like child’s play. We have huge amounts of immigration that despite attempted political messaging is not benefitting us but costing the country billions. Where is all this money supposed to come from? And why do you think throwing money at a failing enterprise would work?

The OP was describing GA vs spinal for a procedure that could be done with either - there’s not usually masses in it in terms of cost, especially if a patient wants sedation with the spinal (and clearly a failed/abandoned spinal costs more because you have both the cost of both that and the GA). There is usually quite a bit to be gained in terms of patient outcomes in avoiding a GA when there is an alternative and that is why we will often suggest a spinal. There is an environmental benefit in spinal over GA but most patients couldn’t care less about that. In nearly 20 years anaesthetising I can’t think of a single time I’ve ever thought about not doing a GA to save cash.

I work for the NHS and there is a huge amount of bureaucratic waste. So many restructures, redesigns, renames... All of it involving vast amounts of man power, just imagine the time taken by thousands of people changing the organisation name in their email signature. It’s a huge waste of money.

So many enormous projects begin without any real planning and end up floundering. The dissolution of NHS England (NHSE) is a great example of this. It was started due to alleged overlap between NHSE and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), however no significant overlap has been identified over 12 months later. There are now huge numbers of staff leaving with big redundancy payments (many of whom are close to retirement) who’s jobs will have to be filled as the organisations cannot function without these people.

This isn’t the only issue in the NHS, but it’s significant.

I'm always surprised that people are surprised by this.

Had too many horrible experiences with nasty, lying nurses and midwives on the NHS to want to dwell on. Especially when my mum was terminally ill in hospital.

Have met loads of absolutely lovely and amazing NHS staff, too.

'What's wrong with the NHS?' Well, it may be under-funded and badly managed but I think it would be a much better and nicer experience if all those who worked in it listened and were kind, supportive and polite. I work in hospitality, many long hours and busy days with rude, demanding guests but I'd lose my job I if spoke to them rudely, or lied to them (as I have been by NHS employees). My name would be all over TripAdvisor. But, we all know that some NHS staff get away with rudeness and lies - are often even supported by colleagues in it - and that is toxic and the reason I did not 'clap for the NHS superheroes' during COVID.

I hope you get better soon, OP.

It was undefunded by the Tories for so many years it will never recover. Same as our schools and care systems.Tories are all about giving more money to individuals, especially the rich ones, and removing it from services. That’s fine if you can go private but not for the majority. We need to pay more taxes to get our public services back to where the should be. That would benefit all in society, but rich people don’t want that.