How Can We Save the NHS ?

[LuluJakey1]

Just that. I am interested- having been discussing this with DH, SIL and BIL tonight (we get a bit wild here on Saturday nights)- in what your thought are on how we save and protect our wonderful NHS so it remains 'free at the point of delivery' to all citizens and continues to provide high quality, cutting edge health care as well as more mundane but very necessary healthcare.
This is what we came up with as ideas on the basis that it will inevitably cost us all more and should if we want to protect it. We (DH and I) do, we don't want to see it privatised and us all having to have health insurance and ending up like America.

1. Remove some common items which can be bought cheaper at the chemist without a prescription from being available on prescription eg calpol, paracetemol, asprin, E45 and various creams etc. There would be a list.
2. Every person over the age of 18 to pay a yearly one off NHS flat rate charge of £200. No exceptions. Deducted at sources - wages or benefits or pension. Anyone under 18 to pay £100 (parental responsinility to 18)

On the basis of some stats we found from the National Data Office online, there are 15.6 million under the age of 18 and 52 million over the age of 18 . If we work those figures that would raise almost £12000million every year. OR We all pay an NHS monthly contribution based on our family size and income eg 1% of salary per family member and 2% for any family with an income of more than 100,000 but everyone pays, no exceptions. OR We pay £10 for each visit to a GP and £100 for each hospital stay, flat rate, prescriptions on top.

1. No one working in an NHS hospital or as a GP should earn more than £150,000 a year - this is to stop the ridiculous salaries of NHS Trust Executives.
2. Deals must be done with drugs companies so the NHS is not ripped off by them charging extremely high prices for life saving medication.

5 Plastic surgery, vasectomy, sterelisation, breast enhancement (apart from following cancer) , breast reduction (apart from in cases where it affects health) in fact any surgery done for cosmetic purposes or want rather than a health necessity should not be available on the NHS.

1. Smokers and alcoholics and drug addicts should not be treated for illnesses related to their addictions.
2. Anyone who calls out an ambulance for unnecessary reasons should be charged for that ambulance or at least fined.
3. Drunks should not be treated in A and E.
4. Drunks should not be picked up by ambulances.

Now I know these are provocative. We did not all agree on them but they were suggestions. They were not instead of National Insurance- that would continue.

Interested in your ideas .

Because they don't give a shit about each other in Switzerland, Netherlands, France, Germany, Australia etc all of which have basic public services combined with private insurance?

If "our" NHS was the envy of the world as so many people claim it is. Then the rest of the world would have copied its model. But copy it they most certainly haven't. Not even in communist China..

Time to get rid of it, its a huge, overpriced, lumbering behemoth that is incentivised to waste money, because there's seemingly a never-ending supply of the stuff. Despite the untold billions that have been shoved down its greedy neck we have waiting times for operations that are ludicrously high, jammed packed hospitals, and utterly dismal cancer survival rates.

It needs to be looked at objectively by a successful set of business people but not over-hauled by them. There is so much stuff on the NHS that should not be. It is nothing like what it was originally designed for. Free IVF in a massively over-populated country seems insane to me. I agree with not treating people needing treatment through drink or drugs or smoking...as long as other addictions/mental health issues aren't treated either...like obesity, depression or anorexia. See, not so simple when you bunch in illnesses that generally get sympathy whereas other mental illnesses don't.

Here we go. The posts from the surgeons wife are VERY interesting

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3347602-Are-taxes-too-high

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3356071-the-tax-system-in-this-country-is-unfair-and-penalises-hard-work

Someone on that thread thinks the nhs should pay for malpractice insurance and royal college membership.
As if!
Maybe they should pay the £1k a time post grad exam fees too?
My nephew just missed his MRCP by 1 mark. He will have to resit. There isn't even a pass mark. They just take the top slice and everyone else fails.
In order to practice post qualification you have to take part 1, then part 2, then RC exams. Possibly an extra BSc as well. The NHS couldn't possibly fund all that.