The NHS is collapsing - what can we do?

[FedUpWithTheNHS]

First of all, I am not interested to do more bashing on GPs, NHS, nurses and whatnot. I sincerely do not think the issue is with them. So let's leave it at that.

But I have been trying to get some support for myself and struggle to get anywhere.
I have family members who have been waiting months, turning into years for severe issues and they are left in pain and scared.
I read threads on here (the one on sepsis, cancer scare etc...) and it's more of the same.

The system is collapsing but there isn't a private sector to pick up the pieces. I had to wait 4 mnths to see a cardiologist privately.... And now another 6 weeks to be able to have the prescription from my GP (At more than £100 per month, I just can't afford to get said prescription privately).
It very much feels like we are left to die, from no healthcare, tbh.

So far, I have written to my MP.
I am supporting groups working against the 'privatisation of the NHS'.
I'd vote Labour but tbh, just now, I can't say theyve filled me with confidence they will actually do what is needed. Which is increasing funding and ensuring doctors and nurses are staying in the UK and the NHS (at the very least)

What else can I, we, do?
I feel like we need to start shouting. LOUD. Very loud. But I am at loss as to what else I can do :((

The rot started with whoever set the limit on how many students could go through university to train as doctors

@curtainsfringe you have a good point about the care system,

The care system as ALSO collapsed. It’s not under tte NHS stuff but down to local council,etc….
Except that hospital can’t release patients that don’t have a care plan in place so they end up ‘clogging’ beds in hospital instead.

But yay, no funding fir the care system either. And no one to do the caring (thanks Brexit)

We need more people contributing through work.

The benefits system needs an overhaul. This isn't a benefits bashing post but there are people that are relying on the state when it isn't necessary.

More initiatives to assist people getting back into the workplace are needed.

The NHS also need to be held accountable for their mismanagement of public money.

I don't watch that show so cant comment on the ailments people are being sent away for, but I do think there's a poor attitude towards pain and illness. I call it the Culture of Suffering, where you shouldn't expect any proper medicine until your near death.

More than once I've experienced (persoanlly ot through my work with children) being fobbed off repeatedly with 'take a paracetamol' and 6/7 weeks later the condition has worsened and has needed a hospital stay or weeks off work to recover, when maybe some antibiotics would have done the trick. You end up on them anyway, just have prolonged suffering

You can buy 90 at a time if you ask a pharmacist. There is no reason to have it prescribed.

The issue is not about the Tories ignoring or sideling the NHS (and indeed other public services). This is a deliberate policy based on their political dogma. They believe in capitalism, competition, privatisation and the NHS does not suit their beliefs.

They do not understand or endorse the concept of service. It is not a part of their mindset. They WANT the NHS to be private - it is not a casual spin-off of their investment decisions.

The idea that investing in public services as a way to kick-start the economy through greater spending power whilst at the same time improving the quality of people's lives is completely lost on them. They are bound by their dogma.

Even if the public finally see the light and reject them at the next election, no new government of whatever colour will be able to resuscitate the health service as it will be like turning round a juggernaut. Ditto education, ditto the railways etc. etc. It has all gone on too long.

So are Australia, Germany and France….
We all have ageing population.

( note that whilst it's rare that any specific persons illness can be fully attributed to their choices, at a population level the effect can be huge )

I think this is quite a dangerous message. Many people have health issues despite healthy lifestyles.

Health isn't necessarily about money. You can live a healthy life without lots of money but it does take effort.

People do all sorts of things which are bad for them. Maybe in the next 10 years genetics will be the key to health, because it's the greatest determinant of what your health and life will be like. Except perhaps for being overweight or obese which is definitely a route to long a worse outcome.

@FedUpWithTheNHS Why are you paying £100 a month on prescriptions....have you looked at buying a pre-payment certificate?

👏👏👏👏

@FedUpWithTheNHS the collapse of the care system is having huge ramifications on the nhs & then we have the huge demographic shift coming. It's a mess!

All very well but do you really think that if patient numbers were halved that budgets would remain the same?

Plus it’s very difficult to do those things if you have a crappy life. Have you not heard of the experiment with two groups of rats? One group in a lovely cage, lots of entertainment and nice food and the other in a bare cage with the absolute minimum needed to maintain life. Both were offered cocaine, only the rats with the awful life became addicted.

I said this last week, but if you have a society of people with crap lives and then you take away the security of free healthcare, those people are going to need even more comfort from food and drugs.

I used to think that life was this simple too until I went through fifteen years of major challenges. I’d think “Why don’t they just eat healthily like I do?”. I admit that I still have a tendency to think this way but now I tell myself to shut up!

We need more people contributing through work.

The benefits system needs an overhaul. This isn't a benefits bashing post but there are people that are relying on the state when it isn't necessary.

What like pensioners? Unemployment figures are low!!

Also worth remembering that socio economic factors include poverty.
Tge poorer you are, the wires your health is. So really on the list of ‘good lifestyle stuff to do’ we should include,
DO NOT BE POOR

Having seen that the overall worth of the ciuntry and GDP is in the way down and we are getting poorer and poorer vs our European counterparts, what will that mean in 5 or 10 years time!

Not long ago I was charged for a box of 10 nebuliser doses each of 2 different drugs when I was in the GP surgery having emergency treatment prior to being transferred to hospital by ambulance - I had 1 from one box and 2 from the other. I presume the other doses were put in their stocks ready for the next patient who has breathing difficulties to be given them - and be charged for 2 prescriptions? As it happens I didn’t specifically pay as I choose to purchase a prepayment certificate as I’m on 7-8 different drugs each month plus emergency prescriptions when unwell so makes better financial sense for me!

@FedUpWithTheNHS But older people won't vote to pay more here that's the point. They want their inheritance to go to their dc or whatever.

We don't even have to go to the extreme of the US. Even if we did a funded system like with dentists, where we pay for service but it's not as pricey as going completely private, you're still struggling for an appointment and the service is basic.

I even enquired about registering as a private patient with the dentist, and was told he only does private work once a week! What's the point of that?

Also, I'm wary of privitisation of the NHS, when privitisation of Royal Mail and National Rail has been so shit.

Health isn't necessarily about money. You can live a healthy life without lots of money but it does take effort.

For many it also takes time & headspace...

There was been some fascinating studies on ‘social prescribing’ where people were prescribed gardening, bridge club etc… basically a way to bring community together and fur people to nit be isolated anymore.
Each time , the number if GP visit and A&E viseurs went down.

So i suspect we also have a major social problem.

Also worth remembering that socio economic factors include poverty.
Tge poorer you are, the wires your health is. So really on the list of ‘good lifestyle stuff to do’ we should include,
DO NOT BE POOR

Absolutely but the attitude shows why things won't change.

Tbh not posting symptom anxiety online that them has everyone worried would probably help...

Social prescribing makes me laugh. It shows how inherently lazy and unmotivated people are to make change off their own back, but when a health care professional "prescribes" it they join in with a whole heap of enthusiasm.

The problem isn't the NHS the problem is societal laziness.

Who do you recommend we should vote for ? Who will fix the NHS ?

I'm not knocking social prescribing it seems like a brilliant programme! I just think we need to look at the whole picture in order to fix the NHS