We should treasure our nhs here’s why

[Workingclasslass]

As people know there was a CEO of a health insurance company in America that has just been shot and killed.
Anyway I happen to be watching YouTube. I am British and one of the bullets had written on it deny did you know that this particular health insurance has the biggest record for denying claims?
That’s right, people can’t get money for being ill and that medical bankruptcy is a major thing in America right now
I will note that there was no flowers or anything like that put after he got killed. I get the impression that for a lot of Americans they can see this thing coming to happen to these people because they really are adapt at not paying out when they should.
So my point is, yes the NHS needs a lot of work it’s not perfect but I’m telling you now as somebody that has been in hospital a hell of a lot if I was in America I think I would be totally screwed with how much it would cost me.
what are your thoughts?

My GP surgery has merged with 3 other ones, so 4 surgeries now cover 50,000 patients. Only one of the surgeries takes the calls for all 4, so I can never get through on the phone. Even the e-consult on line gets full very quickly and so I can't get a response that way either.

For anyone who does get through on the phone they are triaged by a nurse who decides whether you need a phone consultation or can actually see a doctor in person.

Gone are the days when you could just ring up and get an appointment the same day.

I am very sorry to hear that your friend died of cancer. That’s very sad and I agree it does need sorting out the NHS and yes there probably is better countries but I was just saying after reading that about America I don’t want to go down that path and quite frankly with the politicians that we’ve got, we will never get the great stuff. We will get the American model.

That's crap. I had my worst experiences in Yorkshire and my best in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

That sounds mad guess I am lucky very small practice

DH has been unable to work since April because of a workplace injury. He is on an NHS waiting list for an operation. Who does he work for? The NHS. So the NHS has been paying him his full time salary to be off sick waiting for them to do something. (I know he shouldn't be jumping queues etc but it really is farcical).

Interesting where in Yorkshire? I live West Yorkshire

We pay for it! It is not free! And I need to do so much better...its letting people down. So no I do not treasure it.

That’s bad I think we can say that the NHS does need a bit of an overhaul but what I’m trying to say is the principle of it. It’s much better than having massive bills like they’re doing America. There are so many people who are bankrupt.

Nope we shouldn’t.
We are at the bottom of European health outcomes, including cancer survival.
We need to adopt a more European healthcare system not an job creation scheme for administrators,
The US system is awful and completely irrelevant to the UK.

Maybe we don’t pay enough because there are literally people in America becoming bankrupt. Over how much it cost for healthcare and actually it’s a GDP we do not put as much as France does but all I will say is there are many Americans that look over here and wish they had the same service because they are getting massive bill

Not sure my elderly relative felt like treasuring the NHS when they told her to lay on the hard wood floor for 12 hours and not move, as they thought she might have broken her hip, whilst waiting for an ambulance. Or when she couldnt eat for 2 days because the first day's operation was cancelled.

do you think with the rise of popularism and Nigel farage do u think that we will actually go there or we will get the American model because I know which one I think we will get

It’s worse in America but the issue with the NHS is that is has been a sacred cow for bloody years and no one will criticise it and I do not just mean budgets and managers. I worked as a nurse when I left school and managed six years. It was a shit show back then in the late 1980’s the Nurses are all angels narrative is unhelpful. Whilst the overwhelming vast majority of medical staff are overworked and underpaid and amazing there are some that are not.

I actually agree with you. There is so much waste and issues with the NHS. However I don’t want us to end up with an American style healthcare Model

Not a fan of Farage but in Reform's manifesto it was in favour of a European style health service.

I do think we take our health service for granted. There used to be a notice up in my GP surgery about missed appointments each month. I was shocked at how many people didn't turn up, something like over 90 missed GP appointments and the same for the nurses.

Absolutely.

I do think we need to move to a system more like much of the continent where those who can afford to pay up to some degree. Obviously as single mum on a minimum wage shouldn't be paying, but if people like me had to pay, say, £20 or £30 to see a GP it wouldn't be off-putting and could make a real difference to the coffers.

What we must avoid at all costs I think is insurance tied to jobs and a system where all prices are fixed as high as humanly possible by the pharmaceutical industry and insurers.

I'm just not sure it's possible in this day age to maintain a totally free NHS. When it was set up things were very different - frail, elderly people did not hold on for long, disabled children were unlikely to live long, if someone needed discharging while still recovering or had long term health issues there was usually someone (namely a woman, let's face it) around to look after them. And obviously it's great lifespans have improved, disabled people can live fuller lives and women aren't stuck at home anymore, but it means we are not in the world the NHS was set up in and a lot more of being asked of it.

Yes. It should be possible to value something but criticise it at the same time. I don't think it needs to be all or nothing - either free at the point of need or only if you can pay for it.

I’m sorry, but I treasure AXA.

My private health insurance saved my life. NHS gp wouldn’t even see me. I went to a private GP, got an open referal to give to AXA, I was seen by a consultant 4 days later and in surgery two weeks later. I wouldn’t be here now If I’d been going backwards and forwards trying to get GP appointments, being fobbed off for months and years on end until it was too late. Unfortunately, I’ve read about many people with the same thing that’s happened too who haven’t lived to tell the tale.

I’m not loaded either. My insurance costs me a month what most people spend on a take away at the weekend. I made sure my children had private healthcare cover from birth so they will never have anything “pre existing” if they sign up for it later.

Seen same every time I go to my gp but now I get phone consultations as I am not very mobile. I will say his connections with trump means I believe it would be more American model

I disagree with you. The NHs is killing people in Cornwall. My personal friend very narrowly escaped with her life this week following medical gaslighting followed by lack of care in,.get this, intensive care.
We don't only have 2 choices..uk nhs or American private. There are many other countries in this world with great medical care structures.

No I most definitely am not grateful for it, it needs massive reform and many of the outcomes are very poor. It's not free either, I (along with many others) am paying a ridiculous amount of tax to fund it and the treatment I've received is pretty abysmal. There are much better systems to both the US system and the NHS as others have pointed out but if I had a choice between only the current NHS and the US system I would definitely choose the US system.

Actually, my DH has had a "massive bill" for medical care. He's paid three times for the same service:
1/ Paying the IHS (Immigration Health Surcharge) when applying for his visa - circa £3,000.00
2/ Paying his NI every month despite the £3,000.00 paid up front
3/ Paying for private healthcare because our GP surgery makes it impossible to make an appointment - you're either dead or recovered by the time they grudgingly agree to see you.

As others have said, there are much better healthcare models out there - at a mid point between the NHS "free at the point of use" (if you can ever get to use it) and the US charging model.

This takes nothing away from the incredible, hard working staff in the NHS - but the NHS as an organisation is not fit for purpose and even Wes Streeting has said this.

I started this post in agreement but actually now I'm getting annoyed! (Not at you, OP - at the situation).

It just doesn't work. I pay (a lot) of tax. DM got sick, and there's plenty she needs that isn't funded/is funded badly, so I'm paying for that out of pocket. Because of seeing how badly that went, I pay for private cover for me and DS too.

DM has had lots of NHS involvement over the last few years, and I was thinking I've seen the good and the bad. But actually, the good has only ever been NHS staff going above and beyond their roles to help - nothing has stood out in terms of the procedures which are constantly being broken anyway. At our A&E there's a hallway being used for stretchers until beds open up - not as an overflow or anything, this is built into the staffing rotas! Covering the hallway!

I also think charges being built in would help reduce the calls on the NHS. Our A&E on a Friday/Saturday night is full of drunk people who've gotten into a fight. Maybe there needs to be a financial penalty for this, rather than the mindset of, 'yeah, I'll fight this guy! And then go to the hospital with a smashed in face.' The same for missed GP appointments.

@stormy4319trevor ,

‘Yes we should cherish it. It is one of the few places in society where the value of a person is irrelevant to money and status. Pauper or King they will help you, and I think that's remarkable.’

I wish that were true but I don’t think it is. Well educated middle class people all agree with me that to get any kind of decent care from the NHS you have to advocate so hard for yourself or family. This includes using contacts, threatening legal action etc etc. And most just can’t do that.

And, even then, you have to start really cheap and work your way up, or not if they decide waiting is better. A simple procedure like an MRI scan, which I can get privately within a couple of days for a few hundred quid isn’t offered unless the NHS deem it necessary with the fewest number of scanners per capita in the western world (and they got that call wrong with both my son and a close friend).

The U.S system is deeply flawed, but many European systems are so much better than ours.