A&E crisis

[mumsthewordi]

i am shocked to see the images from the wards, particularly impact on most vulnerable. Is this just the reality of a health crisis under any government, or do we think Labour have something to answer for?

@shockeditellyou can you expand on what that model would look like? I can see that for the young and in work they have plenty of time to start 'paying in' to such a scheme. But what about older people approaching old age?
I am 58 so in that category, tho fighting fit and also very solvent. But i can see contemporaries of mine who are neither of those things.

Sorry - I realise that in asking I appear goody. I am absolutely not; I am very interested however in learning of new ideas and approaches. It's very important

I'm not who you're asking, but if you pay your bill because you can the pot remains there for those who can't. It's quite simple.

@Unhealthy I agree about payment. A home can be seen as your insurance to pay for your old age. But what about those who have no home to sell, who have lived all their life in rented accommodation? There are millions who will need some sort of assistance in their old age. If an insurance model is introduced it still needs the government to provide now for those without any.

Those without are who the welfare state is there to help.

I was thinking more about a one-off insurance premium that is payable upon retirement. You take out a social care policy for a fixed sum, and it covers any social and care home costs that you might incur. I don't know how much it would cost (not an actuary!) but it would mean people who are worried about having to sell their house/not leave anything to their children have a way to cover their care costs with a known financial cost. It would be directly linked to a person, and could be paid out of any pension fund maturing upon retirement.

The flip side is you can take out the insurance and then drop dead, not using any care at all, but that's the point.

@shockeditellyou that sounds like a good idea. I've not heard of any at the moment. It's the same as all insurance, holiday, car etc sometimes you claim, others you don't. As you say, that's how the system works. I'd definitely be interested.

@Alexandra2001 ,

‘All costs money, lots of it and staff that don't exist, more through put of patients in AE, means we need better social care, more beds, bigger buildings, scanners, staff....’

It is a combination of money and laws. Strikes should be illegal until the NHS is functioning again. They have done immeasurable damage. A pay board should recommend mandatory pay awards that the government should be obliged to honour.

We lack staff, not facilities, on the whole, although we definitely need more scanners. So the many part timers need to be paid to up their hours and we need to expedite visas for all qualified medical staff who want to work for the NHS.

It does take money but it will be amply repaid getting sick people back to work and paying taxes.

‘We are not rich country, around 27th per capital in the world and fairly down the order in Europe.
25% of the population are classed as disabled, 3.8m on sick benefits and a rapidly aging population.’

27/190 is still rich, and we are about 12th if you take out tiny countries and oil-rich countries. We are virtually level with France and their medical system isn’t failing.

That sounds like a good idea.
And could be actioned at any age.

So persecute the staff and take away their rights.....righty ho, that'll just mean they leave faster than they do already... and where exactly do the PT workers find the childcare to work FT? or those with caring responsibilities or those that simply don't need to go FT... they'll leave too.

We ve an independent review body but despite that, Tory supporters bang on about "Labour and their union pay masters"

Of course we lack facilities, we ve nothing like the number of hospitals we need.

All of which requires money, even if in the longer term it would pay for itself...the crux is "Where does this money come from in the short term?"

No one can answer that.

Reeves borrowed and look what Tories and their supporters are doing? dancing with glee and delight as the UK suffers.

Bunch of idiots.

I totally agree with you. my DD was saying exactly the same thing yesterday.

Its not a panacea but it would make a huge difference.

But the organisation is filled with clinical staff working part time contractually then earning huge amounts working bank/overtime during antisocial periods. Split the difference, drop the overtime rates so they can increase the contractural rate.

A lot of that is down to totally non flexible working. If you struggle with childcare it's easier to only commit to one shift a week, 2 shifts a week as opposed to full time.

At my hospital bank shifts are paid exactly the same as contract shifts. And people still work part time and then pick up bank shifts.

And if you took away weekend working rates or night shift rates they would be harder to fill on bank

I'm sure you're right. I was just responding to another poster who was also a nurse.

Didn’t Hunt’s pay deal reduce the unsociable working rate? Or was that just on some bands? I seem to remember some payrise coming with the catch that weekend rate went down.

A London hospital has just written off £112 million for unpaid bills by foreign health tourists. No payment, no treatment. If it's an emergency then the country of origin should be billed or make health insurance mandatory as a condition of travel.

The NHS needs disbanding and completely reorganising from top to bottom. Far too many cowboys and not enough Indians. The list of waste goes on and on. The NHS is no longer fit for purpose.

All the clinical PT staff in my DD area are either mums or staff who have dropped down to PT due to stress.

One area but she has done 4 rotations and no one did PT so they could do anti social hours on agency.

Her FT band 7 is dropping to 6, due to stress.

She came back to UK due to her Gran being ill, as soon as she can do no more she'll be back to Aus or uk's private sector, where she can actually do her job, treat people!
Atm its get them out and who cares if they come back in.... her area is neuro rehab, so not treating people properly has long term implications.

The NHS has chronic staff shortages, currently 100k, means existing staff are worked to the bone, stressed and doubtless some lose all interest and do come across badly to the public.

No amount of reorganisations will address this, as the NHS still has to function 24/7, whilst all these changes occur, leading to even more stress.

We need to focus on reducing demand and start taking more care of ourselves.