To wonder how long it will be before the NHS ceases to exist?

[DuchessofNorks]

3 years? 5 years? How long will it be before those deemed "rich" enough will have to pay through the nose for health insurance?

Midnight tonight...bulldozers are on their way.

Not long

Is it too hard to add these comments to the 56 threads already going?

You really need a new one? It's very tiresome.

why blame the rich?

Where are all our trained doctors (that have cost a fortune to train) - Australia? USA? - our hospital is full of foreign (lovely) doctors, barely one has a british name.

I know nurses who retire at the first opportunity- because the shifts are crap, they are overworked, there isn't adequate staff so they can't do their job properly - why, why why.

Nurses resign to go and work as better paid agency nurses - I doubt there is a single private company in the world that would run with this system. Ridiculous.

Patients are not penalized for not turning up - I got a letter telling me I was entitled to an apt, then asked to phone and choose the apt time to suit me, then a reminder reminding me to turn up - FFs ridiculous.

etc etc etc

I'm surprised it's still going to be honest. I've been predicting the end of it since 2000

I'll give it 5 years - 10 years at the very tops

It is not sustainable in its current form. No matter who got into power this would be the case. The government are not the only people responsible for this. Demand has increased exponentially and people expect far too much of a service that was set up to provide basic health care.

People need to take responsibility for this too. Misuse of the NHS is also playing a major part in it's destruction.

thewaves I totally agree with the misuse part. People massively, MASSIVELY abuse the system in so many ways. They disrespect it and take advantage of it and this is a serious factor in why it is struggling. How many times I have read on here 'call an ambulance' or 'go to a&e' for absolutely nothing, and now i understand - mumsnet is full of labour supporters who expect the NHS to have endless amounts of imaginary money ploughed into it to fund their hysterical ideas that someone needs to go to a&e for a broken toenail because it's their right to have free healthcare.

Personally as an ex NHS employee the poweres that be that control the finances innthr NHS need reigning in the ward I used to work on closed down two years ago to merge with another ward at a cost of £1000,000 eighteen months later they closed it completely moved it is o. Different town just for the hell of it the mental health trust I worked for had something like £50,0000000 in savings but no staff on the wards and wouldn't employee any more they have been making cuts for at least ten years so long before conservative came into power I was redeployed twice in twelve months in 2005 as ward after ward closed down ,I glad I,m out of it tbh!

The NHS will cease to exist because of the ridiculous demands the public put on it and the inability of any government to openly say no. I'm a GP and in the last month I have seen a woman for an urgent appointment with blisters on her feet (shoes at least a size too small), a myriad of people demanding calpol on prescription, several shouting at me for not treating their tooth abscess (a job for which I'm neither trained or insured to do), someone for her fifth termination (because apparently she can't be bothered to use the free contraception that is on offer) - need I go on?

Have we not had the nhs & a Tory government at the same time before?
I am not a fan of the Tories but some of these threads are ridiculous

Are people not paying through their noses for National Insurance anyway ?

Will local councils be able to find the money to clear up all the bodies that will emerge due to untreated diseases leading to thousands of fatalities? Will the government force us to take out insurance to pay for the removal and funeral costs? Who will take care of the orphaned children and elderly/disabled relatives that were taken care of by the deceased? Will private companies start selling DIY surgery kits with Heart Surgery For Dumnmies books being sold by Amazon? Will hardcore opioids be on sale to ease peoples passing? Will Poundland start selling broad spectrum antibiotics?

So many questions. So little time to organise it all

The NHS isn't being 'sold off'.

In 2008 Labour introduced a system where private companies could tender to run parts of services. They didn't 'buy' bits of the NHS, they were paid to run them for a finite amount of time and no transfer of ownership occurred.

Between 2008 and 2010 private sector contracts increased from 0% to 4.4% under Labour. Since 2010 under the Tories it has increased another 1.7% to 6.1%. So in reality 'privatization' of the NHS has slowed down massively under the Tories, rather than speeding up.

So the pearl clutching over the NHS is probably not warranted. HTH.

The NHS will have to change. It's unavoidable. Health care, life expectancy, technology and so many other things have changed since it was first established that there is no way that the NHS in its current form is unsustainable. The sooner it stops being a holy cow & people face up to the fact that changes are necessary the better.

Aargh...."there's no way the NHS in its current form is sustainable"

not long at all
first it will be death by a thousand cuts til we all give up on it

And 60% of all NHS spending goes to private companies anyway, always has

They'll still call it the NHS, the doublespeak will be deployed in force.

threegoingonthirty, are you really a GP? Because - and maybe I've been especially lucky - I personally have never had the misfortune to see any GP with quite such a judgmental demeanor.

Perhaps ask your local PCT'S. They hold the power over local hospitals over the budgets over the shift rotas...

Perhaps local PCT'S should be held more accountable and be able to be publicly challenged in the way local government is.

"mumsnet is full of labour supporters who expect the NHS to have endless amounts of imaginary money ploughed into it"

Not me. I want it to have real money ploughed into it, and I want that money to be taken from me, and people like me, via significantly higher taxes. I want to live in a caring social democracy, not a cage-fighting arena.

I don't wish to pay higher taxes if the money is spent on broken fingernails and avoidably sore toes. I'll gladly pay if these people are charged or fined for such ridiculous things.

The NHS has become the national religion and people are way too dependent on it.

The GP is not your dad and the nurse is not your mum - apologies for the sexist stereotypes. Learn to stand on your own too feet and learn some basic first aid, home remedies and basic knowledge of illness like our great grandparents did. They couldn't go running to the doctor at every given opportunity because it cost them money they didn't have.

This is a tough reality.

Funny how most people on mn claim to want to pay more taxes and are a hr tax payer, when the demographic of the site is usually said to be mostly low paid on top up benefits.