To think we should all be more pro active to try and save the NHS!

[m1nniedriver]

For all its failings we are so lucky in this country to have the NHS. It is literally being destroyed by these twats and I honestly don't see that much outrage from the general public. What I see is people telling horror stories and others agreeing with them. The divide and conquer plan seems to be working. The new contract for junior doctors is just another trick, and from what I've read it's working! All the focus on what j docs get paid, how many mistakes they make etc but not seeing the bigger picture. It is tragic!

Annoying, I just posted a topic on this and did search for the NHS, now someone's bumped this back too page 1

The people who go and get ALL of their children's painkillers, plasters and nit lotions for free from boots (I think this is paid for by the NHS?)

agree,agree

though there have been threads on here saying that it's a good thing and dont we realise some people havent got £1 to buy it from poundland etc etc

we expect far to many services from the NHS and our expectations are growing all the time

And how are we supposed to save it ?

They go to Oz because it's a far better deal for the staff. Not for the patients.

Was stood behind a woman in the doctors the other day who was arguing with the receptionist because the GP had taken paracetamol off her repeat prescription and I was thinking, it's 20p to buy a packet in the shop!!

DH saw an online article today on BBC news which said its in a 930 million deficit and 8 out of 10 trusts are in the red.

I'm not sure any of us should get free prescriptions any more - and I say that as someone who currently gets free prescriptions due to hypothyroidism. If you need multiple prescriptions you can pay for an annual prescription pre-payment card which costs about £104 and covers all prescriptions for a year.

I work in the NHS and like another poster has already pointed out- the amount of waste is shameful.
I HAVE to purchase my stationary from a particular company. That company charges on average 3x the price that I would pay is somewhere like Asda- yet I cannot go to Asda and get this stuff. Its ludicrous.

As already mentioned, there are two aspects that need addressing.

One is the people who don't understand the difference between "free" and "free at the point of delivery". I'm sure some don't comprehend that it costs money to run the NHS and that money has to come from somewhere.

The other is the sheer inefficiency which comes from trying to run the NHS as a business. I think the rot set in when it was decided that an efficient hospital was one that had the fewest empty beds. A hospital is not a hotel! A&E gets backed up with patients for whom there are no beds - so A&E have targets imposed, leading to increased stress for staff who are already stressed by the "free" people.

My local DGH is near to a mainline railway and a motorway. If there is an incident that requires beds for more than a few people, then they'd struggle to find enough beds - probably have to clear out the day surgery unit.

In my last job at the DGH, we had an amazingly efficient departmental secretary, who kept sufficient stationery supplies for all our needs. But no more than sufficient, because there wasn't enough space for extras. One year, the Trust was facing a deficit in the year-end accounts. So they decided to stop all stationery orders for a couple of months. Never mind that secretaries had to trawl around other departments, begging for stationery, wasting goodness-knows-how-many woman-hours. Never mind that clinic letters to GPs were typed, but couldn't be printed as there was no paper. Never mind that stationery was then ordered in the next accounting year so the costs weren't avoided, merely delayed. And, like Tiredemma says, all the stationery could only be ordered from one supplier, who then got overwhelmed once stationery could be ordered once again. I know some consultants bought paper so their secretaries could print out clinic letters.

And I don't even want to start on the antiquated admin "technology", otherwise I'd be typing here all night. There were solutions - but that would have meant actually listening to staff, especially those on the lower levels who did the grunt work. But we were "costs" rather than "assets".

Apologies for the lengthy rant.

What about corporate responsibilities. Poor housing costs the NHS.

www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/willesden_pensioner_forced_to_live_with_no_hot_water_and_heating_for_seven_months_contracts_pneumonia_1_1389701

I told my mum off last week. She was moaning that the Dr had taken paracetamol off her prescription.

1. She gets free prescriptions as she is over 65
2. Stockpiling of unneeded meds is costing the nhs millions
3. Paracetamol is 13p at aldi.

her friend does the same...and they are both well off. Madness.

No nhs dentists where I live!
Had to have 2 fillings and a root canal this year and it cost £700.
My glasses will be £400 (complicated prescription)
Although my dh is asthmatic his prescriptions aren't free (unlike some other conditions)
If you hAve an nhs dentist and a basic eye prescription, then yes, it's not that expensive. Sadly that's doesn't apply to.everyone!!

I believe the conditions for which medicines are free are those which were known about and treatable when the NHS was set up so illnesses which are more newly recognised or for which treatments have been invented since have to pay. No government is willing to tackle this as they cannot make things free for all long term conditions but taking free prescriptions off anyone is a vote-loser. Interestingly around 40% of the population pay for prescriptions but, as they tend to be younger and fitter, over 90% of prescription items are dispensed free of charge. That seems unsustainable to me

Our area is the highest in the country for antidepressant prescribing. It also has 5 of the 10 most deprived wards in the country in. Coincidence?
Of course not. Our GPs are faced with a tide of people who are often poorly educated, in poor social circumstances, in poor housing, smoking, drinking, abusing allsorts and feeling rotten. They want a magic wand which the GP can't give so the antidepressants become a not very effective sticking plaster which costs the NHS a fortune

Tell your lawmakers that if they want America's health care, you also want their tax rates. That'll shut them up.