To think a privatised health service would be an improvement?

[WhiteStars]

At the moment we all have to be grateful for the overstretched and often inefficient service we receive. I had a 9am appointment today with a nurse practitioner. At that time in the morning she was already running 25 mins late on her appointments- how?!

She also couldn't use her computer system so I had to then wait for a doctor to come and issue the standard repeat prescription (I couldn't get this over the phone as needed a blood pressure check). The doctor then issued the wrong medication and only corrected it when I noticed she had done the wrong thing on the screen.

All very minor but not a great service at all really. We all know how over stretched the service is and everyone says it's at breaking point. Why is everyone so against paying for health insurance and getting a better service or going private?

It's not uncommon to hear of people waiting weeks to get an appointment and not being able to book in advance. The government would save an inordinate amount of money that could be ploughed into schools whilst subsidising some health services but with people paying an annual health insurance fee. We already pay for prescriptions in England. I would rather have a better private service than the NHS as it is now- on it's last legs and not really fit for purpose any more. AIBU?

Healthcare depends on good staff. You have to keep good staff on board. One thing that those who talk about privatisation have often not yet realised.

This is so true. If when my service gets privatised I will leave and return to the NHS. I've yet to come across a private healthcare company that provides staffing terms and conditions that are even close to as good as the NHS. There's a reason they mentioned this like free meal, free uniform and your birthday off in their recruitment ads. Because all the other actual important benefits are pretty shit.

Hinchingbrook was actually doing very well under Circle's management to start with. Outcomes were improving, patient satisfaction improving, and staff morale very good.

The the CQC did an inspection and the results bore absolutely no relationship to anybody's recent experience of the place. An avalanche of shit was tipped onto Circle, and they were forced out. There is absolutely no doubt amongst those in the know that this was politically motivated.

The consultants there publically said otherwise. They were quite clear why they left. What the NHS and private firm had not foresaw, was that indeed the consultants could get a job easily elsewhere if they wanted to. They were not happy with what was happening and threatened to walk, and when they were not listened to, they did indeed walk.

I can only go by the inspection reports which very clearly talk about failings when the hospital were run by a private company, such as the waiting times in A&E increasing and infection control being very poor. It did have a terrible inspection report. It was the first NHS hospital to be run by a private company, so it does not bode well.

No sign of OP. I sniff a DailyFail journo on this one....

Formerly I work in a health care organisation and we do have to try and have parity with some NHS terms and conditions to be able to attract staff. For example we used to pay statutory maternity pay and have just increased it as it did not compare to the NHS maternity pay.

There are other benefits such as not having to do shifts/ nights which is attractive, plus it is a charity (so no cost at all to the service user) which appeals to people who want to give something back.

It actually takes the pressure off the NHS by providing health services on a purely charitable basis. I can see that being the way america goes with the repeal of obamacare. Ill people who can't afford treatment will be reliant on charity or else die/not get better.

It seems to work in the dental care side of things, why not the whole of the NHS?

But it doesn't work. People just don't go to the dentist. Or they go when they're in dire need and something that was a tier 1 problem is now a tier 3 problem or whatever the tiers are.

Charging for the GP would push those that can't or won't pay into a&e departments.

I'm afraid I used hitchingbrooke at the time it was supposed to be doing well, prior to the inspection. I'm afraid I wasn't surprised at the outcome.

Health care should NOT be for profit. The NHS should not be privatised.

Dentistry works in this country!! Honestly wander around the poorer parts of my City and the state of some peoples teeth is appalling. It works in nice middle class areas. Not in poor areas. And like all these things, it is those who are just above being able to get it free who suffer the most. And that is with the charges for dentists severely capped. For those visiting a GP every week, they would be paying a lot long term.

I think there needs to be reform in the U.K. but I don't think we should be looking to copy America. The Danes have an ok system as do the french, Germans and Dutch. They all pay part of the cost out of pocket if income is high enough. Everyone is covered, with those who can afford to do so paying more, helping to fund the programs.

What many who argue for privatisation don't understand is that many people who work in the NHS care about the service. And for that reason they give far more than they would if it was just about the pay.
If the Government wants the NHS to improve it has to look at the long term, it has to value staff, it has to tackle GP vacancies and to spend more money.

Health care should NOT be for profit. The NHS should not be privatised

But so much of it already is - prescriptions for example - huge profit makers for the pharmaceutical companies.

Those other countries all pay more for their healthcare, including through taxes. What our Government keeps trying to find is a way to improve healthcare, and spend less money. It can't be done.

Also social care needs to be sorted. Lots of money is wasted in hospitals and A&E because social care is such a mess.

Also healthcare is always for profit. If providers don't profit from providing the service/product they won't provide it.

Personally I would like to see every household given a statement showing what they contributed and what they cost. If they look after their health they should get a reward. So that would be people being paid to say, go to their annual checkup, keeping their weight within normal parameters according to the BMI and showing up to their appointments. For those who are low income I structure it differently and would offer payment for doing these things. It's not their fault they are poor but I think it's worth everyone having an incentive to do these basic things to keep their health.

Circle did everything they were contracted to do at Hinchingbrooke. What stuffed A&E waiting times was that the activity assumptions provided by the NHS upon which Circle's bid was based proved to be woefully, optimistically, inaccurate, and local social services did not hold up their end of the bargain on discharge either. Then they had a 10%-ish price cut imposed on them.

To be fair, these are challenges that pretty much every other NHS Trust faced, but in UK contract law nobody is forced to put up with constantly changing goalposts without the ability to walk away, which is what Circle did.

If only all NHS services were commissioned with this level of scrutiny and transparency. Providers would turn around and say "we will not supply you with pound coins for 90p" and commissioners would have a choice: expect 90p for 90p or pay £1 for £1. At the moment, they get away with fairy tales.

Personally, I would like to fund it better and would happily pay more tax to do this. And I support the NHS taking over social care - but only if properly funded and if experience then shows it works.

I'd like it (if I was back in the UK) to be properly funded through taxation. And I think there's merit in letting the money follow the patient, as that seems to be quite an advantage here in Germany where the services available are quite responsive to e.g. changes in population. Knowing the history of government fiddling with the NHS though, if they did try to foster more of a market in this way they'd use it as an opportunity to try and paper over the cracks of NHS trusts in deficit and find ways of hamstringing it so that rather than give everyone access to everything they'd find a way to keep e.g. the plebs of Tottenham out of the GP surgeries of Crouch End (I used to live in Tottenham, I felt sorry for our GP, the man was on his last legs.)

No as you will only get the treatment you can afford unless emergency

But the NHS has to change the friend system of part insurance and apparently from what I have heard and read is a better system

But the we don't strictly have free care at pout of service

Or we pay higher taxes either way we all have to pay more if we can

French system

Obviously not friend

No response from the OP, she is obviously too busy and important setting up her private healthcare appointment; she threw that wee petrol bomb then retired to a safe distance to watch the fun - people feel strongly about the NHS but other options are available for those who can afford it

There have been a lot of comments on this thread about charging for appointments to stop people going to the GP with minor ailments.

While there are undoubtedly people who trundle off to the GP with a runny nose, there are also a number of major conditions that start with insignificant symptoms.

I visited my GP 7 times with increasing bowel movements over a period of 7 months. No other symptoms. No pain. No blood. On the 7th visit they agreed to refer me, just to shut me up. I wasn't at all surprised to find out I had bowel cancer, which by then had started to spread. The GP had actually written on my notes patient thinks she has bowel cancer but I am sure it is IBS. He showed me the note on my first visit after surgery, while he was apologising.

Should I have paid £50 a visit for those 7 visits? Would they have refunded me when I turned out to be right? They were saving money for the surgery by not refering me but how much less would my ultimate treatment have cost if they'd had me checked out 6 months earlier? How many people will ignore a change in bowel habits/ a cough that goes on for a few weeks/ a headache that comes on every day because they can't justify spending a week's food money on a GP visit.

As a comparison I have insurance for my cats. One was ill and after examining her the vets first question was "have you got insurance?". She was supposed to have a MRI. It was £1000 (plus £75 excess) if you had insurance and £500 if you didn't. Do you honestly think the same wouldn't happen with human healthcare?

If the OP wants to pay for private health care then no-one is stopping her. The private sector is there for anyone who won't wait a few minutes for an appointment.

Want2bsupermum I cost the NHS a lot as I have a chronic health condition through no fault of my own. Do I still get your 'reward'?

Yes every other NHS hospital has to deal with that stuff. And Circle as a private company dealt with it worse than many NHS run hospitals did.
And Social Services who are woefully underfunded for social care, will never hold up their end of the bargain. It is why social care needs to be properly funded as well.

Ewan under a self-refer system you would have been able to see a gastroenterologist without having to convince/bypass your GP gatekeeper at a much earlier stage. Perhaps after the first dismissive GP appointment.

So sorry to hear about your condition and hope you are on the mend.