to ask Conservative voters what they think will happen to the NHS

[MyBeautifulSquid]

if they stay in after the GE?

Not gonna lie...I am a Labour voter. Not wanting a bunfight or trying to goad anyone ...I genuinely respect everyone's right to vote whatever way they think fit. However I am genuinely terrified of the prospect of losing the NHS ....like most people I am an ordinary earner just about getting by day to day, I cannot afford private healthcare, and doubt I ever will. I have friends in America...I have seen how the US system works.

My Facebook is a bit of a lefty echo chamber and lots are very active so I am constantly being bombarded with doom and gloom articles etc basically saying we will lose the NHS if Labour don't win.

Anyway like I say really don't want a fight, I am genuinely interested and do want to hear from the "other side" what they think.

Yes, it was semi joking but rather black humour. Flu/pneumonia means the elderly don't die of it.

I don't see why privatisation is always seen as a bad thing. I am lucky enough to have used private medical treatment for 35 years. It's brilliant. I am treated as a valued customer. I am seen on time, when I want to be, and everything runs smoothly.

Ok, the system is not stretched like the NHS but the whole thrust of who is important is different.

The NHS runs for the convenience of the drs and the admin makers. Private care runs for the benefit of the customers.

If the NHS becomes 'private' then all well and good, the providers would have shareholders and it would run more efficiently.

I cannot see why this is seen as such a terrible thing. it doesn't mean that our taxes won't fund the treatment- but that it will be run more efficiently.

The waste in the NHS whether it's buying computer systems that don't work, paperclips from expensive suppliers , and admin that is simply hopeless, is a disgrace.

On another note, the government needs to work harder at encouraging personal responsibility for health, either through taxation on food and drink, or other measures, because 70% of illness is lifestyle related.

Several senior Tories (Atlantic Bridge lot) ARE in favour of the US model. They have stated this.
But to be honest, I just think the party doesn't care. It's the only explanation for putting homeopathy believing Hunt in charge of health.

I want it to be privatised. Not in that we all take out private medical insurance but in that all services are run by private companies.

The service as it is isn't fit for purpose and it's haemorrhaging money at a rate of knots due to the incompetence of managers who have no idea how to run a successful business which is what it effectively is.

Privatisation isn't the answer as certain areas would not attract business. Such as emergency medicine. We've already seen private elderly care providers folding.

We have past governments (esp NuLabour) to thank for the PFI contracts which have saddled the NHS with £300 bn of debt which is now coming home to roost. That's 2 years worth of the NHS budget.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/nhs-funding-pfi-contracts-hospitals-debts-what-is-it-rbs-a7134881.html

Add to that the ageing population, the huge rise in diabetes and obesity and increased life expectancy in addition to the fantastic improvements in medical care (both operations and drugs) and it is a perfect storm for funding.

Labour saying they will "fund the NHS" just implies pouring more and more money into what is a black hole with an insatiable appetite.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Labour party spending promises outlined in their manifesto with the matched funding because so far it all seems a little confused (it is the day of the Diane Abbott interview after all!)

Polly how much does your private care cost you?

I'm more than thankful for the NHS as they have saved my daughter and continue providing for her in the ways of syringes, feeding tubes special milk etc all provided for her for free. I googled the prices as I wanted to buy some of her equipment myself in an attempt to help out. I couldn't, a box of 50 humidivents works out at about £7 for each one, my daughter could get through three or four a day! Again sats probes are £10 each and if they get twisted or too sweaty they don't work even with hypafix, that's another things I et through a lot of. I couldn't afford private healthcare and her medication is so expensive but she will die without it. I do agree though that it needs a complete overhaul, as much as the staff saved my child and I owe them my life, there were a lot of things that ended up delaying her eating and now she refuses food near her mouth costing the NHS more money than if they listened to others (the consultant made a decision and wouldn't listen to anyone else and no one could override her) so there are a lot of issues, I've also argued a lot about certain things and t can be extremely stressful. It doesn't run smoothly and everything always looks in a rush or last minute or very scattered, but without it my daughter would not be here so I am extremely thankful for that. Something needs to be done, I just don't know what.

I think we need to look at other models. I currently live in Belgium where heath care is efficient, appointments are kept and are on time, and things that don't need to be done in hospitals are done in clinics off site, like cardio, ultrasounds etc. It's a co-pay system, and the real cost of medication is quite scary, but I had a CT scan in December, and it was about €180, most of which we got back.

Bloods are done, picked up from the GP, and you get the results the next day. The GP does everything, so smears, bloodtests etc, and no receptionists (at least not at my practice), you book online, so can see availability of the GP you wish to see. You pay about €25 per visit, but depending on why I've gone, I might get all of that back.

I think the Tories should end the PFI contracts, even if they have to print money to do it, or at least cap them.

I don't see why privatisation is always seen as a bad thing. I am lucky enough to have used private medical treatment for 35 years. It's brilliant.

Polly Nobody is claiming that private healthcare is unpleasant for those who are 'lucky enough' to afford it, or saying their problem with it is that it's not very nice when you're having it. That's kind of the point

Thanks for the replies so far....its interesting reading

Totally agree that New Labour were terrible for the NHS, but the tories have continued down the same road. I think Jeremy Corbyn would be brilliant for the NHS. Wouldn't surprise me if Tony Blair is a Tory voter.
I hate this pretence that there is not enough money for the nhs. I would wager that funding cuts are costing so much more than just funding the services that are needed. I've seen it in my family; "no funding for the service you need, so we'll send you for 3 totally irrelevant referrals, which are funded, before we decide we can refer you to the thing you needed in the first place."

Didn't quite a bit of privatisation of the NHS start under Labour? Pretty sure I read that but there's so much propaganda it's hard to know the truth anymore.

They did. I disapproved of it then too. The introduction of the 'internal market' (i.e. Competition) was also a mistake. There are so many elements to health care which are unprofitable that 'the market' can not provide the solution.
However, I do agree something has to be done about people who take the piss. My uni holiday job was A and E receptionist and emergency admin cover for all departments.

there's so much propaganda it's hard to know the truth anymore

AGREED ! This is partly what I mean in my op

When I temped in 2007 the NHS paid for me to spend 3 days sitting in an office by myself answering the phone and writing down messages (it rang around twice a day) and then franking the post at 4pm. The building was massive and I saw around 3 people in my 3 days; one being a temp receptionist. It was an... Interesting insight.

I work in the NHS and in all honesty a different government scares me. Currently we are all busily working on "new models of care" ways of working to save the NHS but cope with the pressures and vanguards have been set up, localised transformation plans invested in. Millions of pounds spent that a new government would almost certainly come in and instantly scrap. I have no idea who to vote for but I fear Corbyn may have the ideals but not the means with which to implement them, which just leaves a mess imo. Alternative is the Tories who have a clear vision and a way to implement it but the result is the rich get richer, poor get poorer and those in between get trampled on. What a choice.

You all talk about the NHS as if it were one homogenous beast. It isn't. It's loads of little trusts. Some are more competent than others. A bit like town councils.

The hysteria about privatisation is very wearing. Parts of the NHS should be outsourced - and have been for years - eg laundry and cleaning services. Locally to me various NHS trusts outsource/buy in to/from each other. One provides the MH services to all three local trusts. The other is eg a centre for autopsies (not each trust does its own) and the other is a centre of excellence for cancer treatments.

I get very bored with the Virgin Care mithering too. Virgin Care is a not-for-profits organisation - and in my professional experience, provides a better quality of care home than some other local ones, including BUPA homes. They are efficiently, cleanly run with adequately qualified and trained staff in appropriate premises.

The NHS isn't going anywhere. It is adequately funded. However it is not adequately managed. Blairs PFI has a great deal to answer for.

As people keep saying, there are methods other than the NHS and the American system!

I work in the NHS. Labour don't have an actual plan, just a lot of sound bites, which, when you look at how the nhs actually works, don't even make sense.

If they do what they threaten and scrap the health and social care act of 2012 the ENTIRE system will grind to a halt for three years while we rearrange the deckchairs AGAIN. And they've been quiet about what they're going to replace CCGs with as well, are we back to PCTs? So, if we mimicked the changes from 2012 act, there will be a huge amount of jockeying for positions in the new world, then the new organisations will run in parallel "shadow form" for at least a year while things increasingly become disjointed. You can forget about transformation of services in that time and capital investment won't be forthcoming either because we'll have spent all the money on the deckchair move.

Renationalising is another fab wheeze, but...how is that going to work? It's not like the railways, we're talking about thousands and thousands of contracts, from the Any Qualified Provider stuff to the biggies like mental heath. And it's not just "private" sector winning these contracts, it's Not For Profits, 3rd sector and all sorts. Then companies like Virgin Healthcare have already proven themselves to be pretty litigious when it comes to contracts - that's a massive expensive legal battle there, where will the money come from? Are we renationalising GPs too? While that would be quite funny as a concept to see their reaction, no one will be laughing when they go on strike, which will make the junior doctors fiasco look small fry.

What the NHS more than anything else is stability. No more changes. People managing to see past the scaremongering and the lies from all sides and to be allowed to try and transform services to meet the needs of the population, which it just can't do at the moment. That is not what I see happening with Labour. At least the tories primary goal appears to do nothing and hope tax receipts improve so they can be lady bountiful and put some money into capital investment to look good.

No one from any party is prepared to do what is REALLY needed, which is to have a national conversation about the scope of the NHS and what it does and doesn't do because it is only going to become more of a black hole until that happens.

blows a kiss to motherofdragons who said what she said, but much more succinctly

They inherited an NHS and education system from nearly 20 years of serious lacks of underfunding.

Going tangent - PFI schools too and the introduction of the academy system, whole sale sell off of education.

Going back to the original question though, can we turn it around? What do labour voters think will happen to the NHS if Labour get in?