To think we should all just pay 1-2% income tax to help fix the nhs

[Ieatcake]

Lots of health professionals are saying it's like a third world country. We need more beds and more money for socialcare. Not many would even notice a tiny tax rise and it would help fix it ASAP.

If you could guaranteed that's where the money would go, great....However no doubt it would get diverted somewhere else

I already struggle financially so would struggle even more paying more tax

But mainly, I don’t trust the government would actually ring fence it for the NHS. And if they did, it would likely be target driven that just caused more paperwork and had no actual impact on patient care

That won’t fix it. The Tories are deliberately making it fail, back door privitisation by stealth.

15 years of labour throwing money at it didn’t fix it. Just pushed the wage bill ever higher.

We need a total change of what the NHS what it’s for and which bits need paying for directly and which bits covered by state.

It was never designed to be what it is now.

But what government is big enough to take on any real challenge of change.

And throw Brexit into the mix with lots of EU staff heading home or elsewhere. This is only the start of the slippery slop. Sadly.

Prevention is better than cure. We could save the NHS billions if we did more to stop people getting fat.

And as we are already getting a 6% rise in council tax this year and no wage rise looking likely.

Depends what that money is used for. There was a very sensible thread on here a couple of days ago with people calling out problems in the NHS re agency staff costs, swollen and overpaid management and poor procurement practices. Many of us have seen these first hand. Throwing more money at the NHS without a proper overhaul will not fix it.

The Treasury will ^never agree to ring-fencing which they call "hypothecation of revenue". The only time it was ever done was the Road Fund and that quickly broke down; it's been Vehicle Excise Duty and not ring-fenced for eighty-odd years now.

Getting fat? And stop people drinking, smoking, taking illegal drugs, doing risky sports......wtf

@Joey7t8

And all those people who have to use the NHS for smoking related illnesses, alcohol and drug related issues? People who have accidents due to extreme sports? Plenty of people access the NHS because they are ill or hurt due to issues they have technically caused themselves.

In our area we have a problem with people visiting A&E instead of their GP because it's quicker for them to be seen. This also needs to stop.

Anyone who votes for the tories should hang their heads in shame. Funny how many over 50s and 60s habe their heads up the tories bottoms but are the biggest users of the NHS - hope they are happy with the NHS as run by virgin care in a few years.

I read various blog turned into a book by quite a few nhs staff.
There ideas are very simple. Go back to the old days of having 1 matron run a ward get rid of all the pointless roles who do nothing useful and spend money on ground staff.

The sad truth is that the money would end up being used elsewhere because there would be no guarantee that it would end up funnelled into the NHS.

It's not as simple as that;
Wrt to the nhs there are huge inefficiencies (and staff working under horrific conditions caused by underfunding) it needs a whole redesign. It was never designed to be what it is now and only intended to give basic medical care but it now also provides (among other things) ivf, sex changes,
Cosmetic surgeries (in some cases) and acts as a last resort when social care can't be found for the elderly. That's just to name a few. What needs to happen is a clear budget, a clear limit on what the nhs can and cannot do and the taxation to pay for it. But anyone who suggests we should A- pay more or b- take a long hard look at it and reshuffle it is immediately shot down.

Why not move over to a partly user-pays system like many other countries, including Australia?

Our NHS equivalent is Medicare. Basically, low-income earners or people on income support receive a health-care card (tied to their Medicare card) so that most medical services and prescriptions are free (or v heavily subsidised).

People not eligible for a health-care card can still use some free or subsidised Medicare-funded services, but pay out of pocket or use private health care for others.

It’s not a perfect system, by any means, but having experienced both, I vastly prefer it to the NHS as I have also never waited more than 24 hours here to see a GP (usually same-day).

The NHS model is unsustainable in its current form, for a number of reasons including that people use services indiscriminately if they’re free to all at point of delivery. I think the UK is eventually going to be forced to switch to a system where users pay according to their means.

My earnings are below average, but I'd be happy to pay 1% extra IF it was guaranteed to go towards the NHS.

But the people who manage to avoid paying income tax now still wouldn't be paying it ...

All the government needs to do to fix the NHS is actually let the doctors and nurses take back charge like they used to. It’s no surprise that the reduction in standards and come at the same time as the rise of the NHS management ‘elite’.

It's not accidental, this is how the tories want it.

If you voted for them, this is what you voted for.

Prevention is better than cure. We could save the NHS billions if we did more to stop people getting fat.

And the people smoking, taking drugs, drinking, doing extreme activities whereby they break bones, speaking too much on mobile phones to prevent brain tumors, sun beds for skin cancer. Cars to prevent pollution. Let's target anorexics to 'stop people getting too thin'.

We could save the NHS billions if we did more to stop people getting fat.

What an ill informed and lazy comment. We could also save the NHS billions by stopping treatment for premature babies, or forcing everyone to euthanize themselves at 60, thank goodness we don’t.

Everybody here (qld Australia) who is a resident or citizen or from certain countries is eligible for a Medicare card, meaning that essential medical treatment (bar dentristy, another ballgame I haven't faced in this country) is free at the point of use if you use a bulk billing doctor (which simply means, free, at the crux of it)
It's a myth that it's mean tested - it's not. Anyone can have a Medicare card.
That said a lot of richer people will use private care for a variety of reasons, one of which being convenience if you live rurally. But you don't have to...

However Medicare is paid for by its own purpose tax.
In Australia you'll pay income tax (varies at what amount but is anywhere from 19% upwards) plus superannuation (essentially, pension) and a Medicare levy of about 2%.
That's a rough run down on how it works. In my opinion as an Australian resident who spent all but last year in the UK, it works a million times better.

We could save the NHS billions if we did more to stop people getting fat.

And old.

I would start charging for doctors appointments.

That's a rough run down on how it works. In my opinion as an Australian resident who spent all but last year in the UK, it works a million times better

I agree. The threads I by people trying to access NHS services make me feel stressed. Waiting days or weeks to see a GP is unacceptable.

A free service is useless if it’s not fit for purpose.