To ask what YOU would do to help save the NHS?

[TamiTayorismyparentingguru]

I don’t care if you’re an HCP or not, I don’t care who you vote for, I don’t care what you think about Brexit - all opinions welcome.

Opinions on practical suggestions on how to save the NHS only though.

Our local hospital is getting worse and worse with regards to staff shortages and waiting lists getting longer and longer. I will say that our GP is really great and we’ve never really had a problem with getting appointments etc, but as soon as you are referred to the hospital things go massively downhill. (We did have a GP misdiagnose/miss DH’s cancer which was pretty shit - but I wouldn’t say that was a particular problem with the system - more just one of those unfortunate things that happens, that really shouldn’t happen, but that are just a matter of course.)

The hospital is a different story though - wait lists for some departments are insane (current wait time for an initial cataracts appointment is 42 weeks and then up to 18m for treatment, paediatric dermatology is a min of 30weeks, paediatric podiatry is approx 30weeks also. I have been on a wait list for max fax for 14mths so far. I also had an 8week wait for an appointment at the breast clinic after seeing the GP with a noticeable lump.)

DH has also had to fight for every single appointment since his cancer treatment last year - instead of the 4-weekly appointments he’s meant to have had, most of his appointments have been 7-8 weeks apart and have been cancelled at the last minute (sometimes just an hour before) at least 4 times in the last year.

It’s awful and yet I do trust that the doctors, nurses, receptionists etc etc are all doing everything they possibly can.

What’s the solution?

Tami - I would like for the govt (any govt) to fund the NHS properly. As a country we have the money to have the health service that we all want, but the priorities of the govt over the last 8 years have been to strangle it to death.

Prevention is a high priority, but we need to be realistic that any changes with prevention will not solve the problem now. It is a long term solution.

What we should stop doing is to keep suggesting groups of people who are not deemed worthy of being treated. Obese people and infertile people all contribute to the NHS. Even the person who gets drunk and falls over in the street and breaks a bone contributes to the NHS. The thing that is so special in out health service is that it is for all people, regardless of their ability to pay and free at the point of service. Sometimes, some people need to remember the founding principles of the NHS.

We also need to take away the political control that leads to it being used as a political football and stop the random withdrawal of money for various service improvement projects after it has been promised and budgeted for and practically already spent in some cases (which make the NHS more efficient, that implement new technologies etc) because Trusts have missed targets by a couple of %points even though the reasons were because they were underfunded and overstretches in the first place.

the sheer number of people who looked like managerial office staff striding about bedecked with lanyards and clipboards

Virtually everyone has to wear a lanyard in the NHS, I'm guessing you have never worked in the NHS? Also it's not possible to tell who is 'managerial office staff' just from appearance. Managers are a product of the current system, driven by the immense number of targets and also extremely high patient expectation these days.

Regarding the bed blocking.

DD was ill a couple of years ago.

She called me and described her symptoms.

I knew immediately what it was as I have had the same years ago.

I told her to tell the dr what it was.
DD was admitted to hospital. She was in for 4 days being tested for an ectopic pregnancy to gall stones.

Anything but what I said Because apparently I shouldnt usr Dr Google.

Finally after being in agony for 4 days they finally looked to see if she had what I had said and guess what?

I was right. DD was able to go immediately with a prescription and pain killers.

If they had listened not only would they have saved time there would have been a bed available because there was no need for DD to stay in

I know someone who worked on a contract trying to collect debt for the NHS. For various reasons it never went ahead. He said they were owed masses and wern't bothered about trying to collect the money. Most of it was from private health companies (BUPA) hiring facilities, so rooms and diagnostic equipment from the NHS, then never paying the bill.

So you pay BUPA for a private appointment, BUPA use NHS facilities and resources then never pay the NHS for it.

I think people should be charged for calling out an ambulance if they are wasting its time

I am currently laying in a NHS hospital bed. Boo :(

sort out the food crisis so we eat better and weigh less. Make all kids that can run a mile a day. Have more and better PE at schools.

e. You have to listen to clinicians input on the current process and make changes based on both clinical and administrative input.

Sometimes clinicians need to listen to the managers. Often senior clinicians are the ones resistant to change and shut down all conversations by complaining about lack of capacity. Managers know there is a lack of capacity. They are the ones who are dealing with the shit that's coming down from NHSE and having money for much needed service improvement taken away for no good reason.

And I say that as someone who worked as a senior clinician in the NHS and have several friends and family members still there.

I would stop all cosmetic surgery for everything other than genuine need, eg accident, burns, not for vanity projects. If you have a big nose, small breasts, sticking-out ears etc learn to live with it, I don't want to have to pay for you to feel better about yourself. The problem is that anything which isn't 'perfect' leads to invented mental issues and so the ball keeps on rolling.

40% of NHS spending is on hospitals, yet most responses concern hospitals.
Not one to buck a trend, I'll do the same.

There are many different strands to hospitals: diagnosis, surgery etc. however there is a big chunk of it which I would equate to hoteling. I mean booking people in, sorting out rooms and beds, food, cleaning, housekeeping, room service and so on. Is the NHS really the best at doing this kind of non-medical work, or could they learn a lot from an organisation such as Hilton?

Has anyone ever trialled letting an organisation such as Hilton run the 'hotel' bit and leaving the NHS to focus on what it does best - the medical side?

Cut net immigration levels to pre-Blair levels.

Remove the requirement for degrees in nursing.

Train more nurses and remove them from Agenda for Change which should only be for non-clinical staff.

Change medicine to graduate-entry like Australia has.

Extend foundation or intern medical training to three years and include mandatory placements in either general practice and emergency medicine.

GMC not to issue statements of service to UK medical graduates who have not completed a minimum period of service in the NHS. Why should British taxpayers fund 250K of medical school training per person so 30% of them can bugger off after a year or two ? If money is the be all and end all, go into the City. There'll never be a shortage of good medical school applicants.

More nurse practitioner-led minor injury walk in centres to take the pressure of General Practice .

No more PFI rorts or crony capitalist privatisations.
.

Stop spending money on bullshit

Oh FFS, just fund it properly. It's of benefit to everyone and we should all pay more. This idea of low taxation being great because we all get more money doesn't work in practice for anyone. Everyone needs a well-funded NHS and everyone needs access to good health services without having to pay. It's a no brainer.

Charge every working person a nominal fee each month in taxes, make it means tested. Everyone else is free.

Having recently been with a family member in the AAU, I noticed a LOT of resources being used for the elderly and people with mental health issues. It was not the right place for them but due to either community support or bed shortages in more suitable areas, AAU was being used as a holding place. Money spent in the right areas could stop money and resources being used up in others. There were mental health nurses and security being used to stop patients wandering off or becoming aggressive when it was clear it was the environment that was wrong.

Companies which produce alcohol, cigarettes and added sugar products should pay a set annual fee directly to the NHS.

I realise it's controversial but I'd charge for a and e. Just a tenner and obviously not for people who don't pay for prescriptions.
90% of prescriptions are dispensed free of charge and those who pay are generally those who use services least and tend to get cheap medications like antibiotics and painkillers so you won't get much!

Charge nominal fee _ we all pay via National Insurance already

Cut lots of the project managers and consultants.

Take the NHS out of Govt control into the hands of a board of directors made up of Drs from a wide range of sectors, Senior Nurses, GPs and Senior Management/FDs. This would mean that the NHS can forward plan properly and not just keep making knee jerk decisions and wasting money at Health Ministers whims (apps to book appts etc already exisit Mr Barclay!).

An IT system/systems with proper interoperability so that a consultant can see GP notes, a District Nurse can see Memory Clinic notes etc etc

If someone has to have meds for a life threatening condition they get them but pay for everything else ie Diabetics get Insulin, pens etc for free but pay for antibiotics. Currently if you’ve got thyroid problems, epilepsy, a colostomy bag you get all of your meds free. How is that fair when asthmatics have to pay for inhalers?

Everyone settled in the UK carries an NHS card. If you don’t have one then that means that you are a visitor and you pay for treatment before you get it, not after!

Charging for missed appointments would never be financially feasible, people wouldn’t pay and the time, effort and money to make them would cost so much.

No free prescriptions for people who are basically healthy and employed.

No vanity operations. If you want bigger boobs, smaller ears, fat sucked out, pay for it.

Make tourists pay for treatment before they leave hospital. I lived in Germany, if we went to the hospital you handed a credit card over before seeing the doctor. €250 if you had an appointment, €1000 if you walked in.

Some simple ideas:
-Signs up reminding that even if you have a maternity exempt card you can pay for prescriptions to save the NHS money (no pressure but just pointing it out. I’m happy to pay so maybe others are too).
-Option to pay for your child’s prescription (I appreciate this would rely heavily on no judgement, pressure or questioning from pharmacists).
-Basically, the option to make a contribution.
-increase on cigarette tax
-legalise and tax cannabis

No cervical screening on persons who don't have a cervix.

MN really needs to make its mind up about National Insurance. One minute its going to the older pensioners but then when someone posts that they arent paying NI its "well you do know you its for your pension when you get older.

Pink what about people like me who have to breathe in the neighbours strong skunk.

if it gets legalized more non smokers will have to put up with the fucking smell.

I've just had a look at the NHS website. Sorry Mumsnetters but I don't think there is a single original idea on here. Including my own.

Maybe they know a little bit more than we do?