AIBU to be scared stuff about what will happen to the NHS if the Tories get in?

[BatleyTownswomensGuild]

Just that really, things are bad enough as they are.... My Mum died in an under-resourced NHS hospital. I have a friend battling cancer at the moment, FIL is waiting for surgery, SALT support for DS (who is ASD) is almost non-existent already.

I can't believe after 10 years of austerity the Tories are going to get another chance. I'm at the point that I'm lying awake at night worrying about this? AIBU?

Pomley totally agree about the NHS being inefficient

So many problems we have at work is down to managers who make decisions do not look at the bigger picture or the long term impact. To get anything changed within the NHS there will be reports, meetings, more reports more meetings time utterly wasted and that costs money

And while I don’t trust the Tories to not sell off more of the NHS we are also paying off the damage the last Labour government did to the NHS - services might have improved but debts dramatically increased I won’t vote for Labour under Corbyn as many many people won’t so the party members who support him have kept Labour in opposition

Politicians need to be brave enough to risk their careers and speak about real changes and we as a nation need to stop being so sentimental about the NHS we deserve a better service that what is generally provide (I mean overall as some is absolutely excellent)

YANBU

Starbucks, that might have been your personal experience

It was, and that of everyone I knew. I didn't say it was perfect.

I know about the disadvantages- my father spent 8 months in hospital at one point and my brother wasn't allowed to visit at all because he was under the age of 12 . Attitudes were different, medicine wasn't as advanced, for example these days my father might have lived.

But it was definitely better in many ways.

we are also paying off the damage the last Labour government did to the NHS

Would you like to clarify that? This government has closed 15,000 hospital beds, if that’s not damaging the NHS, I don’t know what is. 40,000 nursing vacancies, unheard of under a Labour government. In 2001 there was a six week wait for cataract surgery, now it’s only available for one eye if you’re almost blind. This government is destroying the NHS so subtly half the population hasn’t even noticed.

I don’t think we can really compare the NHS of today with 40 years ago

There have been so many advancements in medicine and the aging population means the service provided is for far more people that it’s ever been

It’s already unacceptably shit. Does it really make that much of a difference at this point?

Because many trusts are paying out huge amounts of their budgets to debts from the PFI schemes

Long term thinking of how this was going to be paid back, there are at times always going to have to be less investment due to governments not having as much revenue through and after a recession

That there was improvements great and a great vote winner - but it’s wasn't sustainable it was badly planned and along with cutbacks we are paying off huge huge debts

OP, you are not.
I'm most certainly scared about it.

YANBU, my other half works in the NHS and all his colleagues are worried.

41,000 nursing vacancies. 15,000 more beds required. I forget how many thousand more doctors are needed.
Applications for the foundation programme post medical school dropping.

But yes you keep telling yourself the NHS is in safe hands.

Social care is even more of a mess.

If you have just read Labour funding and tax manifesto you will be delighted with the initial promises. The level of tax on business and individuals is unsustainable and naïve to the point of being laughable. The NHS will not survive a Labour government as the funding will dry up - which is taxation.

We now have a Labour lead council, it is pretty poor and the decisions they have made are showing in the funding promises. They can't meet them.

A friend was a nurse (theatre sister in Obs & Gynae). She worked in the NHS for 10 years, 1977-87, then went to Australia for 10 years. When she returned in 1997, she started doing agency work in NHS hospitals.

She said that under 10 years of Tory government, conditions in the NHS were appalling compared to when she left. The physical fabric of operating theatres was disgraceful: broken floor tiles that meant floors couldn't be cleaned properly, missing ceiling panels with exposed wiring etc above, staffing levels much reduced, cleaning farmed out to private companies whose staff had no concept of how to clean to clinical standards, equipment old and unreliable. She worked for 6 months, before leaving to work in care homes, then gave up completely after another year.

She felt that staffing levels and standards had got so poor that patient safety was at risk, constantly.

The NHS needs spending raised to levels comparable to that in other successful, affluent countries. I share your fears OP. Mental health is especially poorly resourced. At 64, I'm really concerned about the decline at a time when I'm likely to need the NHS more and more.

I think it's better than its ever been . My dm recently had breast cancer and the treatments and care have been amazing..
if you are worried get private insurance . I have and use it for the things the nhs isn't so good at ( undiagnosed pain ) .

We now have a Labour lead council, it is pretty poor and the decisions they have made are showing in the funding promises. They can't meet them.

90% of funding for local government used to come from central government. This has been cut many times and councils are restricted in how much they can raise council tax. It's not down to the councils, but because of funding decisions made in Westminster.

The abolition of the Nursing diploma was the start of the issue, the removal of the bursary the final straw. There are plenty of people who want to train to be nurses, but they can't afford to take a year out to do an access course at college, and then take a student loan out whilst having to give up work due to the high demands of the placements, and often with a family to look after. But they have skills which would be an asset to the NHS, so it's a real shame. Having an adequate number of staff won't solve every issue, but it would certainly help nurses who are leaving in droves due to being overworked and burning out. Again, just throwing more money at recruiting nurses won't work, they simply either aren't qualified or aren't willing to work in the NHS anymore.

Yes YABU. I'm more worried about Corbyn getting in and stuffing the economy so we can't afford an NHS. Plus lots of doctors will be hit by his tax hike and may decide to retire early or work fewer hours even before the 4 hour week is brought in

4 day week

I think it's better than its ever been . My dm recently had breast cancer and the treatments and care have been amazing

You’re obviously very young if you think that. It’s utter and complete shit compared with ten years ago. Try moving away from a cancer care unit and experiencing a geriatric ward, look at the thread about NHS maternity care or listen to what A&E doctors say about the service they’re fighting to deliver.

I'm 45 and I'm allowed an opinion , my sn had cancer 25 years ago and went private because the wait was so long for the op .. this time it was amazing . I also went private as a child because they wait was so long for an op... I have a son with special needs now and nothing is too much bother and we get what we need . He had an op on Friday and the care was amazing !

mother not sn

I have to say too before my dad died the care was very good and also my birth care was amazing having very serious PE and my son then in special care for a month .. maybe it's where I live ! 🤷‍♀️

@oohnicevase, frankly I don’t believe you. Many parents of children with special needs post here, they’re unanimous in their view that services for their kids are nonexistent. Waiting times have gone up for everyone in the last nine years, including cancer patients.

25 years ago we had a Tory government, they wreck the NHS. John Major says trusting them with the NHS is like giving a python a hamster.

And, yes, it’s where you live all right - fantasy land.

Has the NHS ever actually been good?

There seems to be a lot of mythology around the "amazing NHS" but Conservative or Labour, it always seems to have problems.

The private care that you can get here will not cover all care that patients need

Many go private then have to fall back on the NHS for aftercare and follow up appointments as they can’t afford the extra charges