AIBU to get a bit fucked off at having to protect the NHS?

[Santaclauswhosthat]

This is a healthcare system I've paid into all my life. I don't think everyone who works in it is a hero and the vast majority of them aren't underpaid. It's ranked 16th in the world and has the worst cancer outcomes for any developed country. It's not very good. Nonetheless it's the only healthcare system open to me right now. But I can't access it. My operation had been cancelled and I can't get a consultant appointment. The GPs aren't seeing patients face to face. I've already had one tumour removed that was on the turn. I'm worried that I may have another. I have no way of finding out if this is the case. A family member has already died of covid 19 after being denied treatment for three days during which repeated calls to the ambulance service were made whereupon his mother was told she should only ring again if his lips turned blue. He is dead. Right now. The NHS didn't protect him. It isn't protecting me either. What is the point of the NHS, exactly? Most clinics are closed or running at half mast. GPs aren't seeing anyone. NHS staff get shopping hours and free food and fuck knows what else and we are all dying protecting them.

Umm. So? Unlike Walmart, China's National Petroleum company etc

@thequantofmontecarlo

Er, unlike the UK, the population of China is 1.4 Billion, Walmart is a US company, population 350 million. Walmart operates in 27 countries. Not just one. But hey. Every bureaucrat is no doubt vital and that is why the NHS is wedged between the two.

Neither of those entities provide an essential service to those populations so the comparison is meaningless.

@BovaryX You clearly don’t get it do you? It’s not about the ratio of employees to customers. It’s about the type of service provided and how automated it can be made. Are you implying that healthcare service delivery can be as automated and robotised as manufacturing at Walmart or a Petroleum company?

Also, 3% of NHS employees are managers. In an average corporation, that number is closer to 20%.

Neither of those entities provide an essential service to those populations so the comparison is meaningless

You don't think oil is an essential service? The chair you are sitting on, the device you are typing this on, none of it would be there without the oil industry. What a laughable statement.

No, what’s laughable is the comparison of a unique labour intensive organisation providing an essential service to an entire population to an organisation which is one of many globally selling a commodity. And which, as you’re choosing to ignore, largely automated.

@thequantofmontecarlo

It is you who does not get it. You are clearly clueless about the operations of a state oil company. Do you imagine someone presses a couple of buttons and that's it? China's National Petroleum company is involved in exploration, production, refining. Inter alia. Its operations are international, spanning continents, requiring technical expertise and manpower. The NHS is providing health care for the small population of a small country. The fact that it is the fifth largest employer on the planet is not evidence of efficiency, or success or even a plentiful supply of doctors and nurses.

You are getting mad at the wrong people. The NHS staff have no say in this at all. I’ve been saying for weeks that more people are going to die as a result of the CoVid restrictions than CoVid itself but the government have decided this, not us. Get mad at the government that has deliberately underfunded the NHS for years, that failed to prepare for the pandemic they knew was coming, that wasted money building hospitals they can’t staff. The government that the majority of the population keep voting back in!

@BovaryX I’m a quant who models the future performance of organisations based on a multitude of factors. Not only am I familiar with how most organisations work, especially Oil and Gas, I know far more about how, for example, the performance of a brand of electric submersible pump will affect oil production costs in a particular geography due to a weather phenomenon.

You, my friend, on the other hand, have shown your hand as to exactly how goddamn idiotic you are based on your statements.

I’m really sorry for the grief and associated anger you are experiencing. These are times that are unprecedented in living memory. Most of the systems that are coping better than ours are largely just luckily set up in a way that favours the current situation.

I do think all key workers deserve our appreciation, many are working in very difficult situations. My friend works for the nhs but not as a nurse or doctor. She spends every day now in PPE looking after patients personal needs. All she does is go to work and go to bed, her DH is trying to work and look after their DS. She is an absolute hero in my eyes. These people are having to deal with things they could have never envisaged when they started their career. They are fighting a war.