Would you pay an additional tax for the NHS?

[Whatisthis543]

I’m torn on this one, surely our taxes should cover a well funded NHS but it seems that they don’t...

Is that systematic I.e too much bureaucracy and poor allocation of resources (within the trusts and elsewhere) or is there genuinely not enough money with an ageing population and rapid growth?

@EngTech

I would be happy to pay more tax if it actually went where it was needed ie front line people and not wasted on red tape 👍

Also introduce a charge for the NHS sorting out the party goers on a Saturday night - Will await incoming on that one 😎

If the issus of red tape and unnecessary box-ticking jobs were tackled first there would be less need for an increase in taxation.

Taxes need to be spent more wisely.

And, no. I wouldn't. We are struggling financially every month on a very basic lifestyle.

I wish we could pay tax for specific things. Like submit a chart for how we want out tax distributing between services.

Is the existing money used efficiently? Until the answer is yes, then you can chuck all the money you want at it and nothing will change.

The problem is it's very easy to waste other peoples money.

@ComtesseDeSpair

I think the entire model of the NHS needs reviewing. It isn’t the most effective, efficient or economically beneficial way of delivering healthcare, as numerous international models demonstrate. It isn’t a binary choice between “free NHS” or “US healthcare model where the poor just die if they get sick”, which is where discussion of healthcare models always ends up.

Pretty much is the most efficient it is just underfunded

I wish we could pay tax for specific things. Like submit a chart for how we want out tax distributing between services.

This is a joke, right? Who is going to tick ‘sewers’?

No. Not a fucking penny. I work for the NHS in one of the more well run, cash rich trusts. I am on the whole proud to work for the NHS and love most of the people I work with. But management and culture is toxic and corrupt. Useless people are promoted to get them out of the way because no one has the guts to deal with them. It needs a major overhaul to have any hope of bringing it back

We don't have a "national" health service in the UK. We have a series of health trusts that cover certain areas but it is no more a unified service than I am the Queen of Sheba. It is crying out for a major overhaul but any attempt to do such a thing (vital as it may be) faces the impossible task of overcoming (a) those who scream "they're privatising the NHS" (whatever that may mean) any time a reform is proposed and (b) the Scots and Welch assemblies who'd fight tooth and nail to prevent the loss of "their" NHS, even if a better service was the result.

Frankly it seems to me that in many people's lives today the NHS plays the part the church played in their ancestors' lives in the 19th.

@Allispretty

Do people not realise that national insurance pays for the nhs?

Not true, I'm afraid.

Yes.

I would. I only work part time so don't earn enough to pay income tax or NI currently but would happily make voluntary contributions.

This really pisses me off. I think all prescription meds should have the actual NHS cost on them to stop this.

My DH is on a cancer drug that is over £10k a month without all the extra tests, ct, mri etc

I had a 'simple' keyhole gallbladder op last year that ended up being done laparoscopically privately. The bill was £11k fir 4 nights hospital.

I think people just don't realise how much 'stuff' actually costs.

I totally agree notapizzaeater
About 4 years ago there was a bit of a campaign where notices went up in Drs surgeries (and round on Facebook) saying how much a GP appointment cost / an ambulance / a hospital appt / etc, along with how many people just didn't turn up - it was shocking.

Intresting reading as both an NHS worker and partner of a patient. DH is type 1 diabetic the type you get from your pancreas packing up not he type caused by weight. He has developed significant sight loss in the last 6 months due to this and we have had amazing and expensive treatment from our local trust as well as Gp support. His care this year to keep him alive and seeing will be approaching 70 to 80 k. He wouldn't get health insurance . He cant get life insurance or critical illnesses cover many long term conditions are excluded. No NHS he'd be dead. Private hospitals yes appear to run more efficiently but they in the majority only do planned surgery with easily estimated time scales and lengths of stay and no bed blocking. It's easy to say yes Fred's hip replacment will be 4 days with no issues and he's home. Then Fred has a stoke during his op . What happens does the private hospital manage him . No its oh we cant manage this we will transfer you to the NHS. They dont have the heart attacks,falls. RTC to manage with the unpredictably of it all. To cope NHS hospitals used to aim to run at 90% capacity with some give to allow for increased admissions or longer stays. A previous government decided we needed to be more efficient and run at 95 % look at the chaos now. Yes the NHS has some inefficiencies. When I started there wasn't the internal market we didnt have to bid for contracts, set costs, compete with the trust down the road for buisness. ( we worked with.them). We didnt need contract managers business managers ect. We had admin support and managers who ran HR and finance. The NHS would be more efficient if we got rid of the compedative market and care for patients which we are good at. Look at the mess of trac and trace. The vacine role out being led by the NHS is.much more effective and efficient. I would pay more because to get a better European service we need to. But we need to remove the privatisation / business model 1st.

@Happyrascalsmummy

I would. I only work part time so don't earn enough to pay income tax or NI currently but would happily make voluntary contributions.

I guess that's easier to say for someone not paying tax. What kind of voluntary contributions would you make: how much? Because for those of us already paying 5 figure sums just for the NHS each year (you get a breakdown from HMRC showing where the money goes) asking for more when the service is so pathetic and we know so much money is wasted (£22bn for test and trace where less than 20% of contacts isolate??) seems unreasonable.

If it was guaranteed to go just to the NHS then yes definitely.

Intresting reading as both an NHS worker and partner of a patient. DH is type 1 diabetic the type you get from your pancreas packing up not he type caused by weight. He has developed significant sight loss in the last 6 months due to this and we have had amazing and expensive treatment from our local trust as well as Gp support. His care this year to keep him alive and seeing will be approaching 70 to 80 k. He wouldn't get health insurance . He cant get life insurance or critical illnesses cover many long term conditions are excluded. No NHS he'd be dead

If we had stayed with the NHS Dp would be dead.
The NHS. didn’t want to know. Ended up costing us £80,000.

I certainly don’t want to pay for a service that has never helped when we have needed it

I would like to see the likes of Amazon and Starbucks etc pay full corporate tax.

All the people saying "yes I'd pay more". How much more per month would you personally be prepared to pay please? And what, per month, do you think should be the maximum that one individual should have to pay towards this - that was originally meant to be a national health insurance? I really would like to know the answers to these questions.

It isn’t the most effective, efficient or economically beneficial way of delivering healthcare, as numerous international models demonstrate
This.

No. We already pay tax. We’re not going to find a possible pandemic response constantly.

@EmmanuelleMakro

It isn’t the most effective, efficient or economically beneficial way of delivering healthcare, as numerous international models demonstrate This.

Exactly. And it's not hard to find out how to do it better. Almost all health systems in the EU countries with similar GDP per capita to our (and many with worse ones!!) have better health outcomes than the NHS. But you can't discuss this in the UK without idiots screaming about the US which nobody, ever, suggested we copy because it's more expensive AND the health outcomes are worse. What is wrong with the UK population that people as a whole seem to be so incapable of making decisions based on evidence?

There are far too many managers in the NHS ask any member of clinical staff (you know the ones who actually do the work) and they will tell you that (I'm not talking about clinical managers, who still see pts) btw

I work for the NHS. I am clinical staff. I don't agree. Managers are necessary and create the conditions which allow us front-line staff to do our work. There are not enough of them and a lot of what goes wrong is related to each of them really doing 1.5 - 2 jobs.

People calling ambulances because they can't drive

a. some people cant afford to learn to drive or afford to run a car , some of whom will be the key workers y"all been clapping for.
b. round here the taxi drivers are jacking it in because the restrictions are sending them out of business.. no hospitality means less taxi use. no nights out means less taxi use. No Christmas parties means less taxi use, No NYE parties means less taxi use.......so they go out of business. So if you need to get to a hospital and cant drive what other choice will there be.

Not everyone is capable of driving or can handle it. How do you think more of this on the road will help.

No. I would rather private healthcare.

Given the amazing service I and my family (especially my Mum and Dad, who have had a lot of treatment this last year) have had, I would think it was incredibly good value if we'd each paid £1000 a year toward it. If people can afford it then that would be a fantastic injection of cash for the NHS.