The state of the NHS right now is terrifying

[Faciadipasta]

I am feeling genuinely scared for us as a country health care wise. I was reading today about a chap who died of internal bleeding while his family were kept on hold to 999 for 10 minutes as nobody even answered the phone.
Then there are all the people who die while waiting for an ambulance to arrive, because they are all lined up.outside the hospitals unable to offload their patients.
People can't see a GP at all, so there are bound to be loads who are dying of things that could have been prevented if they'd been seen. Waits at A and E are enormous and they don't even have enough chairs so people with serious injuries or illnesses are having to just sit on the floors in the corridors.
We're actually starting to feel like one of those warzone countries that you see on the news and it is scaring me shitless.
I mean even in the US you wouldn't just be left to die because there was nobody to answer the phone although admittedly you'd probably end up bankrupt for paying back the care, but at least you wouldn't be dead!
I personally feel like we have no care, no safety net. And it's scary.
Will it get better? What can be done?

Fact check of the UKIP claim about health tourism shows £100-300 million per year vs an expenditure of £100 billion. Every little helps, including recovering the money wasted on faulty PPE and dodgy contracts during Covid.

fullfact.org/health/ukip-manifesto-health-tourism/ @Mentalpiece

'Chase' implies foreign patients are avoiding paying and that couldn't be further from the truth. When I was in the UK I tried to hand over my health insurance card at both the emergency GP's and the hospital. I told them I was a foreign visitor and that they'd need the card number to claim back the costs from my home country, but they weren't interested.

@Fladdermus emergency and GP are indeed free for everyone.

I didn't know that. I was in Wales at the time and was surprised that my prescription was free.

@Fladdermus i think some of it is ridiculous but I don’t know where the balance should be.

The NHS does charge people from overseas, and does chase payments.

My private medical insurance doesn't cover anything that was diagnosed or being investigated before the date my cover started - one of which was discovered only weeks before my cover started. It also didn't cover my A&E visit, or the subsequent acute inpatient stay. (though they paid me £50 a night I was an inpatient in the NHS!). They then required a letter from my GP to confirm I'd never suffered from this before (which cost me £50). I had to research and choose my own doctor during a time I really wasn't up for this. I then had to apply to be able to have an MRI scan. And then a specific (expensive I guess) blood test. My consultant wanted me to see another speciality to confirm some things, but because it was a speciality I was an outpatient of 10 years ago, this was turned down.

I know this is a couple of months old, but wanted to add this.

In Adam Kats recent book he says that:

"the availability and affordability of healthcare remains Americans' number one concern in poll after poll, with two thirds of US bankruptcies having healthcare bills as a contributory factor. Less than half of Americans can afford an unexpected medical bill of a thousand dollars."

Something to focus the minds in the UK.

Kay not Kat.

@marmaladeandpeanutbutter the thread is well over a year old We are in 2024 now

I just don't understand the comments of those who suggest that people expressing fear or dissatisfaction with the NHS are right wing American sympathisers all poised to move us to a US system.
There are several other options in the world, particularly in Europe, which likewise ensure the NHS idea that all, however poor, are treated. It's not the NHS stick more money in it or nothing!
We have a substandard service. We need change

Oh and money and private health care only help you if you don't need emergency care. There are few if any private A and Es in the U.K.

Shit, @JenniferBooth , so we are! Misread date.

What happens if someone is on benefits or is homeless?

Of course we have a substandard service. It's cash starved on real terms and workforce planning over the last 15 years has been a car crash.

It started off with dental care . Now almost all private . Then minor health issues farmed out to pharmacists , treatment to be paid for . It's a slow creep .

I dont think Rachel Clarkes ITV drama Breathtaking is going to be the gotcha she thinks it will be

No sympathy Money gone into property in the UK for years rather healthcare Who needs a million pound house Then you demanded a ref Breixit knowingly chucking out
EU healthcare staff Politics