No wonder the NHS is struggling - can't quite believe this!

[outpatient]

Today I went to the hospital. On the from door entrance there was a member of staff whose job it was to say "do you have an appointment, so you have any covid symptoms"

That's it. She's was being paid to do that. She was there all morning, just to say that. This is in addition to the receptionist that checks you in when you actually arrive,

Is this not bonkers? NHS is screwed if someone thinks this is entirely reasonable to pay someone to do this.

It is beyond saving, and likely not running out of money just making really shit decisions WITH the money

How dare you question the free market! Mmm, all that lovely profit to be made from the sick people.

Yeah. I'm told it was Thatcher who thought private agencies were a good idea. Enough said!

@BoobooMogooboo also, diversity isn’t just about “forinners” by the way.

Your examples really do scream Daily Mail. Such a toxic piece of toilet paper.

@PinkiOcelot so you have first hand experience of your colleague’s behaving in the way you describe? Please expand your point further.

I am a first generation economic migrant from a former colony so I probably know a sh*t tonne more about diversity than you snidely mcsnide!😘

Well then you’ll know it’s all about supporting all those with protected characteristics like gender (closing the gender pay gap, maternity rights, support for women going through the menopause etc) as well then.

@BoobooMogooboo and I am impressed you seem to know my own ethnic background by my posting to be so sure you know more than me in the first place.

Incidentally I’m also in a racial minority but don’t let detail worry you.

My BIL’s Mother does this as a volunteer. She greets visitors to the hospital, gives directions etc

The one-off procedure didn't work 1st or 2nd time. Plus he has pre-op and post-op consultations.

They sold off the rail network and Royal Mail, how has that turned out?

Every operation, even simple ones carry the risk of complications or are more likely not to work in people with certain conditions. Cataracts are usually straightforward simple operations that thousands of people have successfully every year. I am sorry for some medical reason that was not so simple in this case.

@antelopevalley Thank you - he is very elderly, so obviously recovery is slower. But as a former healthcare professional for the NHS, he's very concerned about the money being spent on this outsourced care (although of course appreciative that he's not being left to just get on with it)

She's probably a volunteer, and is very likely saving a lot of work further down the line!

@CaptainNelson I agree with him. Private outsourced healthcare is not cheap/
I am more furious about how privatisation has destroyed previous centres of excellence. For example, Circle took over the highly specialist and renowned eye unit in Nottingham. Very quickly it went from being world-renowned to now struggling to deliver simple operations.
This happened because the leading specialists said they would walk if the service was privatised, and that is what they did. They have not been able to replace them.
There is this idea that the best Drs are always private and that simply is not the case. Some spe

It must be said that WE are part of the problem. So many people eat garbage, get fat, use repeat prescriptions/stock pile stuff they don’t need (my BIL’s dad, for example), make appointments they don’t keep, complain constantly, abuse staff, go to A&E or phone 999 over the most trivial nonsense...then wonder why the NHS is in trouble
This and this again. In all certainty, this person is a volunteer, a person giving their time to help their local trust. Even if they were paid, it woul be peanuts compared to the cost of diabetes. That's 10 billions a year or 10% of the total cost of the NHS.

90% or so of people who are diabetic are type 2, that is caused by lifestyle.

So anyone who wants to complain about the cost of the NHS, why not start by getting people to become responsible for their health. 10% is huge and would make a massive difference to what it current can provide.

It's our fault as citizen that our NHS is on its last knee.

I don't think so. Even if they are, it hardly disproves the point the OP is making.

She's not alone in thinking so. I once got stuck in a waiting room for an hour watching NHS staff bumble over laminating signs that said "government cuts" might lead to longer waiting times.

The whole system is a joke and needs urgently dismantling and replacing with a Swiss-style, insurance-based system that actually delivers. Sadly, they'll never be a government with the neccesary balls to do so.

The government is trying to reduce diabetes. That is one of the reasons children are weighed at school. And you can see here how unhappy mothers are to be told their child is fat.

Just realised - my anecdote took place 6-7 years ago and being stuck in a waiting room for only an hour is unimaginable luxury compared to waiting times today.

@Sugerfree You do know a Swiss-style system, that is eyewatering expensive, would use the same hospitals and Drs? Very few private hospitals in the UK have anywhere near the level of equipment and expertise that NHS hospitals have. The vast majority do easy operations on largely well people.

There is this idea that the best Drs are always private and that simply is not the case

They’re usually the same doctors. My cataracts were operated on by exactly the same surgeon as if I’d been an NHS patient. The only difference was £5k and no wait.

I don't think many people realise how many volunteers there are. The WRVS in our local hospital does loads of different things. Although they do now wear volunteer badges which they did not use to. They even run the main cafe.

This. Plenty of people think COVID is over.

OP clearly won't be returning

Are you on the sick or are you treating 100 patients a week? Cos it can’t be both.

That is true in many cases. A man I know had a hip operation on the NHS in the same hospital and with the same surgeon that he had considered going private with. He had to wait five months longer.

But my family have a genetic illness - both kids and DH. DD waited a while for specialist physio. We paid for some privately but it did not help. Now the specialist physio who works with patients with a rare issue is really helping. We could not pay for that specialist physio. I mean if you were super rich I am sure you could have paid a figure they could not refuse or flew someone in from abroad. But at our level we could not find anyone to do this privately. The specialist physio covers a very large geographical area and works with the whole team to agree what exactly they are trying to achieve.
Only the very rich can replicate that.