If you work in the NHS, how would you fix it?

[startingitallagain]

Or AIBU to think it can't be fixed and we're gradually slipping down the slope of eventually not having an NHS?

I do absolutely understand how many staff within the NHS are struggling to cope under the pressure, with many leaving due to their own mental/physical health issues that the job has caused.

This has been inspired by another thread where the poster can't get a GP appt for their father who has terminal cancer and can't keep food down (and hasn't been able to for a number of weeks). www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4708090-to-wonder-what-my-gp-surgery-is-actually-doing?page=1

With elderly parents myself and having to occasionally battle for them to get care, I find the prospect of getting older in this country quite terrifying, so much so I think I'd rather plan for euthanasia if I was facing end of life and no care!

Is it funding? Is it lack of staff? Would more money solve the issue? WWYD?
(As an aside I remember watching the documentary 'Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS?' a number of years back - made interesting viewing about the issues then!)

Why if the NHS is so broke do they have the money for painting the car parks in rainbow colours

Very few trusts own parking land (so its done by another company) and with the money they charge staff to park, (my DD's daily parking cost is £8) they have enough money to paint the whole hospital in Rainbow.

Most of them do own the land, they’ve subcontracted the parking.

"I get your point, but not everyone uses email. My elderly parents don't for example."

I'm sorry, but they should use email. Why should a system use old, clunky and expensive methods like the post because a few people haven't joined the 21st century? The world moves on and email has been around for about 25 years.

Do they? ours and two others in the region have got rid and sold off and/or long term lease.
But either way, none have painted a car park in Rainbow.

I just spent the afternoon in Derriford Hospital, vast majority of patients were old, very old, not saying many cannot use email at all but i do wonder how many appointments will be "non attendance" if they were sent out email only?

Thousands is the answer. It’s not just old people either. There are lots of people of all ages who don’t use email. Communication has to cover the largest number of people possible. You can’t just say people should use email, I reckon we’re a good ten or 20 years away from that.

Our local trust retains the car parking itself but has sold the admin to a national parking company. To the detriment of all users.

I didn’t realise it was still so brazen 😢 agree with all you’re saying. I’m trying to have some hope that something will shift. Otherwise I have to just see what I can to support the people in front of me day by day as it’s too overwhelming otherwise.

I'd personally privatise it. The staff would then receive a decent salary, appoints would be available, people wouldn't waste time and not turn up to appointments as it would stoll cosy them, facilities would be clean and not run down.

Stop taking national insurance premiums off people, and we can pay for insurance for a fit for function healthcare system.

Simple

How does that work? How is it going to be improved by introducing a profit element? If that happened it would be the first public service ever that had.

Because it would be ran as a business. Have you ever visited a hospital in the states? I have and they're bloody brilliant.

Sames as most private hospitals in uk and eu

@Whammyyammy i hate to break it to you but your annual NI payments probably won’t cover 1 month of family insurance under a private scheme. Hospitals in the US are brilliant….if you can afford to pay, which an enormous % of the population can’t. And a quick glance down any street in the US, with their abundance of fast food outlets and morbidly obese population will tell you that having to pay for healthcare doesn’t appear to induce healthier living.

If you introduce a profit element, you’re immediately diverting money from front line services to shareholders’ dividends. However “bloody brilliant” US hospitals might be, they’re not much help to people with no money or insurance, are they? I don’t want “bloody brilliant” hospitals that exclude the most vulnerable in our society.

UK private healthcare uses NHS staff and cherry picks the easiest procedures, those hospitals aren’t where you want to be if you have a life threatening condition. In fact, if you need intensive care they send you to the NHS because they haven’t got the staff or facilities you need.

@Whammyyammy yes, I have visited a hospital in the states. It cost £265 for ear drops that in the UK, even with a private prescription would have cost me £4.52. No thanks