To wonder what the NHS will be like in 10 years?

[Makemeanothercupofteaplease]

What do you think it will be like? Will it be restructured, so it is once again the envy of the world? How can that be done?

I don't live in the UK anymore but family and friends I love are there so it is something I think about. The current state worries me. Healthcare in general worries me to be fair as someone with autoimmune conditions, I have good quality care where I am now but in 10 years time will it be affordable...I don't know.

I think medical care in general is becoming precarious everywhere as the best treatments just get more and more expensive. Then we also have anti-biotic resistance and superbugs to factor in.

How do you think the NHS will fare in the future? What will healthcare in general be like down the line?

I dread to think tbh and I'm dreading getting older.
A lady called lbc earlier on saying that her dad was on a trolley in a and e and she described it as ' a war zone ' and he'd been there 30 hours already without any hope of a bed on a ward
It's never been perfect , but it's definitely going to get worse.

I love the original idea behind the nhs, that everyone regardless of money or wealth could access healthcare free at the point of delivery. Unfortunately, the complexities of today’s health care system mean it isn’t sustainable. A population that lives longer, transplants , various elective surgeries, joint replacements, extremely expensive drug treatments, vaccination programmes, the list goes on. It’s not simply about mis- management by whichever govt is ‘ in power’ , as a population we simply cannot afford the nhs anymore. It was not designed for the advances we have made in medicine. The sentiment behind the original idea has also been lost and replaced with contempt for nhs workers and the system in its entirety in all honesty. It will not be the wealthy who feel its loss either, it will be those who need it most.

The NHS was never designed to do everything that people expect of it nowadays. It needs to be stripped right back in terms of what it offers to patients so it’s resources can be used for what it’s original purpose was. It is taken advantage of on a daily basis and there is very little personal responsibility for health and well being taken by the general public. That needs to change quite frankly.

Even parts of private sector are overstretched. My DH needed his gallbladder removed. 2 years wait on NHS so looked into going private. 2 month wait for a consultation! Travelled 120 miles to a new private hospital. Cost in excess of £11k. New private hospital opening near us soon but I didn't know about it. Can I add he got sepsis as a result of NHS failing to remove it in the beginning.

It has never been the "envy of the world"

It really was, at one point. It might be a complete shambles now, but it once was high quality healthcare free at point of use. That is a huge benefit to people able to access it.

In fairness I am biased, as I'd have died by my twenties if it weren't for the NHS.

Non existent. It hasn't been fit for purpose for a long time. Covid showed us that very clearly. It's why we had to lock down for nearly two years and trash our economy in the process.

Was it ever the envy of the world? I have never heard it.

Absolutely this. Perfectly put!

Tbh I have not heard anyone online saying god I wished I lived in the UK tbh. We are so egocentric.

DH works as a very senior manager in the nhs. Recently asked me what I would do about private medical cover when I retire… I’ve had a few issues and used private medical insurance several times. But I doubt it’s sustainable in retirement…. So much has changed since 2010 when the defunding came in. But while I blame the tories for a lot, with an aging population I don’t think the nhs is sustainable. The amount my elderly parents cost the nhs is staggering. 30/40 years ago they’d have been dead. Now they are having multiple appointments a week to keep them heading towards 90. I’ve not seen dr for…. Years.

Do you have medical conditions that cost a lot of money to treat?

In those contexts, people very much wished they lived in the UK to access the NHS.

To be fair to the Brits (I am one though not native), they appear to also think their democracy, parliament, railways, pretty much anything you can think of was once 'the envy of the world'. A leftover from the heady days of imperialism.

But to answer the question, the NHS won't exist in 10 years. The reason it's so unwieldy, bureaucratic and at ground level described as a 'war zone', is intentional. The saving grace you'll soon realise is a tory somewhere who just coincidentally happens to own a clinic here or there and so forth.

...the NHS. It is an unwieldy, inefficient beast of an organisation

America has a mostly privatised system.
The US government still spends about twice as much per head compared to the UK on population healthcare (even taking into account Obamacare which applies to a tiny minority of the population, and was introduced only recently). Privatisation is less efficient for the government in practice.

Our model worked for decades until endless Tory cuts got to it.

As other people have said, I don't think the NHS has been the envy of the world, unless you are poor and have no other choices. In which case, I understand that it has an appeal; it's free. But it should be limited to quick care for immedicately life threatening and quickly solved conditions: septis, a cardiac arrest... but an ACL replacement or a hip fix, probably not included. Most of that should be paid for with assistance of insurance, non-profit-making as in most of the EU, but with YOU paying in for what you expect to take out. There are people who think someone else should pay £000,000 for the latest miracle drug. I don't like to be the party pooper, but that person is not going to be me.

Most of that should be paid for with assistance of insurance, non-profit-making as in most of the EU, but with YOU paying in for what you expect to take out. There are people who think someone else should pay £000,000 for the latest miracle drug. I don't like to be the party pooper, but that person is not going to be me.

Not sure I'm understanding properly, but do you mean a sort of tiered state insurance system, where how much you pay in then leads to the level of healthcare you would receive should you need it?

Hopefully, structurally reformed in order to make it less dysfunctional, less wasteful, less inefficient, provide better services to the people who pay for it and be generally fit for purpose. Currently, it is very far from this.

Wes Streeting is showing promising signs that he actually gets it, and understands that the rowing yet more £billions into an unreformed NHS would only lead to more waste, more dysfunction and worse services. Will he get the chance to actually try to implement some structural reforms? We’ll see…

I don’t think the nhs as we know it will be around in 10 years.

Our council owned leisure centre has started offering memberships that include seeing a private go whenever you want. As for our local gp you can’t get an appointment, to even get an e consult you have to download two apps, ask for four codes, prove who you are with photo, address and signature id, (once on an app and once in person) and provide your email, and phone number, plus fill in a form to accept that you may see upsetting information within the apps regarding your medical file. You have to have an enconsult, followed by a telephone consult in order to be assessed for a f2f consult. Not exactly easy! No nhs dentists, podiatrists, hearing provision for 30 miles. It’s like you are being herded towards private medical care and away from the nhs at every possible opportunity.
As a result we have an ever growing number of private practices ( Dr and other services) springing up.

I agree wholeheartedly with @CoatOfArms - I’ve seen the NHS fail two family members spectacularly and quite frankly am sick of pouring my taxes into an inefficient and wasteful organisation whose services I can basically only access in an emergency! As such I’m voting with my feet and moving to what I hope will be a much better system.

@Makemeanothercupofteaplease That's absolutely what I don't mean. Across most of the EU, there are insurance schemes for healthcare that work around how much you earn. Everyone makes a contribution to the healthcare they need, based on what they earn. It won't be nothing, but it could be 10 euros for a doctor consultation, or if you are seriously ill, it could be 100 euros (plus tests) if you are seeing a senior doctor. I really think Wes Streeting is starting to understand that not all healthcare can be free when it's asked for.

The nhs has issues, but it’s still very much preferable over an American style healthcare system and less is spent on it per capita than the US system. Once healthcare becomes a profitable business is a slippery slope to rising costs. Some of the European models could work, but I still believe that with proper funding and some restructure the nhs is viable long term.

there is now a push for as much care to happen at home as possible, reducing hospital stays and in turn costs. The vision is (according to my manager anyway) for only the sickest patients in to be in hospital and for hospital at home scheme to be wide spread with community rather than inpatient rehab. Long term this could save a lot of money if they role it out affectively. Ultimately though it just needs more money and sufficient staffing.

though if it’s something serious I do think the nhs still works. My FIL had some symptoms which could have pointed to a very aggressive cancer. By some weird coincidence his brother who lives in France also had the same symptoms at the same time. The nhs was just as quick and efficient as the French healthcare system, which i was actually really reassured to see. Yes, there’s waits for routine stuff (sometimes, dd2 had a routine appointment come around very quickly after a referral recently), but when it counts they’re still pretty good.

I am not suggesting that the NHS doesn't work. It works as a crisis service, brilliantly. It's much less good at preventive care, and IMHO, that's where there is a mega-fuck-ton of work that needs doing. GP's asking patients straight out why they weigh 10kg more than at the last consultation. for example? Is there an illness, or is the patient just over eating?

I like the NHS & hope it doesn’t go. I’ve only ever used a hospital once & that was to have my baby but when I’ve had bloods/vaccines at the Drs, I’ve found it fine & efficient.

I can see the NHS charging post point of access. Its not sustainable based on ageing population and lack of contributions from the working age population. It will become a 2 tier system. The less wealthy / elderly will be OK whereas the average peson won't.

But I do believe medicine has gone too far in terms of treatments offered. Sometimes it's very inappropriately extensive.