AIBU to ask if you believe that a labour government will go some way to fixing the NHS?

[TabithaTwitchel]

I'm not a labour voter but I could potentially be persuaded for obvious reasons right now

I'd like to believe a new government could do 'something' to stem the rot in the NHS. But I'm not convinced.

Do you think it will help?

Let's put it this way. Labour believes in spending taxpayers' money on public services. So one would sincerely hope there will be an improvement, although it could take a long time. There isn't a quick fix for this one.

Pre COVID you could get a private appointment within two weeks, now it's more like six weeks

I managed a record last week, online BUPA GP appointment at 8, referral letter done by 9, picked a couple of shoulder surgeons I liked the look of and saw one the same afternoon for a consultation and X-ray.

Similar for my hip replacement, had the choice of various dates within a month for the surgery itself (and that was at one of the leading private hip units in London).

It's like a different world to the NHS.

They are. The manifesto is out next week. 🙄

Do I think the Labour government will give £200 million to a just set up business with no history, that allows a tory MP (baroness Mone) to pocket £20 million and buy a boat, whilst telling the population that they've invested it in the NHS? No

So I think they will do better than this bunch of lying, stealing, incompetents.

Reading these responses - I'm going to guess hardly anyone here has read any healthcare research which actually analyses what's happened to the NHS over the past 14 years, and sets out what its challenges are.

Just lots of people parroting Conservative/Daily Mail talking points.

The lazy assumption that a nationalised service is inevitably always going to be worse value for money than a privatised system.🤦‍♀️

FWIW:

All expert analysis has projected that in order to keep up with the costs created by an ageing population and the increasing costs of treatment, healthcare spending would have to increase IN REAL TERMS year on year. This is true in all healthcare systems, not just the NHS.

But healthcare spending GROWTH, which increased rapidly under Blair & Brown, was significantly below average for 9 years before the pandemic.

According to the BMA there's been a cumulative underspend of £362 billion since 2009/10.

Coupled with the inevitable costs created by the public health fallout of austerity, the abject failure to address social care, and the closure of 5000 mental health beds since 2010 - and, well, this is where we are.

Tbf I've had a couple of weekend appointments recently, so it's not a new idea, it's already happening.

I live in Wales. Labour government. Health is devolved.

I desperately need a hysterectomy, I have extreme blood loss every month. I’ve waited 18 months to see a consultant. I now know it’s a 4 year wait for surgery.

My daughter has a diagnosed nut allergy. She needs further tests. It’s not offered in our area. There’s no right to choose and the other health boards won’t take her.

I was referred for urgent breast scan at the same time as my friend in England. She got hers in 4 weeks, mine was 8 months. Both thankfully clear for us, but for some other woman it won’t be.

I’ve been reffered to dieticians by my GP to try and manage IBS. They won’t see me for that in my area. They do that in Cardiff, but again, different health board so they won’t take patients outside Cardiff.

Do I need to go on?

No I know what you're going through, similar to us in North Wales. A pp was warbling on about how wonderful the Welsh NHS is. I thought what a crock.

Labour MASSIVELY improved the NHS last time.

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/reports/rise-and-decline-nhs-in-england-2000-20

I work in the NHS in my area we have been told we have to cut our mental health trust by £50m next year - that’s an 8% cut - when last week we had 20 people in A&Es and crisis hospital beds waiting for admission to mental health hospital beds. We had one patient on a mattress in an office off A&E for three weeks. The Tories are killing the NHS and are putting in, per capita, the second lowest funding in the G7 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/howdoesukhealthcarespendingcomparewithothercountries/2019-08-29#:~:text=However%252C%2520of%2520the%2520G7%2520group,United%2520States%2520(%C2%A37%252C736). If you think Labour won’t make a difference or will be worse you are tripping.

@Enterthewolves

Perhaps in some areas but definitely not in mine?

Nationally - and anecdote isn’t data - I’m sorry your experience was poor but that doesn’t give a national picture.

Not for one minute.

If their management of the Welsh NHS is any guide, it’s going to get a lot worse.

@Enterthewolves.

A national area that was particularly bad was a lack of midwives.

Headline after headline after headline at the time of the dire maternity services offering.

Hospitals actually shut maternity wards.

That was definitely natinal
It was a particular interest of mine as I was pregnant and terrified.

Look https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/feb/11/health.medicineandhealth1

I can only bloody hope so given a Labour government seems inevitable at this point, but I'm just not that optimistic. Wes Streeting is dreadful.

We're in Wales I had two babies early eighties great experience. The one I had in 2001 was so different. Gas and air broken, just paracetamol offered. Dirty toilets, showers. The icing on the cake they left me, baby in the delivery suite. After an hour I managed to get down and find the nurses lounge to ask if I could have a bed.

When my DILs were pregnant I told my sons don't leave their side, advocate for them. When my DIL started seizing after 26 hours of labour my son shouted for help. We nearly lost them both.

No. It’s not.

It wouldn’t be better in England though either at a guess.

I’m a Labour voter and I think there’s a limit to what they can do. I’d like to see a government have the courage to change healthcare funding more in line with other European countries that have better health outcomes than us. The NHS is beyond repair: it’s too expensive and is therefore a drain on social care and education, which need massive financial input. No party will have the guts to do this in a first term though. I’m from a family of NHS doctors and this is their view too. We need to stop being sentimental about the NHS.

My friends in England have the “right to choose” and can be seen outside of their health board.

My friends in England are getting seen much much faster for the same issues.

This isn’t true. Labour governments have persistently borrowed less and repaid more of our national debt than the Tories. The idea that the Tories are fiscally responsible is a myth they have cultivated.

I’d like to see a government have the courage to change healthcare funding more in line with other European countries that have better health outcomes than us. The NHS is beyond repair: it’s too expensive and is therefore a drain on social care and education, which need massive financial input.

Me too. I'd actually vote for a party on just this single issue. My consultant friends feel the same. If people working in the NHS think this, why don't politicians properly investigate the healthcare systems in France and Germany?

Our population is getting older and by extension sicker and the NHS isn't going to cope in its current form, irrespective of increased funding. I'd happily part pay for something that doesn't feel like a third world country.

Me too. I'd actually vote for a party on just this single issue. My consultant friends feel the same. If people working in the NHS think this, why don't politicians properly investigate the healthcare systems in France and Germany?
It’s striking how many doctors hold this view. I’d also like to see the health service separated from the government, with a health expert in charge, rather than a health minister. Decisions need to be driven by health outcomes rather than politics.