How would you fix the NHS?

[PinkFruitbat]

The Government is asking for ideas on how to fix the NHS.

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/

What would you do to fix it?

If a person has worked for 35-40 years, started a small business, saved a bit, bought a house, and paid off the mortgage, i e done the sensible, responsible stuff, and hasn't endured a MN crisis, then it seems to me that they should be allowed to enjoy the rewards of their life's work in peace. Just now, the media frenzy over what's going to be in the budget about pensions and inheritance tax has everyone, including me, in a tizz.

Why is the new workers bill going to force you overseas?

1p on income tax would raise 7.5bn, so 5p on basic rate would be required... not an option i'm afraid, i hope your business sense is better than your maths

They will be, stop being led astray by the right wing trolls...

Reeves is far more Osbourne than McDonald.

Isnt it interesting that its against Talk Guidelines to slag off people on working age benefits but anyone above 65 is fair game!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5194141-to-think-that-most-people-on-benefits-should-be-forced-to-work-for-them?page=2&reply=139258783

Zapped, thank goodness. I didn't see it, but going by the thread title it sounds repugnant.

There are people who dont live in the south east!

I quite agree

Reeves is far more Osbourne than McDonald.

I agree. Can we now look forward to countless Labour posters’ vehement, relentless condemnation of the budget and the government for its austere policy? The many hundreds of thousands who are being killed by the government’s ineffective and cruel economic measures etc etc?

How would you even start saving money if small incremental things, that could be done relatively easily (multiplied by hundreds or thousands of times) are not worth it , or saving £46m isn't worth it....at that point is it worth making changes?
Lots of people within the nhs are saying it's wasteful, if they can see it, why is that being ignored?

My Dad had treatment for cancer and was given dozens and dozens of boxes of anti sickness tablets. He didn't need them, ever. When he died we took them to the chemist to dispose of. That seems wasteful to me....

Except they probably were forced because they probably had dementia.

Not everyone in their 80s has dementia.

Quite. That statement is bizarre. Does the pp know any old, sick people?

Yes I do.

Stop selling or privatising parts of NHS
start recruiting doctors & nurses

Remove the 800 DEI managers to save £40 million. Stop the maintenance service approach giving ridiculous amounts to firms to provide maintenance services - you end up paying £50 to change a light bulb.

I would also look at ways to employ perm staff rather than bank staff.

Re older people having "benefited from the best times".

People aged over 85 were born before the NHS and the welfare state. One of DH's grandparents went to the dentist as soon as the NHS came in to get all his teeth taken out replaced by false teeth - because until the NHS he couldn't afford a dentist so his teeth were in a state. He knew lots of others who did the same.

Yes some were wealthy - like in any generation - but loads were in serious poverty. Many started life in pre-WW2 slums. Then they went through WW2. Bombings, rationing (which didn't fully end until the 50s). And the vast majority left school at 14 or 15 to start work (same for "boomers", and actually "Gen X").

As for benefiting from property boom. Some did, yes. Others didn't. Look up Rachman landlords.

And the Centre for Ageing Better's study last year
offers a clear rebuttal of the “wealthy baby boomer” narratives that have become so commonplace in public discourse, fueling intergenerational conflict and resentment towards our older population.

Although it is undeniable that there are wealthy older people, wealth inequality within older age groups is vastly greater than between older and younger age groups.

You can’t stop it because it’s part of the legal terms of the Pfi contracts, so the country is committed for decades.

So increase taxes on those who benefitted then, ie higher taxes on house price inflation they’ve benefitted from.

What is NHS privatisation? What parts of the NHS have been sold?

I’m not aware that anyone can buy shares in the NHS. So how has public ownership changed?

Before this maintenance contract stuff, was there a small team based at each hospital by the NHS that did everything from changing lightbulbs, rehang doors, fix dripping taps etc. Only got outside people to fix lifts, machinery etc.

This contract malarkey isn’t just exclusive to NHS, other businesses do it to. My friend works for a supermarket and one of the soap dispensers fell off the wall in the female staff toilets. The dispenser was fixed by using mounting tape. Supermarket sold this for £3.50 a roll. Apparently it’s because the staff are uninsured for things like this. Yet fine to get knocked over by a shoplifter

You surely know that not all private companies are publicly listed?

Down here, most community NHS services, Physio OT and MH are run by Livewell, former NHS staff work for them on exactly the same t&c's, but any patient would assume they are NHS, they even operate out of a nhs hospital....

Livewell operate similar services all over the country, with their own duplicate HR pay roll IT etc and of course board of directors.

Then there is Milbrook a private company who now provide access equipment to the NHS here, previously done in house.

Sack the entire management layer responsible for purchasing medical supplies would be a good start - they waste billions…

So it’s not privatised at all, is it? Private companies are commissioned to provide services that are free at the point of use. Like the private contractors that have always supplied the NHS, from its start.

Hilarious 😆 I agree!
Hundreds of new cleaning trolleys were bought within the NHS Trust I work for, costing £1,000 each. After a few months they realised some of the cleaning equipment wasn’t good enough and had to purchase some “I-Mops” which cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds. This is just a small example of purchasing mistakes made.

They try to save money by buying cheap gloves, aprons, etc which end up splitting. The paper towel dispensers keep breaking but in the past they were simple with no moving parts, therefore, there was nothing that could break/snap off.

They are constantly “patching” things up rather than renewing, which often does not solve the problem. For instance, a badly damaged door - which needed replacing - was fixed by nailing some hardboard onto it 😆

I think we should expect to pay more while we undergo a culture change to promote wellbeing rather than sickness. It does feel like a sickness culture prevails in this country, and then the public expects the NHS to work miracles when it’s too late.

Could there be an assessment of care needs that takes place either at a certain age or when there are certain health markers? So it’s not a case of someone finding it increasingly difficult to live independently, then they fall and end up in hospital, get worse while they are waiting for assessments and then can’t cope with just carers 3 times a day by the time that gets sorted, so they end up back in hospital again. I have a relative who wouldn’t admit it, but her house is getting more cluttered, it’s getting harder for her to do things but I feel unless she takes some action personally she will succumb to the last few years of life of multiple hospital admissions. She feels it’s too late for her to change her diet and she can’t exercise so is on a slippery slope.

There is if it helps narrow down what is causing severe pain. My 86-year-old mum had two forms of life-limiting, incurable and aggressive blood cancer and appalling bone and nerve pain that severely affected her remaining months. I’m glad she was allowed scans to see if they could do anything. Otherwise her diminishing number of good days would have been spent lying down on her sofa rather than driving to see her friends or sitting up to play online bridge. Her life still mattered and she still enjoyed it.

Err i'm not following your reasoning, you do know what a private company is don't you?

These were services provided by the NHS, now run by private companies... ie privatised....