Lifestyle Choices impacting on the NHS -Boiling my piss!!!!

[Lardychops]

DH is currently on an NHS orthopaedics ward with around 7/8 other men.
He played 5 aside around 3 weeks ago , got bashed on the thigh and the bruise has spread and become hard and hot and painful, now infected and he needs it operated on due to risk of sepsis.

On the ward are 4 men 60 plus who have been involved in motorcycle accidents with legs in pins and have undergone several operations and been in hospital weeks ( 1 for months) as well as a young lad who was brought in yesterday following a cycling collision with another cyclist with his upper left side shattered. One other man was on a sponsored 3 peak running challenge (with a one man band scenario or such like ) and has shattered his ankle. Looking at an op tomo and a very long recuperation. yesterday a man left who had been in for three months after a skking accident with a broken hip that would not heal properly.

Am I unreasonable in thinking that with the NHS in the state it is at this current time that personal responsibility for lifestyle choices should be more of a consideration for all of us with the tax payer footing the bill for feckless and irresponsible behaviours.
It’s all avoidable surely , making better, healthier choices that do not willingly impact on limited resources.

Sports such as football, skiing, cycling, motorcross as well as mountaineering are risky to one’s health and people need to take personal responsibility.

Am I being unreasonable tax payers?

Motorcyclists are probably doing their bit when it comes to organ donation.

Oh and don’t forget deliberately sun seeking. That shouldn’t be happening. Dermatology looked particularly busy last time I was in for a mole check…

Goady one post wonder op

Looking forward to the follow up thread "my DH thinks I'm unreasonable to stop him playing football, am I?". Yes.

The NHS is struggling to cope with the rise in non-communicable diseases linked to excess weight, so think football and responsible cycle should be encouraged Surely cycling, as long as done responsibly, is a net positive in so many ways (health, reduced pollution, reduced congestion).?

Having a baby is a lifestyle choice, OP - are you saying we shouldn't have maternity units?

You're being ridiculous. Having an active lifestyle e.g. cycling reduces your risks of serious health concerns, reducing the impact on the NHS! Alcohol and cigarettes are taxed because of the negative impact they have. The cost of the admin involved in rationing care in this way would also likely outweigh any savings made!

This is such a daft position to take up. It takes about 0.2 seconds to realise it could never work. I'm surprised you got as far as typing out your whole OP.

Almost everything is a lifestyle choice. People make choices for a million different reasons. Usually just because they are being normal human beings going about their lives. But even if you want to pick on people who do take big risks i.e. drug abusers, it's a very nuanced subject. Should a 17 year old who has made a stupid choice on a night out just...die? Even though we can save them? Or be saddled with debt for the next 30 years? What about the heroin addict who is trying to numb the pain of their trauma having been brutally abused as a child? Refuse to treat them too? Or send the bill to their abuser, who we've failed to apprehend and put through the justice system?

The leading principle of the NHS is that it should be free at the point of use. It should absolutely remain that way. Efforts to reduce the strain on the NHS should focus on reducing the numbers of people who need to use it in the first place, not refusing to treat them. E.g. public health efforts to reduce obesity rates, reduced alcohol consumption, tackling the root causes of drug addiction, mental health issues etc.

Brilliant OP.
How about a system of worthiness where we grade people to determine if they can access care?
Grade one: Rich, working, Church going type, no convictions, enjoys gentle hobbies like knitting, reading and pottering in the garden. Free NHS access.
Grade two: All the other fuckers, banned.

I really need that laughing emoji back

Rude

Jeez, but anyone can have an accident! Mine wasn’t even ’high risk’, although related to horses, not riding at the time. Should we be have to go private because we do sport/ride a bike/try to keep active? What about choosing to cross roads/walk dogs/leave the house?!

Type 2 diabetes cost the NHS about 9% of its budget every year.
Lifestyle-related cancers about 4% of the budget
...and you want to stop the NHS giving free treatment to people because their lifestyle choice is to try to stay healthy and active?

I do several ‘extreme’ sports. I’ve chosen not to have children, partly because I’m too busy throwing myself down mountains. I’m pretty fit and lucky to be in very good health. I spend a lot of time outside in the fresh air (with a good 50SPF), eat well, and train to fuel my body for my hobbies. I very rarely get ill, despite working in close contact with small children. At nearly 40, I haven’t been to the doctors since I was 15 (other than smear tests).

I have had a couple of A&E trips (NHS but followed by private physio). On the whole, I think I’m using very little of the public resources that I have (happily) paid into all my working life.

Wrong lifestyle choices to me are bad diet, smoking, taking illegal drugs, excessive consumption of alcohol, and things such as driving half a mile in an SUV instead of walking.

Not those the OP references.

That's quite a projection there. But it highlights the point I made up thread about the risk of passing judgement when knowing virtually nothing about the person needing treatment.

Certainly not. It’s the smoking, drinking, drugs and obesity issues that need tackling. Leave others who are getting high on fresh air …alone.

You can’t compare having babies - having children contributes to the economy as future taxpayers
a MAMIL injuring himself on a a bike does not

i actually agree with you OP - you should have to take out personal insurance for these activities which then covers private healthcare
but then again weight loss jabs you could argue is also based on a lifestyle choice where you can’t then be bothered to put the effort in to lose weight naturally so where does it stop. Unfortunately people expect the NHS to fix them ad finitum and no one is interested in actually standing up and saying this isn’t right

I take it you include your OH in this?

Accidents happen. Do you want people to lead unhealthy, sedentary lifestyles just incase they break a bone?

Trauma happens due to, you know, trauma. The women's bay will be full of elderly ladies with fractured neck of femur due to falls & osteoporosis. Men have a lower risk of osteoporosis and are more likely to do risky activities, hence more RTC related fractures. Be grateful he's not in a bay with people with agitated delirium & dementia!

I think you are annoyed with your husband op!

It isn't completely incorrect. The NHS, social care and Welfare bills are seperate. If you add up the savings made when a smoker/someone obese dies from a sudden COPD/Heart etc episode in their early 60's, it is more than their overall care would have cost. People who have excellent lifestyles don't avoid bad health. It costs to treat them, then it costs a massive amount once past retirement. It's really difficult to start adding up costs and benefits of people. The people who have multiple children who end up in the foster care system are expensive, prisoners are expensive, then there's the controversial migrant/asylum seekers, especially those who end up on long prison sentences. Long term disability care from pre birth. Mental health care is expensive. If we start to really cost people, from cradle to grave, obesity wouldn't be high up there.

I get it op.

But where do you stop?

Don't go rock climbing, hill running, mountain biking. Give up the motorbike, car and wait, pedestrians get hurt too..

Then there's kids - they have all sorts of preventable accidents - strap them to a board so they can't fall over, run into stuff, stick Lego up their noses? Stop PE in school because they might trip, or sprain an ankle or break a leg in a rugby scrum?

Adult sport and leisure? I've been to minor injuries after falling over at the end of my drive on the way out on an old lady 'run'. Just about every sport or leisure activity carries a risk of injury. Even as a spectator.

Procreation is a lifestyle choice, do we stop women giving birth?

You don't mention smoking, drinking and obesity which are HUGE drains on the NHS - and of course the cost of treating the elderly is increasing.

Every action we make carries risk

Absolutely 👏

Ridiculous, apart from the motorcycle accidents, the rest of the men got injured doing a form of sport, which has more benefits than not exercising. The motorbike accidents- how do you know that their injuries were caused by their own fault- plenty of dangerous irresponsible car drivers around.

Are we going to start blaming people for being injured falling over whilst going for a walk as well? What about people that travel on bicycles or scooters to get to school/work?

Save your frustration of people making lifestyle choices that really does impact the nhs- people who's 1st choice of seeking medical advice for mild illnesses is to go to a&e, people with chronic longterm conditions caused by unhealthy lifestyle choices and refuse to change their habits (smoking, drinking, drugs, complete lack of any movement for exercise, a very poor diet).