To reckon that Reform will win the next election, and to be utterly terrified about it? 😪

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

i am a leftie

I think they’ll win

If don’t, they’ll have the majority in a hung parliament and govern as a minority party before joining with the Tories.

i’m going to tighten my belt re running my home and prepare for onslaught as the country becomes unrecognisable

It'll be rough, but the way they've courted trussonomics so far, even if they win, it won't be long until they sabotage themselves out of no.10. Lettuce lifespan and all that.

That being said, I will admit daft.ie HAS been getting an unusual amount of traffic from my IP.

Absolutely correct it is like comparing apples and oranges, so why do people do that? We don't have a partially privately funded health system like France, Netherlands so blaming inefficiency in our NHS on not having the same funds available as partially private health services is rediculous. Equally throwing taxpayers money at a public service without expecting fundamental change is rediculous.

Really? let me give you an example, real life, first hand....

My DD dept had a waiting list of 22 weeks, from discharge to getting therapy (for Stroke)
After Reeves NI hikes, they got funding for 3 more staff, those 3 extra people have bought waiting lists down from 22 weeks to less than 4 weeks.

Its a very intensive 1 to 1 process, sometimes 2 to 1, where the patient has v limited mobility, their work gets people moving, back to work, back into the community.
Speed after hospital discharge is vital.

So tell me again its not about resources, equipment and staff?

If one health service spends £6,000 per person per year and another spends £9,000, you'd reasonably expect the second health service to offer more. The fact that one system is funded through taxation and the other is funded through a hybrid system shouldn't make much difference. Either way, the public pays.

It's virtually impossible to compare the efficiency of the two systems when their budgets are so different.

Where did I say it was about resources, equipment and staff?. So you attribute those extra staff members to rises in NI do you? You know it was a direct result of government action? Its about accountability and culture change, what its not about is resources, equipment and staff. Great that those patients benefitted from extra funding which could have come from a multitude of sources, now multiply that benefit by 100 times as that's what's needed throughout the NHS to cut waiting lists across the country.

So the public have two choices, a partly privatised health system where people choose what services they use supplied by private companies all of which will be competing for business or give the NHS extra money with no accountability to spend even more of tax payers money. Why do you think its fair to raise the publics taxes to provide a service which is failing and generally unavailable? I don't see an improvement plan there. NHS managers shouldn't be allowed to have budgets. They've proved time and again that they can't balance their books because money has been used irresponsibly to the detrement of patients. Their is a vast difference between NHS and European hospitals and its not availability of care its the fact they are well run and deal with inefficiency, NHS can't do that.

people choose what services they use supplied by private companies all of which will be competing for business

You'd think that privatisation would improve efficiency through market competition, but does that ever happen in practice? In my experience, private healthcare companies charge the maximum they think the market will bear. Also, don't forget that an insurance-based (or hybrid) system, requires extra layers of administration and extra middle-men in the form of insurance companies.

Do you think private fertility clinics in the UK offer good value for money? After all there are plenty of them, which should keep prices affordable, right?

What about private dental practices? At my local practice, a scale and polish by a dental nurse costs £85 and they still don't have any appointments available until June!

Do you think that vet practices in the UK offer reasonable rates? These days, many owners have pet insurance (and some insurers pay the vet directly), so the combination of market competition and the expert negotiation offered by insurance companies ought to keep prices low. But does it?

US private healthcare companies have been desperate for years to run the NHS. They wouldn't be so keen if there weren't enormous profits to be made.

And Reform are going to do that are they- is someone going to come along and pop your balloon of delusion!

Goodness, why so craven about their political opinions, surely it loses all meaning if you don't demonstrate the courage of your convictions?

Are you British? You seem to have these maga views of what life in Britain is like?

You probably missed my post earlier about a tooth extraction costing £1400 because there was a two year waiting list. People who can afford it are faced with paying for private treatment due to waiting times. Where does that leave less well of patients? In constant pain presumably. A service is not a service if it can't deliver what its there to provide and at the moment waiting lists are long everywhere. It's all well and good asking for more money from the taxpayer to be on a footing with healthcare in Europe, but can NHS achieve that? It hasn't to date regardless of the funding its had. I haven't suggested privatising the NHS. The statement in my previous post was in response to an ascertion that NHS could be funded the same as European healthcare. To do that would mean privatisation. However if NHS keeps being unaccountable and failing to hit targets whatever government is in power may decide that's an option.

I didn’t miss it. Christ knows where you went because my private dentist charges £200 for an extraction.

Its a question. It can't be answered as I didn't say it and the question was put on the basis of a lie to suit a narrative so I'm pretty sure I'm not the 'craven' individual. Non so blind as those that will not see.

I had to have general anaesthetic unfortunately.

More like a deflection as you are timorous about having an opinion, why's that, everyone knows what you think from your avid defence of ICE.

Nothing shy about me. Im stating facts. Sorry if you don't agree but there you go, free speech at its best. You are entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to state facts and be the adult in the conversation.

I've just seen a Fb post from Lib dems. Nice to see Reform are living rent free in their head.
I should buy shares in election leaflet and banner printers. They're going to spend spend spend.

NEWS
Jackie Pearcey is our candidate in the Gorton & Denton by-election.
Voters in Gorton and Denton deserve so much more than a failing Labour government or the divisive politics of Reform UK.
Good luck Jackie!

It's all well and good asking for more money from the taxpayer to be on a footing with healthcare in Europe, but can NHS achieve that? It hasn't to date regardless of the funding its had.

When has the NHS ever had sufficient funding? If it did, it was probably more than 40 years ago. If it never did, then you can't argue that its problems are "regardless of the funding it's had".

'Regardless of the funding it had' is in the context of raising standards not in the context of underfunding. Regardless of how much NHS has its never enough and it mainly fails to meet targets regardless of the money its given from the government.

I heard first hand from an acquaintance in the US who was working at a big pharma group over there that the hope for brexit generally and a Farage government in particular was for the NHS stranglehold on price regulation to be over as that would help them push prices up. It's not propaganda, it's a very logical commercial agenda on the part of those American companies. It makes sense from their point of view. If you listened to Trump, you would know that's still exactly the agenda. He keeps saying that other countries don't pay enough for meds, that European countries (includes us) should pay 2x or 3x more. What stands in the way in the case of the UK? The NHS in the way it is structured. So when someone like NF who is very close to Trump, or at least in his ideological and political orbit, says that the NHS needs to be reformed and an insurance based system introduced, that should ring alarm bells. Again, it's not propaganda, it's just listening to what those guys are saying.

By the way, @Khayker I don't dispute that you've had substandard experiences or that things need improving, only that Reform of all parties are the ones to turn to for that and that's because I have good reason to distrust their agenda regarding healthcare.

When President Trump said that NATO forces in Afghanistan stood a little too far back from the front line Farage as well as other UK political leaders called for an apology. If Farage was kowtowing to Trump I doubt he would have raised his head above the parapit. American pharmaceutical suppliers are greedy . I live part time in Florida so know them well they are always in the news over something. It's not the NHS that stops uS pharmaceutical companies from overcharging, it's written in law so even if Farage gets in and as many fear, he throws us to the wolves on medicine prices, he has to repeal the law. Labour btw have just agreed to hike prices and make the NHS more amenable to US big pharmaceutical demands. In exchange they get a trade deal. How did they do that, they amended the legislation. Probably on a quiet night when everyone was home watching TV. It's not Farage you have to worry about.

But if Reform gets in, that means they have the majority and there won't be anything to stop them changing the law. And yes, NF is part of the MAGA circle and won't ever do anything to challenge Trump, not in any significant way. Trump knew full well that what he said about NATO soldiers was offensive; he could (and surely did) expect a performative reprimand, the whole point for him was to humiliate us and that aim already been achieved so there was nothing at stake here. On the other hand, remind me what Farage said about Greenland? That the world would be a better place if the US took over Greenland or words to that effect... Now there was something way more strategic and which side did he pick? So yes, I maintain he will never ever do anything to cross Trump. Hope I'm proved wrong though - and most of all, I hope it won't ever get to the point that we actually get a Reform government.

You might be pleasantly suprised. Can't be worse than things at the moment. The USA style of life is a bit better than our current direction.

Yes, citizens getting shot by federal thugs is so much better. 🙄