Protect the NHS?

[LockdownSucksBalls]

Long time poster and I have name changed because I have know idea how this will go and don't wish to associate it with some of my other posts. This is also long 😂

I think everyone would agree that this pandemic has caused more division than anything I have ever seen in my lifetime. I have been reading posts and it seems that people either want the army patrolling the streets or they are concerned about their civil liberties being smashed to bits but fundamentally I don't think a single poster across this whole platform wants to see our health service collapse and more than that, we all feel for the actual people working in these frontline services (police, paramedics etc)

I also think most think the government are a complete shambles. I'm in Scotland so have Nicola Sturgeon who talks a good game but actually not very much different to Boris. I would say all 4 nations have succeeded in ONE thing and one thing only, dividing the people so much that everyone is worrying about other things.

So parents are worrying about school being open, teachers worrying they are safe, businesses worrying they have to close, redundancy, healthcare and supermarket workers on their knees. These are all really big worries for actual people.

Our NHS shouldn't be in this position. This is their fault. It needs a complete overhaul and the only way that can happen is people protest for it to be funded properly. Now I am not advocating a protest in the current climate but surely if every member of Mumsnet started contacting their MPs questioning this it would draw attention to it and not able to be ignored by the media?

What we are asking People to do at the moment is criminal, an open letter to the government today 1000 medics don't have the correct PPE again? Yet we expect people to go and work in these conditions? We expect parents to have limited access to education again? We expect business to close? We gave a fine of your out without a reasonable excuse?

Yet our MPs go to work everyday, driven around appearing on TV, daily briefings, passing draconian laws when actually all their focus should be on our NHS and how they fix the monumental fuck ups they made and how we bloody help these nurses and doctors cope. Asking us to stay in isn't relieving the pressure, the staff are on their knees whilst we are at home depressed trying to keep positive. The focus should firmly be on the government. Get your arse down to a hospital and throw money and resources NOW.

Whatever side you sit and I will be open and say I am deeply concerned about civil liberties but follow the rules surely Nurses should be the highest paid along with doctors as standard? This government should have every news outlet putting pressure on them to fix this instead of reporting on people being fined for not wearing a mask.

The last figures I saw showed that obesity costs the NHS 25% of its budget. Type two diabetes alone accounts for 10%.

This was not anticipated when the NHS was set up in the late 1940s. Life expectancy has grown enormously since then and so have the available treatments.

Clearly no one has answers but it seems evident that the NHS can no longer provide the cradle to grave care for which it was established. We are now living too long for that and the treatments we have come to demand are too complex and costly.

I was thinking about sensible good-value ways to kick-start the economy.

The travel industry is on its backside. Rather than eat out to help out, I'd like to see NHS staff offered extra holiday allowance which would help with recruitment in the future, which we will need. Also for those doing their utmost in the covid wards now to be given £1,000 travel vouchers so when this nightmare is over, they can have a real break to help them recover.

And I'd like the nurses' and doctors' unions to suggest a way for non-nhs people like us to help. A well-communicated and managed fund, a way for those of us who can afford it (me when I find another job) to say a heartfelt thank you.

I'm not sure I want govt to stick an extra 1p on income tax because then it'll just get diverted into something else.

You can change it as much as you like but it won’t make much of a difference to the situation we are in now. The reason why every country in the world is trying to control the virus and trying to eliminate the virus or having lockdowns is because none of their healthcare systems will cope with this pandemic.

It’s difficult to see what we could change it to that would actually manage. It would have to be some system that nobody else is using. The NHS is under funded, but that’s not why we’ve run out of capacity. It’s because we were running our case numbers way too close to capacity and our case numbers are now hideous.

No health service can cope with exponentially increasing demand. Any system that is working at capacity one week would be overrun the next if cases continued to rise.

Any major reform that takes place under the conservatives will be done in a way to siphon money into the hands of private companies.

And I'd like the nurses' and doctors' unions to suggest a way for non-nhs people like us to help.

Wear a mask and reduce your social contacts. Not trying to test every law/guideline to it’s limit would help too.

Somebody early on on these threads floated the idea that the UK should try to make itself a worldwide centre of excellence for the training of medical staff. It would put us in a good position to have plenty of our own trained staff at all times, but also to scale up in a relatively short timeframe, because we'd have all that training capacity. That seems like something that could be genuinely new and a positive step forward. It would depend still on home-grown medical and nursing students being treated well and properly financially supported though.

I agree with whoever said that, while the pandemic is made much worse by having a poorly funded healthcare service with no 'just in case' slack in it, we'd still have to restrict the virus even without that, if necessary by lockdowns. The problem is the exponential growth.

Again I understand that exponential growth is putting pressure on service @Almostslimjim explained that to me and I get the need for restrictions but continuous lockdown cycles are just the governments across all nations protecting their own reputations.

We have Tory, labour and snp all doing the same thing so it's about public perception. Why is it the go to? Why are we not saying invest? All the healthcare workers need a decent break after this. I like the idea of extra holidays and helping other industries. Also the epicentre of medical excellence. These are achievable so why not campaign for them now? While everyone will get on board?

On the privatisation by the tories, the SNP are no better I'm not sure about Wales? So indeed it boils down to it not being important enough. The only way that will change is if people demand it.

Mismanagement and cronyism isn't exclusive to the government but exists wherever accountability's lacking (and sometimes even when it's not) and that applies to the NHS as much as anything else
well said
these are human failings that all of us are prone to
power corrupts everyone, we all need to be held to account, no one's moral compass can survive a 'ring of Gyges' situation

And can i add that despite lecturing us that we live in unprecedented times the MPs still had their summer recess last year. They should have fully worked through it.

I think a lot of much better healthcare systems are struggling too - but i i think we run a system that cant cope with flu, which happens every year so thats a bit stupid. And going forward covid wont disappear so we need to build a system that copes with flu and covid seasons.
The main thing this drives home that we have not trained enough doctors and nurses. It was easy to build a spare building and get equipment. It takes years to get staff. The number of doctors and nurses in other countries are much higher

@MercyBooth I agree with you so much.

@MillieEpple I think that's it, but to get and retain the staff it needs to become an attractive employer. I appreciate it's a vocational role for many but it must smart when tech folk earn double your salary

I honestly don't know the answers but I want to talk about ideas and ways it can be improved and put the focus of blame firmly where it lies. At the governments door. I honestly think if there was ever time people will get on board it's now.

It was easy to build a spare building and get equipment
and how appalling that they did this knowing full well it was just theatre to try and keep us compliant and distract attention from their deliberate running down and sabotage of the NHS

That's it @Yohoheaveho it's the complete pantomime, meanwhile the general public and reporting their neighbour for going out twice for exercise.

That money could have went to so much better use.

Yes, the NHS needs more funding. However, people absolutely must also start taking more responsibility for their own health. The nation is not healthy as a whole, too much drinking/smoking/obesity etc not enough exercise. So I don’t think it is just the funding of the NHS that is an issue. The worst aspect is childhood obesity due to lack of exercise and affordable healthy food. So I think the NHS is just the plaster - society needs to become more equal so that the poorest become more healthy and better educated.

A reminder that 12billion has been given to a private company Serco to run track and trace when other countries have set up superior systems at a fraction of the cost. What have we got for 12 billion? Imagine if even a fraction of this had been spent on the NHS, social care, mental health and education. The Tories don't spend money unless their cronies benefit.

@Yohoheaveho

It was easy to build a spare building and get equipment and how appalling that they did this knowing full well it was just theatre to try and keep us compliant and distract attention from their deliberate running down and sabotage of the NHS

Let's not forget the cost

I took an instant dislike to Chris Hopson the first time i saw him on TV

I, for one, am pissed off that the onus is being put on me to protect the NHS. I pay taxes, I very rarely have cause to see a medical professional and when I have needed to it's been extremely difficult (ever tried getting an NHS dentist!). It's not my job to save the NHS.

That said, the UK public as a whole do have to shoulder some of the blame for the state of it. We know the NHS works pretty much to capacity, and in excess over flu season. You only need to watch the Hospital series on the BBC and see that every episode is them playing bed musical chairs due to lack of capacity. But, we dont help ourselves.

We drink, we smoke, we take drugs, we get fat. We expect everyone to be saved, even when they're 89 years old and riddled with dementia. This is because we have forgotten what it's like to live without it. Where old age and bad choices meant dying, now we do everything to keep people alive at all costs.

We could stop filling up A&E at weekends with injuries from drunken fights. We could keep our weight under control and not demand bypass surgeries or develop diabetes. We could not rock up to walk in centres of A&E with every little ailment. We could stop calling ambulances for every stupid little thing.

My hope is that from this pandemic people not only start to take some personal responsibility over their health, but also that we have to shift our attitudes towards death after all none of us will get off this planet alive.

Meanwhile, the government can send over that £350 million the shitshow that is brexit was meant to achieve.

See this is it. They have successfully split society into different camps. Parents those horrible teacher don't want to teach see ... oh all you key workers look at the lazy folk on furlough etc we are all focussed on whatever side we are on but actually if you look at it like this

Parents
Teachers
Key workers
Furloughed
Self employed

We make a pretty big umbrella and if all these groups turned the focus to the government and their failings they would be totally fucked. These are real people we are sending into these jobs every day and they need our support. In fact the whole population does we have been royally fucked

The best way ALL of us can help support staff is by using the service only when necessary and minimising our chances of needing it by taking responsibility for our own health as much as possible.

As @Musicaldilemma says, that involves all of us looking at our lifestyles and reducing/eliminating those habits which are leading us down the path towards chronic ailments in later life.

You can throw as much money as you like at the NHS but it truly is a bottomless pit if that isn't combined with some personal responsibility.

But, I know also, that it's not that simple.

If you have very little money, no job and live in a rundown, miserable property in a grim part of town, that has an impact on your mental health - and poor mental health can impact on decision
making - potentially leading you to substance misuse/overeating/poor relationship choices etc etc to help you cope with your misery - which in turn has a detrimental effect on your physical health.

I don't know what the answers are but suspect it is just a matter of time before the NHS spontaneously combusts.

I dont vote Tory.
I lost ten stone
Ive never been drunk.
I dont smoke. Never touched drugs
Havent been abroad since 1986. I dont go to parties Even in non Covid times) I was doing #protecttheNHS before it was fashionable

poor mental health can impact on decision
making - potentially leading you to substance misuse/overeating/poor relationship choices etc etc to help you cope with your misery - which in turn has a detrimental effect on your physical health

And more of this has been caused by the lockdowns.

@Wingedharpy I respect what you are saying absolutely of course we need to look after our health but using the NHS only when we absolutely need it? Not sure if that's something I'm comfortable with. Peoples needs are very individual and I fear when you go down that route your saying for example oh that drug addict shouldn't get treatment well one of the reasons she's a drug addict is because she grew up in absolute poverty and was frequently abused?

I think that train of thought leads to middle class seeing the poor as beneath them. I don't think this is the case because life is largely luck. Sure folk believe if you work hard you can be anything but for a huge percentage of the population that just isn't true.

For as long as society thinks some people are more deserving we will continue to widen that gap. The tories in particular love this gap but I could also say the same for SNP.

That absolutely is not a personal attack just my viewpoint.

@SpnBaby1967 I agree with you aswell. That 350 million will never be seen.

Completely agree. This won’t be the last pandemic. And it probably won’t be the worst. Let’s face it this is a virus with a less than 1% fatality rate - what happens when we have a virus with 5%, or 10%? They need to fund the NHS properly. The problem is - are there enough funds available to sustain everything it aims to deliver, plus react to a pandemic?