Will the NHS become partially privatised soon?

[PRFarm]

With the wait time being absolutely ridiculous in A & E do you think the NHS will end up privatised?

For things like minor work injuries that are pretty quick to deal with I think I'd rather just pay a fee to be seen and sorted sooner than spend 10 hours waiting.

Exemptions should be means tested. If you can afford it pay. It would bring money for the NHS which in turn would allow for reforms. Sadly our demographics are very different than when the NHS was created and no longer sustainable. But other changes in our society are needed of course.

edited to say there are some countries in Europe that do this.

We do pay for healthcare from our taxes. We should just pay more that way (ie higher taxes).

When the OP said private I think she meant that they would be private in that people would have to pay to see them. Not that they would privately supply the NHS who in term would outsource them to the public.

disagree. Because not everyone uses the NHS. Taxes are already high enough.
edited to add:

users os the nhs should be the ones who pay in.

But you don’t pay for these out of pocket correct?

I know about 5 people who have gone private as the waiting lists were too long, we will see more of that.

If they are minor do they actually need medical attention?

stitches would be minor wouldn't they?

Nobody wants a system like America, though, and I fear that if the government doesn’t step in and introduce a system like France, Germany or Australia, then we will end up with privatisation by the back door, where those who can, end up paying for treatment, and those who can’t end up with a very sub-standard service.

That's what will end up with as nobody wants to have the conversation. We have an ageing population but considering the outcry re WF I can't see older people wanting to pay tbh.

The trouble with a nominal fee is that there would be so many exemptions that it would be totally pointless (particularly if the exemptions included everyone over state pension age, for example).

Exactly

Your £10 nominal fee would then be gobbled up by the cost of administering means-testing. And you'd also end up with problems of people not going to the GP to avoid paying the fee, and then showing up at A&E a year later with a much more expensive health issue that could have been treated by the GP the previous year...

Correct. The NHS pays the private provider

I was supposed to be put forward for an urgent MRI in Nov. I was told I need surgery- a hysterectomy to remove the enormous fibroid currently doing its best to block my bowel. The gynae neglected to put me forward and I'm only on the wait list now (because I chased it up). The wait for 'urgent' is several months. There are 7k people waiting for MRIs in my area. I won't be put forward for the much needed surgery until that happens - and then how long will that be? My quality of life is poor and I'm in pain.
So I have a choice (and I'm lucky my DH is helping me): go private or risk my life waiting. (I had to have emergency surgery three years ago for almost the same thing - polyp and ovaries removed then.)

I've heard of many people being forced to do the same, some remortgaging for necessary medical care. And no, I can't afford it. I absolutely think we need a fairer system, maybe like the Australian version. The NHS will never be what it was. Its oversubscribed, badly funded and poorly managed.

Exemptions should be means tested. If you can afford it pay*

And who decides what affordable means? Does my neighbour in her 1m house get it free as she only has a state pensioner but my other neighbour who is a doctor but paying shed loads in rent, childcare & tax have to pay.

Oh I see! Wasn’t aware of this!

We do pay for healthcare from our taxes. We should just pay more that way (ie higher taxes

what taxes would you increase?

The OP isn't talking about private providers to the NHS.

She's talking about members of the public having to pay to use the NHS. Surprised that has to be explained to some of you.

Not really - people are given a tax code according to their earnings when you register you have to provide this tax code and put in a band your fee would depend on your band!

Hmm.

Pay a little for our healthcare? So our taxes aren't doing that? What about rephrasing it as pay a little more for our healthcare - raising taxes?

Title was 'will the nhs become partially privatized soon'

Not ' will people have to pay out of their own pocket for medical treatment '.

Most people would understand privatising the nhs to mean services being outsourced to private providers.
Surprised that has to be explained to you.

I’m spending a fortune paying privately as nhs care seems unobtainable now. They won’t fit Dd a coil, gp only does coils for menopausal women, sexual health clinic won’t do it. Having to pay £450.

im paying £300 to see a rheumatologist privately next week after being diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis and being told it will be months before I’m seen. But I need to start meds asap.

had to pay for dh to see a dermatologist privately last year when he was getting nowhere with the gp and was a year wait for a nhs dermatologist. Then actually while waiting for the private dermatologist it got so bad he went to a&e and was admitted as an emergency and kept in over a week and treated as a burns victim as his skin was so bad he could have died through infection. Turned out he had a rare autoimmune condition. NHS is going to the dogs.

Do people honestly not realize that is already is and increasingly will be. I work in mental health and two specialist services in the area were put out to tender last year and have been taken over by private companies the service I work for was threatened that if we didn’t get our waiting list down we would go the same way, they doubled our workload overnight to achieve that goal!

Ideally yes.

Something needs to be done about people turning up at A&E for mental health issues, obese patients taking up doctors/hospitals time due to weight related illnesses and other nonsense

But those who have genuine health issues and who can't afford it still deserve help so what can be done?

Where to even start with this... 🤦‍♀️

Something needs to be done about people turning up at A&E for mental health issues, obese patients taking up doctors/hospitals time due to weight related illnesses and other nonsense

Maybe look at socioeconomic factors that leads to this nonsense?

Well obviously, sadly and realistically that would be the government. I am very sure that I would probably not agree with what they think affordable is but here we are.