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.

Not a study @delvar but this is an interesting article.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/1130ca01-9c70-41ca-9196-fc8d498110d0

Thanks for taking the time to post the link @FKAT Unfortunately I can't read it due to subscription needed.

Anyway I hope the journalist has some good ideas in there!

A question for those more financially aware than me - would it cost more to administer/chase up/ means test a charge of say £10 or £20 per appointment than the revenue it would bring in?

To the question…dunno.

But I have strong doubts that the NHS was ever much good, relative to other systems.

All the “they were so good, angels all of them” stories could be told in the US, France, Australia, wherever. HCPs the world over train to treat and save. And they’re all committed to doing so. The NHS doesn’t make our staff more dedicated or caring.

But the real problem is the NHS’s public profile. In particular I blame those appalling BBC Christmas shows in the ‘70s when Smashy and Nicey would descend on a children’s ward (preferably with a dog in tow) and make mawkish telly out of sick kids and Santa hats.

We can’t have a sensible conversation about the NHS anymore. It’s off limits.

Meanwhile money is hosed all over a failing service.

Your first comment is more a criticism of NHS staff. It’s a hard job, would you do it for the abysmal pay that some are on ? Most of my colleagues try their best in difficult circumstances, we’re not all Nurse Ratched.
Ask yourself why it’s off limits for discussion. Everything else has been sold off. It’s the one thing left from back in the day when life was ‘better’. When there was some community spirit/solidarity and people were prepared to put themselves out for others.
I’m not sure how privatising it would help, wouldn’t magic up 1000s of nurses, doctors. Standards are low on the wards because staffing is cut to the bone, decimated you could say. Likewise care in A/E, not enough staff.

About 7 years ago I read somewhere (will try to find) that the NHS was already 80% privately contracted out.

You see those vans running around with the blue NHS logo on? Well look closer at the tiny words underneath - working in partnership with. That's a contracted out service.

That’s really not what I meant at all. As I said, HCPs everywhere are trained and dedicated people. My point was just that NHS staff, and GPs, are no better and no worse for being NHS workers or contractors.

Those in pain and who are scared - all of us at some point - should be thankful to and for medical professionals.

How we organise medical care is a different matter though.

My main point was that rearranging and changing the NHS is a politically dangerous subject for any government, which they shy away from, because preservation of the NHS has been weaponised as a political issue.

There are already private GPs

Many of the services have been privatised- T&O, Dermatology, Ophthalmology and many of the MSK services have been sent to the private sector

Hospital waiting times for appointments are horrendous as well. I was 6 months for an emergency appointment for bleeding. The nurse told me if you are not referred as an emergency you would never get appointment,

Well.........that could be true given how things are going, if you find yourself in an emergency.

A deep cut down to tendons needed looking at by someone more qualified than the first aider at work.

Don’t be ridiculous. ‘Minor’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘doesn’t need treatment’. An ingrown toenail could be considered minor, but left untreated it could become a pretty major problem.

My daughter needs an appointment with the paediatric dentist and there is a waiting list. She has a few dental issues caused by having been premature. There’s a waiting list to be seen but they emailed me and said if I paid £150 we would be seen quicker on a private basis. I haven’t paid it yet but I might if the wait goes on much longer.
The NHS might be headed that way for general health care as well. I don’t think it’s the answer but the NHS certainly needs a massive overhaul because it’s a disgrace at the moment. It needs a lot more staff of all kinds.

Large parts of the NHS are already privatised.
As long as the privatisation is paid for out of taxes, I don't see the problem.

But I wouldn't be averse to contributing more towards my treatment if it got me seen faster.

I’m an ED nurse. Things have been so bad this winter, I think I and my colleagues are feeling pretty hopeless. It feels broken beyond repair at the moment. I’m a believer in the NHS in theory but I just don’t see how it can recover/ adapt sufficiently to meet the increasing needs of our population. Sorry to be negative.

I lived in the Netherlands from 2010-15. I feel like we need to change our system to something more similar to theirs (which I believe is also similar to eg Switzerland).

It is a privatised system but with strong government regulation. You choose your insurer, the basic package is a set price which includes almost all the things we get on the NHS at the moment, but excludes eg physio, podiatry, dentistry - you can buy better packages for this and that’s how insurers compete. If people cannot afford the basic package, eg people on benefits, it is paid for them. The basic package is around 140€ monthly I think these days. You cannot be refused care or excluded based on any pre-existing conditions, you cannot be charged extra for them either.

There is an excess to pay each year which is capped. If you are healthy and don’t see the doctor often you may have nothing to pay. If you’re like me with chronic conditions and medications, you end up getting the whole excess to pay in the first quarter (€300ish when I left).

There are definitely big downsides to the Dutch health “culture” - very little preventative health focus, for example - but that’s not because of their system. The hospitals are modern and well maintained with excellent wait times even in big cities. Mental health care leagues better than ours by every measure.

The NHS isn’t functioning anymore in its current incarnation. We absolutely need a regulated private model to replace it.