NHS could charge for hospital beds

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www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/07/fund-nhs-properly-or-charge-for-hospital-beds-says-senior-executive

YY Tanacot. to you x

I think the point of the suggestion is that we have to decide what we want to pay for. Hospital beds cost money and this has to come somewhere. However, I don't think it's serious, as it wouldn't work in practice.

They don't put people in hospital beds just for the sake of it - if you don't need to be there you will be a day patient. Most people still have other costs to pay and will not be able to work if they are in a hospital bed. Even £10 a night is £70 a week - where is the money supposed to come from if you have a low income? As others have pointed out, going into hospital is already an increased expense once you take into account transport, additional care required from family members and extra childcare costs.

If you means tested wealthier people they would just go private (if they aren't doing so already).

I think it is serious because of the TTIP negotiations going on at the moment. The NHS are not exempt from this deal which means private companies can take over the running of hospitals.

I can't add links on mobile but google TTIP. 38 degrees are trying to get out healthcare system exempt as the Canadians have done apparently.

My mother was always pro this idea for some reason but I didn't hear much more about it after my father was in a hospital for about 3 months years ago when we were absolutely on our uppers. Possibly they wouldn't have charged us due to the state of our income, but Mum would presumably have had to jump through various hoops to prove it, and they might have charged her anyway as we HAD an income. She was also working full time and taking food in to Dad as he was not eating any hospital food.

I would happily pay an increase in National Insurance as the previous poster suggested.

I used to audit patients' accounts in various long stay mental hospitals before they were mostly closed down for care in the community. As all the patients had been residents for years they ended up with very fat bank accounts as they were still entitled to benefits, but had little way to spend their money ( or in many cases any capability). I wonder if that loophole was closed, it must have cost quite a bit.

Yes, I would also pay a bit more National Insurance towards the NHS. A long time ago, before they lost the plot, the Lib Dems had the idea of a penny on NI for education. I would gladly do that - and more - for our NHS.

how much would you pay per night to sleep in a dormitory?

nowhere near £75 that is for sure

i wouldnt mind paying for a private room as an option

I explained upthread that it had been closed and what the consequences were, Glastokitty.

Tannacot, that's horrific. How on earth that can happen, in a civilised society... as you say, people are far too keen to believe propaganda about those on benefits, which permits real cruelty.

This idea about charging keeps cropping up, although it has been shown again and again to be stupid and unworkable. It would cost more to administer than it would raise, especially as you'd have to have lots of exemptions for people on low incomes, or whose benefits had been stopped, etc. etc. etc. Can you imagine the outrage if people coming round from a coma got bills for tens of thousands? What about children? What about clogging up the courts chasing people who were not able to pay?

Just shows some people don't stop to think before deciding something is a good idea. Especially those MPs of a persuasion where they hate the NHS for being a popular and efficient public service. (Which it is, on any international comparison of costs and benefits.)

I had to pay for a private room for DS and I when I freaked out on the maternity ward.
I do think that there should be some sort of means tested system in place. Obviously for longer-term, or terminal illnesses, there should be some sort of cut-off point.
If nothing else it would deter my FIL from calling an ambulance every time he gets out of breath reaching for another slice of cake...

Asteria, please understand the administrative costs would be far more than the income from fees.

My DS was in hospital. I stayed with him for 3 days. I can tell you in cost me a fortune not only parking but paying for my own meals never mind my son's bed and no I don't think the NHS should be means tested.

I do think they need to look at putting ground floor staff and less managers

DH ended up in hospital thanks to someone else's poor driving decision.

He was the sole wage earner at that time and it was frighten how quickly our savings went down - as the bills still came in and we had more costs. Further costs would have been terrifying and put us under more pressure.

However he had full insurance cover and the insurance company went after the responsible driver's insurance company for all for our costs and some compensation for the damage. It was as much as you'd expect from adverts but it helped. It took over a year to come through.

If we'd have had to pay for the bed as well - we'd have had to pay for that initially but we would have got the money back from the other insurance company.

Lets face it these extra costs wouldn't come from insurance companies profits they come from getting people to pay more for cover.

So everyone would ultimately end up paying anyway.

These charges are the thin end of the wedge: why should we be charged when private companies are creaming profits off running our healthcare services? (more than 70% of contracts have gone to private companies since the Health and Social Care Act 2012).

Privatisation and competition are not compatible with a well-run NHS. The cost of running the internal market - ie allowing private companies to bid for services - is est £5-10 billion a year. For competition lawyers, accountants etc. This is money that is not going on frontline care.

Also - our NHS has been chronically underfunded for years (the lowest in G7) in a deliberate move to destabilise the service, to lead us to accept that 'something must be done' - ie privatisation. Check out nhap.org, who are fighting this.